Muni Metro may answer calls for cell service on underground lines
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board is expected to vote Tuesday to allow BART officials, on behalf of Muni, to negotiate agreements with major cellular carriers to expand the existing underground network to Muni tunnels.
Though the BART tunnels are farther underground than Muni’s, BART riders have for years enjoyed subterranean cell service while their Muni counterparts have found their mobile phones, no matter how smart, outside the reach of cell towers.
Following the Municipal Transportation Agency’s vote, the measure will go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
The plan calls for piggybacking off the existing service on BART, which in 2004 became the first transit system in the nation to offer cell service for major wireless providers.
Stretches of the Muni subway are notorious for delays during peak hours, including routes running in the Market Street tunnel.
Besides not costing Muni anything, the cell-service deal could end up making money for the city if the transportation agency chooses to charge operating fees to carriers, Josefowitz said.
For now, the miles of Muni tunnels are some of the last places in San Francisco to escape people jabbering on their phones, often loudly and without much discretion.