San Francisco's oldest Muni bus yard is about to go dark for a long stretch. Potrero Yard in the Mission will temporarily close on Feb. 14 so crews can rip out and rebuild the century-old facility. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says the closure will last several years while a modern, multi-level maintenance and storage yard goes up, and that routes tied to Potrero will be operated out of other facilities during the rebuild.
Opened in 1915, the yard sits between Bryant and Mariposa streets and currently underpins many of Muni's core bus lines. According to the SFMTA, Potrero stores buses for routes including the 5-Fulton and 5R-Fulton Rapid, 14-Mission, 22-Fillmore, 30-Stockton and 49-Van Ness/Mission, with the fleet that cycles through the yard serving roughly 111,000 riders per day. The agency says the rebuilt facility will be earthquake-safe and ready for electric buses, and is expected to speed up maintenance and improve conditions for workers.
As reported by The Voice of San Francisco, SFMTA spokesperson Erica Kato confirmed the Feb. 14 shutdown and said there would be "no service impacts" because the routes will be shifted to other yards. Kato told The Voice that the agency expects to seek approvals for the final Project Agreement by mid-March, with the Potrero Neighborhood Collective scheduled to take control of the site by midyear, assuming confidential price negotiations wrap up in time. The closure follows months of planning as the SFMTA and the developer work through project scope and costs.
What Riders Will See On Feb. 14
SFMTA director of transit Brent Jones briefed the agency's board this week and flagged some targeted service adjustments tied to shuffling buses between facilities. "On the 5R, buses will arrive about every 8 minutes instead of every 12 minutes during peak times on weekdays," Jones told The Voice of San Francisco. The agency also said a mix of 40-foot and 60-foot buses on certain corridors will require schedule tweaks. Aside from those frequency changes, SFMTA officials say regular routes will keep running, just out of different yards.
Housing And The Budget Question
The project's original vision to stack 465 affordable apartments on top of the new yard was shelved last year as the SFMTA pared back plans to rein in costs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. What remains is a smaller housing parcel and a sharpened focus on rebuilding the transit facility itself. Agency and developer officials say the pivot was driven by rising construction costs and the need to keep the core yard project financially viable.
Timeline And Next Steps
The SFMTA project page shows design and permitting continuing into 2026, with construction planned from 2026 through 2030 and yard operations slated to begin in 2030. Pricing talks between the agency and the developer remain confidential. If a deal is approved, the developer would take site control and move into construction soon after.
Riders are being urged to keep an eye on Muni service alerts and route notices as the relocation plans are finalized. The Potrero working group and the SFMTA board are expected to keep posting updates as negotiations and approvals progress.
