The MUNI Streetcar System

View of the Church station on the MUNI Metro subway. Photo by Eric Haas.

Maps

Overview

As with many US cities, San Francisco had an extensive streetcar system before World War II. After the war, San Francisco began bus-substitution, due in part to the availability of the diesel bus and the consolidation of the previously private Market St. Railway into the city owned Municipal Railway. In San Francisco's case, however, the utilization of inexpensive hydro power from the City's Hetch Hetchy Power Department led Muni to invest in a large fleet of electric trolley coaches, in addition to motor coaches, as streetcar replacements. While many major routes and all of the smaller lines went rubber tire, five streetcar routes survived. As the elderly PCC's rolled up and down the surface of Market St., a new subway, called BART, was being planned for under Market St. The BART design called for two 2- track tunnels, one on top of the other, one to provide "express" Transbay service and the other to provide services to the south and west regions of San Francisco. In many respects this was an update of a plan first proposed in the twenties, which called for a four-track tunnel which would link up in part to the Twin Peaks tunnel. After much debate, and after construction of the multilevel BART tunnels had started, the MUNI was assigned the upper level tracks to relocate its streetcars from the surface in the downtown area.

Opened in 1980, the MUNI Metro is conceptually similar to the Boston and Philadelphia subway-surface streetcar systems where surface lines funnel into a single tunnel to serve the downtown core. Unlike those two systems, which have loops at the ends, the MUNI was designed with a stub-end terminal and high level platforms, rendering the current fleet of PCC cars unusable. A new LRV design was required, and both Boston and San Francisco purchased these new LRV cars from Boeing. Promised for delivery in 1976 but not received until 1982 (and still with flaws), the fleets have not aged well in either San Francisco or Boston. Boston even went so far as to refuse part of its order, which San Francisco then purchased. Service problems came to a head in the summer of 1998 as MUNI attempted a simultaneous rollout of a proof-of-payment fare system, a new ATC signaling and control system, a new extension of the Metro to the Caltrain Terminal, and integration of the new but incompatible Breda LRV-2 cars. The Breda cars, which cannot MU with the Boeings, can be found on all five lines, with the N line being exclusively Breda (since August 1998). The Boeing have since been entirely replaced by the Bredas. Standard operating procedure for many years had been to MU cars on the K, L, and M for their runs thru the Metro and Twin Peaks Tunnel, coupling/decoupling at West Portal. This procedure has not been used much since the implementation of ATC.

The MUNI Metro opened in February 1980 when the N-Judah began weekday service into the subway (Embarcadero to Van Ness Stations). Service to Church, Castro, Forest Hill and West Portal Stations began in June 1980. Weekday service only continued to November 1982, when weekend service was added for the first time.

The MUNI Metro has not caused the removal of all streetcars from Market Street. In fact, the "F-Market" line, operated with restored SEPTA PCC cars, is a big hit with both tourists and residents alike. The F-Market line provided an alternative to the Metro during its problematic summer of 1998 when the new ATC system was being debugged.

Metro Tunnel and Extension (469 images)

Surface Lines (J, K, L, M, N) (1472 images)

Market Street F-Market Line (Market St. images arranged by location)

The Market Street Fleet (Market St. vehicles arranged by number)

Third Street Light Rail (819 images)