Hooray! I can ride on San Francisco’s Muni train! (White Packert / Getty)
When San Francisco mom Jessica Franklin had her twins over a year ago, she and her husband were forced to buy a second car because the city’s rigid baby stroller policy on public transportation made taking the bus or train nearly impossible. In the past they could always depend on public transit if both parents needed to go separate ways, but with public transit no longer being a dependable option they had no other choice.
Under the policy, drivers could decide whether to allow a passenger with a stroller onto a bus or train and if they welcomed the passenger on board then he or she was required to remove the baby from the stroller and fold it up. This made traveling with twins, or any small child, cumbersome.
But beginning today, March 1, San Francisco Municipal Transit Assocation (SFMTA) is introducing a new policy and riding Muni with a stroller will become much easier.
Strollers are now permitted on all SFMTA vehicles, except cable cars. Riders are now allowed to keep a child in a stroller as long as long as the kid is strapped in, the wheels are locked, the stroller isn’t blocking an aisle and the train isn’t crowded. If a train is packed, the driver can ask a passenger to fold up the stroller.
Also, passengers with a stroller can board a train using a lift or ramp, which is a huge help if your baby is sleeping and you don’t want to disturb him. In the past, this wasn’t allowed.
Franklin played a key role in nudging SFMTA to introduce this new policy. When she realized that taking Muni was going to be difficult with her twins, she wrote a letter to her supervisor, Sean Elsbernd.
And he wrote back saying, “…your e-mail precipitated the discussions I have been having with the MTA for the last month and the legislation Supervisor Chiu and I introduced on Tuesday. While a ‘baby’ step in the process, it is significant, and it would not have happened without your advocacy.”
Last spring, Supervisors Elsbernd and Chiu proposed legislation asking Muni to allow babies to stay in their strollers. The legislation passed unanimously and now finally a new policy is in place.
Muni spokesperson Paul Rose said, “This is an effort to make Muni more family friend. We’ve heard from our passengers in the past and now we’re doing something.”
Franklin wasn’t the first parent to complain about the old policy. Virginia Balogh-Rosenthal is another San Francisco mother of twins and she says, “When my twins were young [15 years ago], I was shocked at how antagonistic MUNI drivers were when I tried to take my kids in a double stroller (which was no wider than a wheelchair) on the underground. I was even more depressed after visiting a number of other countries that were quite welcoming of strollers on public transit”
“Throughout the years, the SF Mothers of Twins Club (now SF Parents of Multiples Club) made various attempts to get the policy changed, to no avail.” Balogh-Rosenthal added. But last year when one of the club’s current members, Jennifer Franklin, contacted some members of the Board of Supervisors, they were receptive.
“I guess the timing was finally right!” Balogh-Rosenthal said.
As a parent myself, I welcome this news. For a year, my daughter and I traveled on the J Church between our home and her infant care and from there I walked to work. I would have loved to put her in a stroller but I knew this would mean that we might not make it on a train or I’d have to pull her out of the stroller and fold it up. Instead I stuck her in a backpack, but my back is now paying for all that heavy lifting. If my husband and I had twins, we would have been forced to buy a second car.
Are you happy about the new stroller policy? Why or why not?
