MUNI Surface Lines (J, K, L, M, N)

The downtown San Francisco skyline dominates this view of the J-Church line at San Jose & Randall. Photo by Peter Ehrlich.

J - Church

The J-Church line begins at the Embarcadero Station and also exits the subway at Duboce Portal, which is right under the United States Mint. The tracks head down Church Street for a block before crossing Market Street. This intersection is good place to transfer to either the F market streetcars that run along Market Street or to the Church Street Subway station that is served by the K, L & M lines underneath Market Street.

The J line continues down Church Street to the foot of Mission Dolores Park. Entering a private right of way along the edge of the park, the J-Church cars climb a steep hill, and then enters a private right of way skirting back yards until it reaches the crest of the hill. This private right of way probably saved the J line from bus substitution as Church Street is to too steep for practical bus service and the private right of way is too narrow. In the last few years there were a couple instances of dead LRV being towed up the hill in the park and breaking free. One car made it across 18th Street, crashing into a concrete island. In another incident, a Breda LRV got away and ended up crashing into a wheelchair ramp at the bottom of the hill, wrecking the brand new car. Fortunately, neither incident resulted in serious injuries. The tracks return to street running at 22nd Street and continue down Church until 30th Street.

30th Street was originally the end of the line, but in the 1980s it was extended to Balboa Park. Some rush hour cars still turn back at 30th Street, but most continue on. The tracks use 30th Street to Reach San Jose Avenue. Once on San Jose, the tracks enter a reserved median along the roadway, which runs in a deep cut known as the Bernal Cut. A stop adjacent to the Glen Park BART station is made just before ducking under Interstate 280. Once on the other side, the tracks run down the middle of San Jose Avenue to reach Balboa Park Station.

K - Ingleside

The K-Ingleside line begins at the Embarcadero Station and exits the subway at West Portal. The tracks, which are shared with the M line, continue straight out the tunnel down West Portal Avenue to Saint Francis Circle.

The station at Saint Francis Circle is in a reserved median in the middle of West Portal Avenue. The station also marks the point where the M line splits off. K Line streetcar service from St. Francis Circle to Balboa Park resumed on June 7, 2003, after a 27-month trackway and street rebuilding project on Ocean Avenue.

After leaving Saint Francis Circle, the K line tracks turn onto Junipero Serra Boulevard and run in a short stretch of reserved median to Ocean Avenue. There is a station in the median of Junipero Serra Boulevard just before the line turns onto Ocean Avenue. The line travels down Ocean Avenue through the Ingleside district until reaching Balboa Park. This was not always the case. In the PCC era, the line terminated at a loop near Phelen Avenue, several blocks short of where the Balboa Park Station is now located.

L - Taraval

The L-Taraval line begins downtown at the Embarcadero Station and continues through the subway to West Portal where it exits along with the K and M lies. The L line immediately turns west onto Ulloa Street while the K and M lines continue strait down West Portal Avenue. L trains climb up Ulloa Street for a couple blocks before reaching parallel Taraval Street by using 15th Avenue. The tracks then head down Taraval Street to 46th Avenue, paralleling the N line 10 blocks to the north.

At 46th Avenue, the L line turns south. Tracks on Taraval Street continue for a couple of blocks to the end of the street. These tracks are occasionally used to turn cars back early. The L line heads south on 46th Avenue for two blocks before the outbound track turn west and makes a big loop around the block and returns as the inbound track on 46th Avenue. L trains lay over in the middle of the loop on Wawona Street, which is a block away from the entrance to the San Francisco Zoo on Sloat Boulevard.

M - Ocean View

The M-Ocean View line begins at the Embarcadero Station and travels through the subway to West Portal. The line then uses surface trackage shared with the K line to reach Saint Francis Circle. From there, the M line splits off and heads into a section of private right of way that cuts through residential backyards. This private right of way is used to reach 19th Avenue (Highway 1).

When reaching the end of the private right of way, M line streetcars must fight their way through traffic to make it to the median of 19th Avenue, which is part of Highway 1. The first stop made in the median is at Stonestown, a large retail mall. The second stop is at San Francisco State University.

After SF state, 19th Avenue makes a bit of a turn and highway 1 continues on a different street. At this point, the tracks change to street running. The M line then passes through the area known as Ocean View, a funny name for a place with a better view of the freeway than any body of water. The M line serves Ocean View on Randolph Street and Broad Street before reaching San Jose Avenue. The tracks follow San Jose back to Balboa Park, coming in from the opposite direction as the J line. While J & K trains make their Balboa Park stop next to the BART station at the Curtis E. Green Light Rail Center, M trains stop across the street in front of Geneva Yard. M trains turn around by pulling through the yard.

Geneva Yard is an older facility and currently stores cars from the M & F lines. The original brick office building is still present, but has been boarded up for years. It was originally planned for demolition, but now there are plans for its rehabilitation and preservation. There are also storage tracks on third corner of the intersection (of San Jose & Geneva). The area known as upper Geneva Yard is used to store equipment is not regularly used. Recently, that has been old streetcars awaiting rebuilding and Boeing cars ready for scrap.

N - Judah

The N-Judah line begins at the CalTrain Station and follows the Embarcadero Extension to the Metro Subway. After Leaving the Van Ness subway station, the N & J lines surface at Duboce Portal behind a Safeway supermarket. The J line immediately splits off to head down Church Street while the N line continues west along Duboce Street for a few blocks and then swings off to a station at the portal of the Sunset Tunnel.

The Sunset Tunnel, almost a mile long, is probably the main reason the N Judah line survived bus substitution. Today, the N line is the busiest metro line and features two car trains most of the time as well as short headways. Emerging from the western portal of this tunnel, the N-Judah line runs in the center of narrow, residential Carl Street for about a dozen blocks. A short S-turn near the UCSF Medical Center jogs the line over to wider Irving Street. Continuing west nine blocks the line again shifts streets finally attaining Judah Street.

From 9th Ave. to 19th Ave. the Judah line has physically reserved right of way in the middle of the street with low level platform stops. West of 19th Ave. the tracks are running unreserved down the middle of the street to 48th Ave., just inland of the "Great Highway" and the Pacific Ocean. N trains turn around on a loop track at the end of the line.