SamTrans (stylized as samTrans; officially the San Mateo County Transit District) is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County and into portions of San Francisco (a consolidated city-county) and into portions of Palo Alto and Stanford in Santa Clara County. SamTrans also operates commuter shuttles to BART stations and community shuttles. Service is largely concentrated on the east side of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and, in the central county, I-280, leaving coast-side service south of Pacifica spotty and intermittent.
SamTrans is constituted as a special district under California state law. It is governed by a board of nine appointed members; two county Supervisors, one "transportation expert" appointed by the county Board of Supervisors, three city council members appointed by the cities in the county to represent the county's judicial districts, and three citizens appointed by the other six board members (including one from the coastside).
The district was established in 1976 and consolidated eleven different municipal bus systems serving the county. One year later, SamTrans began operation of mainline bus service to San Francisco. Shuttle service began in 2000.
In addition to fixed-route bus and paratransit operations, the district participates in the administration of the San Jose-San Francisco commuter rail line Caltrain. SamTrans also provides administrative support for the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, a separate board charged with administering the half-cent (0.5 percent) sales tax levy that funds highway and transit improvement projects.
In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
History SamTrans annual statisticsYear Finances Annual RidershipPassenger Fare RevenueOperating ExpensesFarebox recovery ratioPassengers1995 12,094 52,155 26.3% 19,3631996 13,749 53,930 27.9% 18,8951997 14,217 55,187 27.7% 18,4551998 14,388 58,647 27.3% 18,9911999 15,896 57,770 30.9% 17,8862000 15,196 64,911 27.1% 17,6752001 15,919 71,914 30.0%(25.7%) 17,9582002 14,779 81,995 28.1%(20.9%) 17,1032003 15,273 91,560 44.4%(22.4%) 16,1212004 14,542 94,164 52.8%(20.3%) 14,7102005 13,863 94,118 55.6%(17.9%) 14,1902006 16,296 103,692 19.3%(19.0%) 14,6912007 16,830 109,329 19.4% (18.8%) 14,3512008 17,203 118,756 18.1% 15,3622009 17,325 116,563 17.5% 15,5492010 17,149 112,406 18.2% 14,4222011 17,373 111,128 18.0% 13,6922012 17,452 115,269 17.3% 13,1182013 17,808 114,151 18.2% 12,9972014 18,557 116,513 18.7%(20.4%) 12,7842015 18,816 120,210 18.1% 13,1592016 18,078 118,099 16.6% 12,7942017 17,041 124,979 15.4% 11,8172018 15,742 131,899 11.9% 11,1332019 15,567 147,782 10.7% 10,6712020 11,690 160,648 7.3% 8,7882021 5,615 146,246 3.8% 4,5812022 8,913 128,838 6.0% 6,957Notes
Voters in San Mateo County approved the formation of the San Mateo County Transit District in 1974. SamTrans was formed in 1976 by the consolidation of 11 different city bus systems throughout San Mateo County; several more systems were added over the following years. SamTrans took over Western Greyhound Lines commuter service on July 2, 1977; some routes were curtailed from downtown San Francisco to Daly City station. SamTrans purchased 40 buses from Greyhound at that time, and its fleet exceeded 200 buses by 1980.
In August 2013, the agency merged two routes along El Camino Real into the single all-day ECR route with 15-minute headways, briefly stemming a long-term decline in bus ridership that began in the early 1990s. Ridership on SamTrans buses was 52,140 passengers per weekday in November 2009; by November 2017, it had fallen to 37,830 bus passengers per weekday and continues to decline, further threatening the agency's budget. According to a route-level analysis, in 2014, four lines accounted for more than half of all weekday riders: ECR, 120, 292, and 122/28, with ECR alone accounting for more than one quarter of all weekday riders. A half-cent sales tax, Measure W, which partially goes to SamTrans, passed on the November 2018 ballot.
Facilities SamTrans headquarters are at 1250 San Carlos Avenue in a building built in 1979 and acquired in 1990, one block southwest of the Caltrain station. In 2023, SamTrans authorized the acquisition of a new building near Millbrae BART and Caltrain station to be used as the new headquarter.
SamTrans has two maintenance bases. North Base opened in 1988. It is in South San Francisco, just north of San Francisco International Airport and adjacent to U.S. 101 and I-380. South Base opened in 1984 near the San Carlos Airport, east of U.S. 101 off Redwood Shores Parkway. Primary maintenance is carried out at North Base, which can store 200 buses. South Base can store 150 buses. SamTrans also owns Brewster Depot in Redwood City, which is used by its subcontractor MV Transportation for storage and dispatching; Brewster Depot is and was built in 1940.
Bus service Currently, SamTrans serves the cities of San Mateo County, including Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Colma, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Redwood Shores, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, and South San Francisco. Most routes provide connecting service to BART, Caltrain, or both. There is also regular scheduled service to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco.
Unlike most large transit operators in the Bay Area, SamTrans outsources to private contractors the operation of a number of its routes. The current contract operator for Peninsula mainline, Coastside and paratransit services is MV Transportation.
SamTrans previously operated special service for a couple of Bay Area events such as San Francisco 49ers home football games and the quirky Bay to Breakers footrace in San Francisco.
Route designations samTrans route numbering scheme 2 9 2 Transit connections Areas served / Express sequence Sequence number / Express — "Community route", no inter-agency connection A Sequential alphabetic designator for express route X Designates express service1 Connects to BART1 Coastside0 Sequential number assigned to numbered routes2 Connects to Caltrain2 North County Colma / Daly City 3 Connects to BART and Caltrain3 Brisbane / South San Francisco 4 San Bruno / Millbrae / Burlingame5 Mid County San Mateo / Foster City / Redwood Shores 6 Belmont / San Carlos7 Redwood City8 South County Menlo Park / East Palo Alto / Palo Alto9 Multi-city service
Notes
SamTrans reorganized its bus routes in August 1999 and adopted a new route designation system to identify service types, geographical coverage, and connections to rail services.
Routes
Local routes have either two or three digits or a special designation (e.g., ECR). For three-digit routes, the first digit identifies a rail connection:
1 – Connection to BART stations only (primarily routes in Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco and San Bruno) 2 – Connection to Caltrain stations only (primarily routes south of Millbrae) (Route 292, with service between San Francisco and San Mateo, only began connecting to BART at Millbrae in 2022; since it originally served Caltrain stations but no BART stations, its first digit is 2.) 3 – Connection to both BART and Caltrain stations (ECR, previously designated 390 and 391, provides service between Palo Alto and Daly City, 397 provides overnight service between San Francisco and Palo Alto as a part of the All Nighter network, and ECR OWL, previously designated 399, provides overnight service between Daly City and San Francisco International Airport as a part of the All Nighter network.)
All two-digit routes are community service routes. Most of these routes do not connect with rail and operate only on school days.
Express routes Express bus routes are designated by two letters followed by X; previously, just one letter preceded the X. In December 2009, six express routes (DX, FX, MX, NX, PX, and RX) were eliminated due to high budget constraints; a seventh express route, Route CX, was redesignated Route 118, and then replaced by route PCX in 2024. In August 2018, express route, KX, was folded into Route 398, which was replaced by new express route EPX in February 2024. Express route FCX, between Foster City and San Francisco, debuted in August 2019
In April 2017, SamTrans identified fifteen potential express bus routes connecting the Peninsula counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. Most of the potential routes ran along U.S. 101, and some were planned to take advantage of managed lanes to provide speedier service. By June 2018, the list of potential bus routes was reduced to eight. The draft final report was released in November 2018, and the Board adopted it in December. SamTrans relaunched express bus service in August 2019 from Foster City to downtown San Francisco along U.S. 101, followed by a second route in Spring/Summer of 2020 from Palo Alto to western San Francisco along I-280. The Foster City–San Francisco route was launched as FCX in August 2019, but ridership and frequency have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the San Francisco Bay Area. The launch of the other proposed express route planned for Phase 1, PAX (Palo Alto to western San Francisco), has been delayed indefinitely and there is currently no exact or estimated date for it to begin operation. Phase 2 of the express bus plan includes two additional routes: EPX (East Palo Alto to San Bruno) and an un-named route (San Mateo to downtown San Francisco); EPX was launched in 2023 after SamTrans completed acquisition of XE40 battery-electric buses.
Fares Since January 1, 2020SamTrans Fare Chart Fare category Cash/Mobile Clipper Transfers & Reciprocity Day pass Monthly pass Adult Local $2.25 $2.05 – $4.50 $65.60 Express $4.50 $4.00 $1.95 $130 Youth &Eligible Discount Local $1.10 $1.00 – $2.00 $27 Express $2.25 $2.00 $1.00
Notes
As of December 22, 2010, Clipper card fare machines became fully operational throughout the system, allowing riders to pay fares using Clipper card, a transit smart card that is also accepted by most other Bay Area transit agencies.
Clipper cards come in four varieties: adult, youth, senior and disabled (which includes Medicare cardholders). Adult Clipper cards may be obtained from a wide variety of vendors, but youth, senior and disabled Clipper cards must be obtained from SamTrans or another Bay Area transit agency. Each Clipper card contains some sort of stored value (e.g., monthly passes, "Clipper Cash" e-funds used for transit fares) and the history of recent trips using the card. Clipper cards generally confer an approximately 10% discount relative to cash fares.
SamTrans does not provide physical transfers, but Clipper cards offer free transfers to other SamTrans buses within 2 hours of the first boarding. SamTrans additionally offers a Day Pass which allows unlimited rides on local routes and a credit on higher-cost routes. The cost of the Day Pass is thrice the one-way fare on the local routes for adults, youth, and seniors/disabled/Medicare cardholders.
With the exception of youth summer passes, all SamTrans monthly passes must be loaded onto a Clipper card. Youth, senior and disabled monthly passes may only be loaded onto a corresponding Clipper card obtained from SamTrans or another Bay Area transit agency.