San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni), is the public transit system for the City and County of San Francisco. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cabl ...

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA or San Francisco MTA) is an agency created by consolidation of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT), and the Taxicab Commission. The agen ...

K Ingleside The K Ingleside is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. It mainly serves the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. The line opened on February 3, 1918, and was the first line to use the Twin Peaks Tunnel ...

L Taraval The L Taraval is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Parkside District. The line is currently suspended and replaced by buses through the end of 2024 for a road improvement project along T ...

M Ocean View The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco. It originated as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century. Route description The line runs from Embarcadero station in the Financial District to Genev ...

N Judah The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downt ...

T Third Street The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with th ...

Siemens S200 The Siemens S200 is a high-floor light rail vehicle (LRV) manufactured by Siemens Mobility in Florin, California. The S200 succeeds the SD-100, SD-160, SD-400 and SD-460 as the high-floor light rail vehicle for the North American market and i ...

accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

Twin Peaks Tunnel The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under Twin Peaks and is used by the K Ingleside/T Third Street, M Ocean View and S Shuttle lines of the Muni Metro system. The eastern entra ...

US Standard Light Rail Vehicle The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a standa ...

Market Street subway The Market Street subway is a two-level subway tunnel that carries Muni Metro and BART trains under Market Street in San Francisco, California.Balboa Park station. An extension along The Embarcadero to the Caltrain terminal at 4th and King Street opened in 1998. The T Third Street line opened in 2007, serving the southeastern portion of the city. The Central Subway, with three new subway stations and one new surface station opened on November 19, 2022.

History

Beginnings

MUNI 1149 East Portal Feb 1967xRP - Flickr - drewj1946

The first street railroad in San Francisco was the San Francisco Market Street Railroad Company, which was incorporated in 1857 and began operating in 1860, with track along Market Street from California to Mission Dolores. Muni Metro descended from the municipally-owned traditional streetcar system started on December 28, 1912, when the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) was established. The first streetcar line, the A Geary, ran from Kearny and Market Streets in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

to Fulton Street and 10th Avenue in the Richmond District. The system slowly expanded, opening the

Twin Peaks Tunnel The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under Twin Peaks and is used by the K Ingleside/T Third Street, M Ocean View and S Shuttle lines of the Muni Metro system. The eastern entra ...

in 1917, allowing streetcars to run to the southwestern quadrant of the city. By 1921, the city was operating of electric trolley lines and of cable car lines. The last line to start service before 2007 was the

N Judah The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downt ...

, which started service after the

Sunset Tunnel The Sunset Tunnel, originally known as the Duboce Tunnel, is a -long light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under the steep hill adjacent to Buena Vista Park and is used exclusively by the N Judah Muni Metro ...

opened in 1928. In the 1940s and 1950s, as in many North American cities, public transit in San Francisco was consolidated under the aegis of a single municipal corporation, which then began phasing out much of the streetcar network in favor of buses. However, five heavily used streetcar lines traveled for at least part of their routes through tunnels or otherwise reserved

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, and thus could not be converted to bus lines. As a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued in operation.

Market Street subway

Original plans for the

BART Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...

system drawn up in the 1950s envisioned a double-decked subway tunnel under

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

(known as the Market Street subway) in downtown San Francisco; the lower deck would be dedicated to express trains, while the upper would be served by local trains whose routes would spread south and west through the city. However, by 1961 these plans were altered; only a single BART route would travel through the city on the lower deck, while the upper deck would be served by the existing Muni streetcar routes. The new tunnel would be connected to the existing

Twin Peaks Tunnel The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under Twin Peaks and is used by the K Ingleside/T Third Street, M Ocean View and S Shuttle lines of the Muni Metro system. The eastern entra ...

. The new underground stations would feature high platforms, and the older stations would be retrofitted with the same, which meant that the PCCs could not be used in them. Hence, a fleet of new light rail vehicles was ordered from Boeing-Vertol, but were not delivered until 1979–80, even though the tunnel was completed in 1978. The K and M lines were extended to Balboa Park during this time, providing further connections to BART. (The J line also saw an extension there in 1991, which provided yet another BART connection at Glen Park.) PCC 1025 and Boeing LRV 1220 at West Portal, November 1980

PCC 1025 and Boeing LRV 1220 at West Portal, November 1980

On February 18, 1980, the Muni Metro was officially inaugurated, with weekday N line service in the subway. The Metro service was implemented in phases, and the subway was served only on weekdays until 1982. The

K Ingleside The K Ingleside is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. It mainly serves the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. The line opened on February 3, 1918, and was the first line to use the Twin Peaks Tunnel ...

line began using the entire Metro subway on weekdays on June 11, 1980, the

L Taraval The L Taraval is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Parkside District. The line is currently suspended and replaced by buses through the end of 2024 for a road improvement project along T ...

and

M Ocean View The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco. It originated as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century. Route description The line runs from Embarcadero station in the Financial District to Genev ...

lines on December 17, 1980, and lastly the J Church line on June 17, 1981. Meanwhile, weekend service on all five lines (J, K, L, M, N) continued to use PCC cars operating on the surface of

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

through to the

Transbay Terminal The San Francisco Transbay Terminal was a transportation complex in San Francisco, California, United States, roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north–south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east–west by Beale Street and 2 ...

, and the Muni Metro was closed on weekends. At the end of the service day September 19, 1982, streetcar operations on the surface of Market Street were discontinued entirely, the remaining PCC cars taken out of service, and weekend service on the five light rail lines was temporarily converted to buses.Soiffer, Bill (September 20, 1982). "The Last Streetcar On Top of Market". ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', p. 2. Finally, on November 20, 1982, the Muni Metro subway began operating seven days a week. At the time, there were no firm plans to revive any service on the surface of Market Street or return PCCs to regular running. However, tracks were rehabilitated for the 1983 Historic Trolley Festival, and the inauguration of the F line, served by

heritage streetcar Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles. Trains It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP ...

s, followed in 1995. Train of Boeing LRVs waiting to depart Muni Metro's Embarcadero station in 1993

By the late 1980s, Muni scheduled 20 trains per hour (TPH) through the Market Street subway at peak periods, with all trains using the crossover west of Embarcadero station to reverse direction. To allow for high frequencies on the surface branches, eastbound trains were combined at West Portal and Duboce Portal, and westbound trains split at those locations. Two-car N Judah trains and one-car J Church trains (each 10TPH) combined at the Duboce Portal, while two-car L Taraval trains (10TPH) alternately combined with two-car M Ocean View and K Ingleside (each 5 TPH) trains at West Portal to form four-car trains. However, this provided suboptimal service; many inbound trains did not arrive at the portals in time to combine into longer trains.

Muni meltdown

In the mid- to late-1990s, San Francisco grew more prosperous and its population expanded with the advent of the

dot-com boom The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...

, and the Metro system began to feel the strain of increased commuter demand. Muni criticism had been something of a feature of life in San Francisco, and not without reason. The Boeing trains were sub-par and grew crowded quickly. And the difficulty in running a hybrid streetcar and light rail system, with five lines merging into one, led to scheduling problems on the main trunk lines with long waits between arrivals and commuter-packed trains sometimes sitting motionless in tunnels for extended periods of time. Muni did take steps to address these problems. Newer, larger Breda cars were ordered, an extension of the system towards South Beach — where many of the new dot-coms were headquartered — was built, and the underground section was switched to Automatic Train Operation (ATO). The Breda cars, however, came in noisy, overweight, oversized, under-braked, and over-budget (their price grew from US$2.2million per car to nearly US$3million over the course of their production). In fact, the new trains were so heavy ( more than the Boeing LRVs they replaced) that some homeowners, claiming that the exceptional weight of the Breda cars damaged their foundations, sued the city of San Francisco. The Breda cars are longer and wider than the previous Boeing cars, necessitating the modification of subway stations and maintenance yards, as well as the rear view mirrors on the trains themselves. Furthermore, the Breda cars do not run in three car trains, like the Boeing cars used to, as doing so had, in some instances, physically damaged the overhead power wires. The Breda trains were so noisy that San Francisco budgeted over $15million to quiet them down, while estimates range up to $1million per car to remedy the excessive noise. To this day, the Breda cars are noisier than the PCC or Boeing cars. In 1998, federal inspectors mandated a lower speed limit of , down from , because the brakes were problematic. The ATC system was plagued by numerous glitches when first implemented, initially causing significantly more harm than good. Common occurrences included sending trains down the wrong tracks, and, more often, inappropriately applying emergency braking. Eventually the result was a spectacular service crisis, widely referred to as the "Muni meltdown", in the summer of 1998. During this period, two reporters for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

''—one riding in the Muni Metro tunnel and one on foot on the surface—held a race through downtown, with the walking reporter emerging the winner. After initial problems with the ATC were fixed, substantial upgrades to the entire Muni transit systems have gone a long way towards resolving persistent crowding and scheduling issues. Nonetheless, Muni remains one of the slowest urban transport systems in the United States.

Recent expansions

In 1980, the

M Ocean View The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco. It originated as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century. Route description The line runs from Embarcadero station in the Financial District to Genev ...

was extended from Broad Street and Plymouth Avenue to its current terminus at Balboa Park. In 1991, the J Church was extended from Church and 30th Streets to its current terminus at Balboa Park. In 1998, the

N Judah The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downt ...

was extended from

Embarcadero Station Embarcadero station is a combined BART and Muni Metro rapid transit station in the Market Street subway. Located under Market Street between Drumm Street and Beale Street near The Embarcadero, it serves the Financial District neighborhood and s ...

to the planned site of the new

Pacific Bell Park Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curre ...

and Caltrain Depot, The extension was briefly served between January and August of that year by the temporary E Embarcadero light rail shuttle (restored in 2015 as the

E Embarcadero The E Embarcadero is a historic streetcar line that is the San Francisco Municipal Railway's second heritage streetcar line in San Francisco, California. Trial service first ran during the Sunday Streets events on The Embarcadero in 2008. The ...

heritage streetcar Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles. Trains It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP ...

line). In 2007, the

T Third Street The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with th ...

, running south from Caltrain Depot along Third Street to the southern edge of the city, opened as part of the

Third Street Light Rail Project The Third Street Light Rail Project was the construction project that expanded the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, linking downtown San Francisco to the historically underserved southeastern neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Poin ...

. Limited weekend T line service began on January 13, 2007, while full service began on April 7, 2007. The line initially ran from the southern terminus at Bayshore Boulevard and Sunnydale Street to

Castro Street Station Castro station is a Muni Metro station at the intersection of Market Street, Castro Street, and 17th Street in The Castro district of San Francisco, California. Station layout and history The station consists of two side platforms next to the ...

in the north. The line ran into initial problems with breakdowns, bottlenecks, and power failures, creating massive delays. Service changes to address complaints with the introduction of the T Third Street were implemented on June 30, 2007, when the K and T trains were interlined, or effectively merged into one single line with route designations changing at the entrances into the subway (T becomes K outbound at Embarcadero; K becomes T inbound at West Portal). The Central Subway runs between Chinatown station in Chinatown and a portal in South of Market (SoMa), with intermediate stops at Union Square/Market Street station in

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and Yerba Buena/Moscone station in SoMa. A surface portion runs through SoMa to connect to the existing

T Third Street The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with th ...

line at 4th and King station. Muni estimates that the Central Subway section of the T Third line will carry roughly 35,100 riders per day by 2030. Originally set to open in late 2018, the subway opened for weekend shuttle service on November 19, 2022, with full weekday T Third service in the subway scheduled for January 7, 2023.

COVID-19 pandemic

On March 30, 2020, Muni Metro service was replaced with buses due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The SFMTA reopened rail service on August 22, 2020, but returned to bus substitution three days later, citing malfunctioning

overhead wire An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

splices and the need to quarantine control center staff after a COVID-19 case. During this brief time, routes were reconfigured to improve reliability in the subway: * J Church service operated as an only-surface route between and , requiring transfers to the

Market Street subway The Market Street subway is a two-level subway tunnel that carries Muni Metro and BART trains under Market Street in San Francisco, California.Sunnydale Sunnydale is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the al ...

and Balboa Park. * S Shuttle service was increased, running with the TM and N in the subway. Advocates with local nonprofit Senior and Disability Action criticized this route configuration, expressing concern over the need to transfer at West Portal and Church stations. In November 2020, the SFMTA that announced some rail lines such as the N Judah and T Third would likely return in early 2021, followed by a gradual return to full operation. Kirschbaum said the agency was reconsidering its approach to maintenance after the botched attempt to reopen in August, and that it might take 5 to 8 years to fully address the system's vulnerabilities. Among the most urgent issues was replacing the

track ballast Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties (sleepers) are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to bear the load from the railroad ties, to facilitate drainage of water, and also to keep down veget ...

in the

Twin Peaks Tunnel The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under Twin Peaks and is used by the K Ingleside/T Third Street, M Ocean View and S Shuttle lines of the Muni Metro system. The eastern entra ...

, which was meant to be replaced during a maintenance project in 2018 but was instead reused at that time. City supervisors harshly criticized the mistake, which SFMTA director Jeffrey Tumlin blamed on a "culture of fear" he was working to correct since becoming the agency's leader in 2019. The surface-only (from Market Street to Balboa Park) J Church route resumed service on December 19, 2020, followed by the Embarcadero–Sunnydale portion of the T Third Street on January 23, 2021. N Judah and K Ingleside light rail service resumed on May 15, 2021, with the K and T again interlined, along with S Shuttle service now converted to supplementary. At that time, some stations were converted to new

wayfinding Wayfinding (or way-finding) encompasses all of the ways in which people (and animals) orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place. Wayfinding software is a self-service computer program that helps users to find a location, ...

signage based on international standards, with compass directions like "westbound" replacing older "inbound"/"outbound" directions. M Ocean View light rail service resumed on August 14, 2021. The L remained served by buses due to a multi-year reconstruction on the surface section of the line. Service only ran until 9pm until October 2, 2021, when it was extended to 10pm on Sundays and midnight on other days to better align with BART's late-night service. J Church service resumed subway service on February 19, 2022.

Future

Several further expansions have been proposed. Once the Central Subway is complete, it may also continue as an above-ground light rail line through North Beach, and into the Marina district, with the possibility of eventually terminating in the Presidio. A project to grant the

M Ocean View The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco. It originated as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century. Route description The line runs from Embarcadero station in the Financial District to Genev ...

its own separated right-of-way called the Muni Subway Expansion Project, building off of a 2014 SFCTA study, is undergoing preliminary engineering studies by the SFMTA as of 2018. The project would extend the Muni subway service in a tunnel under 19th Avenue, providing grade-separated service from Embarcadero station to a proposed

Parkmerced Parkmerced is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, designed by architects Leonard Schultze and Thomas Dolliver Church in the early 1940s. Parkmerced is the second-largest single-owner neighborhood of apartment blocks west of the Mississi ...

station. The 20-year Capital Plan for the SFMTA, released in 2017, also listed both a Geary Light Rail project (a surface-subway light rail line to the Richmond District via Geary Boulevard) and a Geneva Avenue Light Rail project (a light rail line connecting Balboa Park station to the terminus of the T Third line).

Infrastructure

The Muni Metro system consists of of standard gauge track, seven light rail lines (six regular lines and one peak-hour line), three tunnels, 12 subway stations, 25 surface stations, and 87 surface stops. Muni Castro Tunnel

The backbone of the system is formed by two interconnected subway tunnels, the older

Twin Peaks Tunnel The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under Twin Peaks and is used by the K Ingleside/T Third Street, M Ocean View and S Shuttle lines of the Muni Metro system. The eastern entra ...

and the newer Market Street subway, both controlled by automatic train operation systems to run trains with the operators closing the door to allow the train to pull out of a station. This ATO system was upgraded in 2015 to replace outdated software and

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

s. The tunnels, in total length, run from West Portal Station in the southwestern part of the city to

Embarcadero Station Embarcadero station is a combined BART and Muni Metro rapid transit station in the Market Street subway. Located under Market Street between Drumm Street and Beale Street near The Embarcadero, it serves the Financial District neighborhood and s ...

in the heart of the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

. Three lines—the

K Ingleside The K Ingleside is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. It mainly serves the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. The line opened on February 3, 1918, and was the first line to use the Twin Peaks Tunnel ...

, the

L Taraval The L Taraval is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Parkside District. The line is currently suspended and replaced by buses through the end of 2024 for a road improvement project along T ...

, and the

M Ocean View The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco. It originated as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century. Route description The line runs from Embarcadero station in the Financial District to Genev ...

—feed into the tunnel at West Portal, while two lines, the J Church and

N Judah The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downt ...

, enter at a portal near Church Street and Duboce Avenue in the

Duboce Triangle The Duboce Triangle is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, located below Buena Vista Park and between the neighborhoods of the Castro/Eureka Valley, the Mission District, and the Lower Haight. According to the 2010 neighborhoods map of ...

neighborhood. Two lines, the

N Judah The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downt ...

and

T Third Street The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with th ...

, enter and exit the tunnel at Embarcadero. An additional tunnel, the

Sunset Tunnel The Sunset Tunnel, originally known as the Duboce Tunnel, is a -long light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under the steep hill adjacent to Buena Vista Park and is used exclusively by the N Judah Muni Metro ...

, is located near the Duboce portal and is served by the N. The interconnected tunnels contain nine subway stations. Three stations—West Portal, Forest Hill and the now-defunct Eureka Valley—were opened in 1918 as part of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, while the other seven— Castro Street, Church Street, Van Ness,

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

,

Powell Street Powell Street is a street in San Francisco, California that connects from Market Street through Union Square, North Beach, Nob Hill, Russian Hill and ends at Fisherman's Wharf. The intersection of Powell Street with Market Street is the sta ...

,

Montgomery Street Montgomery Street is a north-south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, in the United States. It runs about 16 blocks from the Telegraph Hill neighborhood south through downtown, terminating at Market Street. South of Columbus Avenue ...

and Embarcadero—were opened in 1980 as part of the Market Street subway. Four stations, Civic Center, Powell Street, Montgomery Street, and Embarcadero, are shared with

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...

(BART), with Muni Metro on the upper level and BART on the lower one. Westbound N Judah train at 4th Avenue, March 2012

Above ground, there are twenty-four surface platform stations. Two stations, Stonestown and

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

are located at the southwestern part of the city, while the rest are located on the eastern side of the city, where the system underwent recent expansion as part of the Embarcadero extension and the

Third Street Light Rail Project The Third Street Light Rail Project was the construction project that expanded the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, linking downtown San Francisco to the historically underserved southeastern neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Poin ...

. However, many of the stops on the system are surface stops consisting of anything from a traffic island to a yellow-banded "Car Stop" sign painted on a utility pole. All subway and surface stations are

accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

to people with disabilities. Because the system uses high-floor vehicles, while operating as a streetcar, the vehicles are not accessible to people with disabilities that impact their mobility. A select number of stops, typically located near major intersections, are equipped with

ramps An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

or lifts, for people with disabilities. Muni Metro has two rail yards for storage and maintenance: * Green Yard or Curtis E. Green Light Rail Center at 425 Geneva Avenue is located adjacent to Balboa Park Station and serves as the outbound terminus for the J Church,

K Ingleside The K Ingleside is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. It mainly serves the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. The line opened on February 3, 1918, and was the first line to use the Twin Peaks Tunnel ...

, and

M Ocean View The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco. It originated as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century. Route description The line runs from Embarcadero station in the Financial District to Genev ...

. The facility has repair facilities, an outdoor storage yard and larger carhouse structure. The facility was renamed for former and late head of Muni in 1987. * Muni Metro East is a newer facility opened in 2008 and is located along the Central Waterfront on Illinois and 25th Streets in the

Potrero Hill Potrero Hill is a residential neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is known for its views of the San Francisco Bay and city skyline, its proximity to many destination spots, its sunny weather, and having two freeways and a Caltrain stat ...

neighborhood, a block from the

T Third Street The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with th ...

line. The maintenance facility with outdoor storage area is located next to Northern Container Terminal and former Army Pier.

Routes

Rolling stock

Notes

LRV 1: Boeing Vertol US SLRV (1979–2002)

San Francisco Boeing LRV at Duboce & Church, March 1980

Muni Metro first operated

Boeing Vertol Boeing Rotorcraft Systems (formerly Boeing Helicopters and before that Boeing Vertol) is the former name of an American aircraft manufacturer, now known as Vertical Lift division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The headquarters and main r ...

-made

US Standard Light Rail Vehicle The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a standa ...

s (USSLRV), which were built for Muni Metro and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

's MBTA. Boeing had no experience in making LRVs, and has not made another since. The first cars of the initial 100-car order arrived in San Francisco in 1978; Boston had been running the cars since 1976 and by 1978, MBTA was already returning 35 cars for manufacturing defects. After receipt of the first cars, MBTA forced Boeing to make 70 to 80 modifications on each car. Boeing ended up paying in damages to Boston. The purchase price for each car was . The federal government offered to provide 80% of the funds for design and production of the USSLRV in exchange for a commitment to keep the cars in service for at least 25 years, but the cars, as-delivered, were prone to jammed doors, defective brakes and motors, leaky roofs, mechanical breakdowns, and were involved in several accidents. Muni Metro added 30 more cars to the fleet; these 30 had been rejected by MBTA after suffering numerous breakdowns. In 1982, the Boeing cars averaged only between breakdowns; by 1988 this had improved to between breakdowns. In 1998, Rudy Nothenberg, president of the Public Transportation Commission, said the Boeing cars were "impossible to maintain and ..have many, many design flaws;" that same year, Muni was only able to supply 66–72 working cars for rush-hour service instead of the required 99 cars, resulting in system delays. Despite the shortcomings of the USSLRV design, these cars constituted the entire light rail fleet until 1996, when new Breda-manufactured cars were put into service, replacing Boeing cars as they were accepted for service. By 1998, the 136-car Muni Metro fleet consisted of 57 Boeing Vertol cars and 79 Breda cars. Two Boeing cars were preserved for potential donation to the San Francisco Railway Museum, but have since been scrapped; five were sold to the

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority The Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) was a local government institution responsible for the strategic direction of passenger transport in Greater Manchester. It existed from 1969 to 1974 as the SELNEC Passenger Transport ...

for the modest price of to each; one was acquired by the

Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society (OERHS) is a non-profit organization in the U.S. state of Oregon, founded in 1957. It owns and operates a railroad museum for electric railroad and streetcar enthusiasts, and also operates a separate ...

in 2001, but the Society declined to take any more Boeing cars after experiencing several breakdowns. Boeing car no. 1258 has been on exhibit at the

Western Railway Museum The Western Railway Museum, in Solano County, California is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of the Sacramento Northern Railway. Their collection focuses on trolleys, as it is ...

near Suisun City since its acquisition in 2002.

LRV 2 & LRV 3: Breda (1996–present)

Inbound train at Taraval and 42nd Avenue, June 2018

The first of four prototypes of the new Breda cars was delivered in January 1995. After delivery of additional cars and training of operators, the cars began to enter service on December 10, 1996. They were the most expensive street railway vehicles built to-date, at a cost of each, and they were assembled at Pier 80. After suffering initial breakdowns and despite facing complaints of noise and vibrations, the Bredas gradually replaced the Boeings, with the last Boeing car being retired in 2002. Residents along streetcar lines complained the new Breda cars would screech during acceleration and deceleration and their weight, heavier than the Boeing cars, was blamed for vibration issues. At one point in 1998, 12 Breda cars were unavailable for service due to door problems. Faulty couplers on the Breda cars have been blamed for reduced train capacity, as multiple cars are not able to be coupled together as intended. Muni originally ordered 35 cars from Breda in 1991, and exercised options to add another 116 cars throughout the 1990s, including an option to purchase another 15 cars in 1999. The fleet had 151 LRVs in 2014, all made by Breda. The double-ended cars are long, wide, high, have graffiti-resistant windows, and contain an air-conditioning system to maintain a temperature of inside the car. The Breda cars feature four doors per car, versus three for the Boeing (only the middle two doors of the Boeing cars were available while in the tunnels due to the cars' end curvature). The initial batch of 136 Breda cars were ordered on contracts exceeding , for an average per-car cost of ; the option of 15 additional cars was exercised on a contract worth , making the last batch of 15 cars each. By 2011, the fleet of Breda LRVs was only able to manage a mean distance between failures (MDBF) of .

LRV 4: Siemens S200 SF (2017–present)

Inbound N Judah train boarding at 48th Avenue, September 2019

With the Breda cars growing increasingly unreliable and the system expanding with the construction of the Central Subway, Muni requested bids for a new generation of light rail vehicles. Muni prequalified CAF, Kawasaki and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

to bid on the request while Breda was disqualified based on a ranking of potential bidders. The contract was awarded to Siemens for the purchase of up to 260 cars to be delivered in three phases: the initial firm order of 24 cars would accommodate the Central Subway; the next firm order of 151 cars would replace all of the Breda vehicles and an option to purchase up to 85 additional cars, funding permitting, to accommodate projected ridership growth through 2040. A grant of $41million from the California Transportation Agency awarded on July 2, 2015, allowed Muni to purchase 40 additional Siemens light rail vehicles. Upon awarding the contract, Muni officials cited several lessons learned from the prior Breda contract, including not buying enough cars, dictating too much of the design, lax reliability requirements and a failure to account for maintenance costs. The contract for 175 cars (the first two phases) was signed by Mayor Ed Lee in September 2014, making the cost of each car approximately . Muni ultimately purchased 249 vehicles: the 175 cars from the first two phases, 44 additional cars, and surplus 30 cars were contracted in 2021.

Design

Siemens has named the new Muni cars the S200 SF while the SFMTA refers to them as the LRV4. They operate at speeds of up to . The S200 SF is long, wide, high (with the pantograph locked down), and weighs , making it comparable in size and weight to the existing Breda cars. The expected maximum capacity is 203 passengers per car. They are expected to have the same coupling device as the Breda cars; however, the new Siemens trains can couple up to five cars at a time. The new S200 SF vehicles are projected to be able to run between maintenance intervals. Initially, the new cars had a mean distance between failures (MDBF) of shortly after being delivered; by August 2019, the MDBF had improved to .

Service history

Siemens publicly unveiled a full-size mockup of the S200 SF in San Francisco on June 16, 2015. The first car was delivered from the Siemens plant in Sacramento to San Francisco on January 13, 2017. A test car passed a CPUC regulatory inspection in early November 2017 and car #2006 was the first LRV to enter revenue service on November 17, 2017, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at

Duboce and Church Duboce and Church (Church and Duboce for the J Church line) is a light rail stop on the Muni Metro J Church and N Judah lines, located in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Just east of the station, the two lines ente ...

. The first 68 cars were used to expand the Muni fleet to 219 cars and once the fleet reached that total in October 2019, Breda cars would be retired as new Siemens cars are accepted. It is expected that deliveries of cars will continue through 2028.

Fares and operations

Muni Metro faregates at Embarcadero station, November 2018

Muni Metro runs from approximately 5 am to 1 am weekdays, with later start times of 7 am on Saturday and 8 am on Sunday.

Owl service Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, refers to the public transport services operated during the night hours. These services are operated, mainly using buses but in certain cases using trams (or streetcars), not including int ...

, or late-night service, is provided along much of the L and N lines by buses that bear the same route designation. The cash fare for Muni Metro, like Muni buses, effective January 1, 2020, is $3 for adults and $1.50 for youth ages 5–17, seniors, and the disabled. Clipper and MuniMobile fares are lower than cash fares. Their fares are $2.50 for adults and $1.25 for youth ages 5–17, seniors, and the disabled. Muni currently operates
Free Muni for Seniors
program that provides low- and moderate-income seniors residing in San Francisco free access to all Muni transit services, including Muni's cable cars. Free Muni is open to all San Francisco senior Clipper card holders, ages 65 and over, with a gross annual family income at or below 100 percent of the Bay Area median income level (qualifying income levels are posted on the program's web page). Enrollment is not automatic. To participate in the program, a qualified senior must have or obtain a Clipper card and submit an application either online or by mail. Like Muni buses, the Muni Metro operates on a proof-of-payment system; on paying a fare, the passenger will receive a ticket good for travel on any bus, historic streetcar, or Metro vehicle for 120 minutes. Payment methods depend on boarding location. On surface street sections in the south and west of the city, passengers must board at the front of the train and pay their fare to the train operator to receive their ticket; those who already have a ticket, or who have a daily, weekly, or monthly pass, can board at any door of the Metro streetcar. Subway stations have controlled entries via

faregate In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...

s, and passengers usually purchase or show Muni staff a ticket in order to enter the platform area. Faregates closest to an unmanned Muni staff booth open automatically if a passenger has a valid pass or transfer that cannot be scanned. Muni's fare inspectors may board trains at any time to check for proof of payment from passengers. All cars are also equipped with

Clipper card The Clipper card is a reloadable contactless smart card used for automated fare collection in the San Francisco Bay Area. First introduced as TransLink in 2002 by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) as a pilot program, it was rebran ...

readers near each entrance, which riders may use to tag their cards to pay their fare. The cards themselves are then used as proof of payment; fare inspectors carry handheld card readers that can verify that payment was made. In subway stations, riders instead tag their cards on the faregates to gain access to the platforms.

References

External links

Muni Metro performance statistics
{{California railroads Light rail in California Passenger rail transportation in California Public transportation in San Francisco 600 V DC railway electrification 1980 establishments in California

History

Beginnings

Market Street subway

Muni meltdown

Recent expansions

COVID-19 pandemic

Future

Infrastructure

Routes

Rolling stock

LRV 1: Boeing Vertol US SLRV (1979–2002)

LRV 2 & LRV 3: Breda (1996–present)

LRV 4: Siemens S200 SF (2017–present)

Design

Service history

Fares and operations

See also

References

External links