Muni Metro
Encyclopedia
Muni Metro is a light rail
system serving San Francisco, California
, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway
(Muni), a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Serving a daily average of 151,300, Muni Metro is the third busiest light rail system in the United States.
Muni Metro is the modern incarnation of the traditional streetcar
system that had served San Francisco since the late 19th century. While many streetcar lines in other cities and San Francisco itself were converted to buses after World War II, five lines survived until the 1970s, when the streetcar lines were converted to light rail during the opening of the Market Street Subway in 1980. Recently, the system had undergone expansion, most notably the Third Street Light Rail Project, completed in 2007, which started the first new rail line in San Francisco in over half a century. Other projects, such as the Central Subway
, are underway.
The system consists of 71.5 miles (115.1 km) of standard gauge
track, seven light rail lines (six regular lines and one peak-hour line), three tunnels, nine subway stations, twenty-four surface stations, and eighty-seven surface stops. Muni Metro utilizes a fleet of 151 light rail vehicles (LRV) made by Breda
.
The backbone of the system is formed by two interconnected subway tunnels, the older Twin Peaks Tunnel
and the newer Market Street Subway. The tunnels, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) in total length, run from West Portal Station
in the southwestern part of the city to Embarcadero Station
in the heart of the Financial District
. Three lines, the K Ingleside
, the L Taraval
, and the M Ocean View feed into the tunnel at West Portal, while two lines, the J Church
and N Judah
, enter at a portal near Church Street and Duboce Avenue in the Duboce Triangle
neighborhood. Two lines, the N Judah
and T Third Street, enter and exit the tunnel at Embarcadero. An additional tunnel, the Sunset Tunnel
, is located near the Duboce portal and is served by the N.
The interconnected tunnels contain nine subway stations. Two stations, West Portal and Forest Hill, were opened in 1918 as part of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, while the other seven, Castro Street
, Church Street
, Van Ness
, Civic Center, Powell Street
, Montgomery Street
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
(BART), with Muni Metro on the upper level and BART on the lower one.
Above ground, there are twenty-four surface platform stations. Two stations, Stonestown
and San Francisco State University
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. 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 handicap-accessible. In addition, several surface street stops are also handicap-accessible, often consisting of a ramp leading up to a small platform for boarding.
Muni Metro has two rail yards for storage and maintenance. The Green yard is located adjacent to Balboa Park Station and serves as the outbound terminus for the J Church
, K Ingleside
, and M Ocean View. A newer facility, Muni Metro East, opened in 2008 and is located on Illinois and 25th Streets in the Potrero Hill
neighborhood, a block from the T Third Street line.
Muni Metro first operated Boeing Vertol-made US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
s (USSLRV), which were built for Muni Metro and Boston
's MBTA
. Boeing had no experience in making LRVs, and has not made another since. Acquired due to the federal government offering to provide much of the funding, the cars were prone to jammed doors, leaky roofs, mechanical breakdowns, and several accidents. In fact, 30 vehicles on Muni Metro's fleet were ones that the MBTA rejected after suffering numerous breakdowns. Despite its shortcomings, the cars constituted the entire light rail fleet until 1996, when new Breda
-manufactured cars were put into service. After suffering initial breakdowns and despite facing complaints of noise and vibrations, the Bredas gradually replaced the Boeings, with the last Boeing car being scrapped in 2002.
There are 151 LRVs on the fleet, all made by Breda. The double-ended cars are 75 feet (22.9 m) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) wide, 11 feet (3.4 m) high, have graffiti-resistant windows, and contain an air-conditioning system to maintain a temperature of 72 °F (22.2 °C) inside the car. With the ongoing expansion of the system, there are plans to acquire an additional 24 cars.
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
, or late-night service, is provided along much of the L and N lines by buses that bear the same route designation.
The basic fare for Muni Metro, like Muni buses, is $2 for adults and $0.75 for youth ages 5–17, seniors, and the disabled. The Muni Metro system as a whole is 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 90 minutes. Payment methods depend on boarding location. On surface street sections in the south and west of the city, passengers can board at the front of the train and pay their fare to the streetcar 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 turnstile
s, and passengers must purchase or show Muni staff a ticket in order to enter the platform area. On high-platform stations outside the tunnels, ticket machines are available on the platforms; passengers without tickets or passes must purchase them before boarding. Fare inspectors may board trains at any time to check for proof of payment from passengers.
to Fulton Street and 10th Avenue in the Richmond District
. The system slowly expanded, opening the Twin Peaks Tunnel
in 1917, allowing streetcars to run to the southwestern quadrant of the city. The last line to start service before 2007 was the N Judah
, which started service after the Sunset Tunnel
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
, and thus could not be converted to bus lines. As a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued operation.
Original plans for the BART
system drawn up in the 1950s envisioned a double-decker subway tunnel under Market Street (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. After construction of the tunnel had begun, however, 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 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 1980, even though the tunnel was completed in 1978. In February 1980, Muni Metro was officially inaugurated, with weekday N line service in the subway. The Metro service was implemented in phases, with all five lines running in the subway on a full-time basis by November 1982.
Muni did take steps to meet 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 control
(ATC). The Breda cars, however, came in noisy, overweight, oversized, under-braked, and over-budget (their price grew from $2.2 million per car to nearly $3 million over the course of their production). In fact, the new trains were so heavy (10,000 pounds 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, maintenance yards, as well as the rear view mirrors on the trains themselves. Furthermore, the Breda cars are 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 $15 million to quiet them down, while estimates range up to $1 million per car to remedy the excessive noise. To this day, the Breda cars are noisier than the PCC or Boeing cars. In 1998, NTSB inspectors mandated a lower speed limit of 30 mi/h, down from 50 mi/h, 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
—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.
was extended from Church and 30th Streets to its current terminus at Balboa Park. In 1998, the N Judah
was extended from Embarcadero station to the planned site of the new AT&T Park
(then called Pacific Bell Park) and Caltrain Depot
, after the extension was briefly served by the E Embarcadero
(no relation to the currently proposed historic streetcar line).
In 2007, the T Third Street, 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. 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
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).
and is starting to begin construction, a combined surface and subway line running from Caltrain Depot
to Chinatown, with stops at Moscone Center
and Union Square, with the option of a future extension to North Beach
and Fisherman's Wharf
. Ground was broken for the expansion on 2010. Muni estimates that the Central Subway
will carry roughly 78,000 riders per day by 2030. Planners estimate the Central Subway will be completed by 2016 at an estimated cost of $1.2897 billion.
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
system serving San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
(Muni), a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Serving a daily average of 151,300, Muni Metro is the third busiest light rail system in the United States.
Muni Metro is the modern incarnation of the traditional streetcar
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
system that had served San Francisco since the late 19th century. While many streetcar lines in other cities and San Francisco itself were converted to buses after World War II, five lines survived until the 1970s, when the streetcar lines were converted to light rail during the opening of the Market Street Subway in 1980. Recently, the system had undergone expansion, most notably the Third Street Light Rail Project, completed in 2007, which started the first new rail line in San Francisco in over half a century. Other projects, such as the Central Subway
Central Subway
The Central Subway is an extension of the Muni Metro light rail system in San Francisco, California, from the Caltrain commuter rail depot at 4th and King streets to Chinatown. The subway is the second phase of the Third Street Light Rail Project...
, are underway.
The system consists of 71.5 miles (115.1 km) of standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
track, seven light rail lines (six regular lines and one peak-hour line), three tunnels, nine subway stations, twenty-four surface stations, and eighty-seven surface stops. Muni Metro utilizes a fleet of 151 light rail vehicles (LRV) made by Breda
Ansaldobreda, S.P.A.
AnsaldoBreda S.p.A. is a rail transport engineering company based in Italy. The company designs and manufactures railway and mass transit vehicles.-Company details:...
.
Routes
| Line | Year opened |
Terminus |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J Church J Church The J Church is a Muni Metro railway line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown. It began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in 1917, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni... |
1917 | Embarcadero Embarcadero Station Embarcadero is a BART and Muni Metro station in the Financial District of San Francisco. The easternmost stop on the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero acts as a major hub for passenger movement throughout the San Francisco Bay Area... |
Balboa Park | |
| K Ingleside K Ingleside The K Ingleside is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni Metro system in the... |
1918 | Embarcadero Embarcadero Station Embarcadero is a BART and Muni Metro station in the Financial District of San Francisco. The easternmost stop on the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero acts as a major hub for passenger movement throughout the San Francisco Bay Area... |
Balboa Park | |
| L Taraval L Taraval The L Taraval is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Parkside District, an area which is immediately south of the Sunset District and which is regarded by some as the southern part of the Sunset District... |
1919 | Embarcadero Embarcadero Station Embarcadero is a BART and Muni Metro station in the Financial District of San Francisco. The easternmost stop on the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero acts as a major hub for passenger movement throughout the San Francisco Bay Area... |
46th Avenue and Wawona San Francisco Zoo San Francisco Zoo The San Francisco Zoo, housing more than 260 animal species, is a zoo located in the southwestern corner of San Francisco, California, between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean along the Great Highway... |
|
| M Ocean View | 1925 | Embarcadero Embarcadero Station Embarcadero is a BART and Muni Metro station in the Financial District of San Francisco. The easternmost stop on the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero acts as a major hub for passenger movement throughout the San Francisco Bay Area... |
San Jose and Geneva Balboa Park |
|
| N Judah N Judah The N Judah is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, so called as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system... |
1928 | 4th and King San Francisco 4th and King Street Station San Francisco 4th and King Street or 4th and King station or Caltrain Depot is the northern terminus of the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley, and is a major regional transit hub... (every day) |
Judah and La Playa Ocean Beach Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California Ocean Beach is a beach that runs along the west coast of San Francisco, California, United States, at the Pacific Ocean. It is adjacent to Golden Gate Park, the Richmond District and the Sunset District. The Great Highway runs alongside the beach, and Cliff House and the site of the former Sutro... |
|
| S Castro Shuttle S Castro Shuttle The S Castro Shuttle is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California. It runs from Embarcadero Station downtown to the Castro Street Station during peak periods on weekdays... (not shown) |
2002 | Embarcadero Embarcadero Station Embarcadero is a BART and Muni Metro station in the Financial District of San Francisco. The easternmost stop on the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero acts as a major hub for passenger movement throughout the San Francisco Bay Area... West Portal West Portal Station West Portal Station is a Muni Metro station in the West Portal neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is built around the entrance to the Twin Peaks Tunnel, which connects with the Market Street Subway and runs through the city to the Embarcadero... (game days) |
Castro Street Castro Street Station Castro Street 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... Caltrain Depot San Francisco 4th and King Street Station San Francisco 4th and King Street or 4th and King station or Caltrain Depot is the northern terminus of the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley, and is a major regional transit hub... (game days) |
|
| T Third Street | 2007 | West Portal West Portal Station West Portal Station is a Muni Metro station in the West Portal neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is built around the entrance to the Twin Peaks Tunnel, which connects with the Market Street Subway and runs through the city to the Embarcadero... |
Bayshore and Sunnydale Sunnydale Station Sunnydale Station is an island platform light rail station of the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Muni Metro system located in the median of Bayshore Boulevard at Sunnydale Avenue in Visitacion Valley, San Francisco, California. This is the terminal for the T Third Street Muni Metro line... |
Infrastructure
The backbone of the system is formed by two interconnected subway tunnels, the older Twin Peaks Tunnel
Twin Peaks Tunnel
The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a long light rail transit/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California, United States, running under Twin Peaks. When it was opened on February 3, 1918, it was one of the longest railway tunnels in the world . It was the longest U.S...
and the newer Market Street Subway. The tunnels, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) in total length, run from West Portal Station
West Portal Station
West Portal Station is a Muni Metro station in the West Portal neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is built around the entrance to the Twin Peaks Tunnel, which connects with the Market Street Subway and runs through the city to the Embarcadero...
in the southwestern part of the city to Embarcadero Station
Embarcadero Station
Embarcadero is a BART and Muni Metro station in the Financial District of San Francisco. The easternmost stop on the Market Street Subway, Embarcadero acts as a major hub for passenger movement throughout the San Francisco Bay Area...
in the heart of the Financial District
Financial District, San Francisco, California
The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, that serves as its main central business district. The nickname "FiDi" is occasionally employed, analogous to nearby SoMa.-Location:...
. Three lines, the K Ingleside
K Ingleside
The K Ingleside is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni Metro system in the...
, the L Taraval
L Taraval
The L Taraval is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Parkside District, an area which is immediately south of the Sunset District and which is regarded by some as the southern part of the Sunset District...
, and the M Ocean View feed into the tunnel at West Portal, while two lines, the J Church
J Church
The J Church is a Muni Metro railway line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown. It began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in 1917, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni...
and N Judah
N Judah
The N Judah is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, so called as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system...
, enter at a portal near Church Street and Duboce Avenue in the Duboce Triangle
Duboce Triangle, San Francisco, California
The Duboce Triangle neighborhood is located near the center of San Francisco, just below the hilly slopes of Buena Vista between the neighborhoods of the Castro/Eureka Valley, the Mission District, and the Lower Haight....
neighborhood. Two lines, the N Judah
N Judah
The N Judah is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, so called as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system...
and T Third Street, enter and exit the tunnel at Embarcadero. An additional tunnel, the Sunset Tunnel
Sunset Tunnel
The Sunset Tunnel is a tunnel in San Francisco, California, used by the N Judah Muni Metro line. It opened on 21 October 1928 in a ceremony presided over by Mayor James Rolph, and lies directly beneath Buena Vista Park and the steep hill that the park is located on. The western entrance to the...
, is located near the Duboce portal and is served by the N.
The interconnected tunnels contain nine subway stations. Two stations, West Portal and Forest Hill, were opened in 1918 as part of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, while the other seven, Castro Street
Castro Street Station
Castro Street 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...
, Church Street
Church Street Station (San Francisco)
Church Street Station is a Muni Metro station at the intersection of Market Street, Church Street and 14th Street in San Francisco, California. The J Church, which enters and exits the Market Street tunnel in a portal near the station, has an aboveground stop on Church and Market Streets...
, Van Ness
Van Ness Station
Van Ness Station is a Muni Metro station on the Market Street Subway at the intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, California. The station consists of a concourse mezzanine on the first floor down, and a single island platform on the second level down...
, Civic Center, Powell Street
Powell Street Station
Powell Street Station is a Muni Metro and Bay Area Rapid Transit station near the intersection of Market Street and Powell Street in downtown San Francisco, California. The station is located along the Market Street Subway and extends underground from Fourth Street to Fifth Street. Hallidie Plaza...
, Montgomery Street
Montgomery Street Station
Montgomery Street Station is a Muni Metro and Bay Area Rapid Transit station in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. It is located on the Market Street Subway beneath Market Street, between Montgomery Street and Sansome Street...
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
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
(BART), with Muni Metro on the upper level and BART on the lower one.
Above ground, there are twenty-four surface platform stations. Two stations, Stonestown
Stonestown Galleria Station
Stownstown Galleria Station is a major Muni Metro aboveground station located on the median of 19th Avenue at near the station's namesake Stonestown Galleria mall. It is served by the M Ocean View line, which runs between Embarcadero Station and Balboa Park Station. Several Muni and SF State...
and San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University Station
San Francisco State University Station is a major Muni Metro aboveground station located on the median of 19th Avenue at Holloway Avenue, near the station's namesake university. It is served by the M Ocean View line, which runs between Embarcadero Station and Balboa Park Station. Several Muni and...
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. 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 handicap-accessible. In addition, several surface street stops are also handicap-accessible, often consisting of a ramp leading up to a small platform for boarding.
Muni Metro has two rail yards for storage and maintenance. The Green yard is located adjacent to Balboa Park Station and serves as the outbound terminus for the J Church
J Church
The J Church is a Muni Metro railway line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown. It began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in 1917, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni...
, K Ingleside
K Ingleside
The K Ingleside is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni Metro system in the...
, and M Ocean View. A newer facility, Muni Metro East, opened in 2008 and is located on Illinois and 25th Streets in the Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California
Potrero Hill is a hilly neighborhood in San Francisco, California.-Location:Potrero Hill is located on the eastern side of the city, east of the Mission District and south of SOMA and the newly designated district . It is roughly bordered by 16th Street to the north, Potrero Avenue and U.S...
neighborhood, a block from the T Third Street line.
Fleet
Muni Metro first operated Boeing Vertol-made US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle was an attempt at a standardized light rail vehicle promoted by the United States Urban Mass Transportation Administration and built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s...
s (USSLRV), which were built for Muni Metro and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's MBTA
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...
. Boeing had no experience in making LRVs, and has not made another since. Acquired due to the federal government offering to provide much of the funding, the cars were prone to jammed doors, leaky roofs, mechanical breakdowns, and several accidents. In fact, 30 vehicles on Muni Metro's fleet were ones that the MBTA rejected after suffering numerous breakdowns. Despite its shortcomings, the cars constituted the entire light rail fleet until 1996, when new Breda
Ansaldobreda, S.P.A.
AnsaldoBreda S.p.A. is a rail transport engineering company based in Italy. The company designs and manufactures railway and mass transit vehicles.-Company details:...
-manufactured cars were put into service. After suffering initial breakdowns and despite facing complaints of noise and vibrations, the Bredas gradually replaced the Boeings, with the last Boeing car being scrapped in 2002.
There are 151 LRVs on the fleet, all made by Breda. The double-ended cars are 75 feet (22.9 m) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) wide, 11 feet (3.4 m) high, have graffiti-resistant windows, and contain an air-conditioning system to maintain a temperature of 72 °F (22.2 °C) inside the car. With the ongoing expansion of the system, there are plans to acquire an additional 24 cars.
Fares and operations
Night bus
A night bus service or owl service is a public transport bus service which operates through the night time hours. Many cities operate such services, either in addition to or in substitution for ordinary daytime bus services or rapid transit rail services which may shut for maintenance or due to...
, or late-night service, is provided along much of the L and N lines by buses that bear the same route designation.
The basic fare for Muni Metro, like Muni buses, is $2 for adults and $0.75 for youth ages 5–17, seniors, and the disabled. The Muni Metro system as a whole is 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 90 minutes. Payment methods depend on boarding location. On surface street sections in the south and west of the city, passengers can board at the front of the train and pay their fare to the streetcar 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 turnstile
Turnstile
A turnstile, also called a baffle gate, is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. It can also be made so as to enforce one-way traffic of people, and in addition, it can restrict passage only to people who insert a coin, a ticket, a pass, or similar...
s, and passengers must purchase or show Muni staff a ticket in order to enter the platform area. On high-platform stations outside the tunnels, ticket machines are available on the platforms; passengers without tickets or passes must purchase them before boarding. Fare inspectors may board trains at any time to check for proof of payment from passengers.
Beginnings
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 DistrictFinancial District, San Francisco, California
The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, that serves as its main central business district. The nickname "FiDi" is occasionally employed, analogous to nearby SoMa.-Location:...
to Fulton Street and 10th Avenue in the Richmond District
Richmond District, San Francisco, California
The Richmond District is a neighborhood in the northwest corner of San Francisco, California.-Location:Lying directly north of Golden Gate Park, "the Richmond" is bounded roughly by Fulton Street to the south, Arguello Boulevard and Laurel Heights to the east, The Presidio National Park and Lincoln...
. The system slowly expanded, opening the Twin Peaks Tunnel
Twin Peaks Tunnel
The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a long light rail transit/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California, United States, running under Twin Peaks. When it was opened on February 3, 1918, it was one of the longest railway tunnels in the world . It was the longest U.S...
in 1917, allowing streetcars to run to the southwestern quadrant of the city. The last line to start service before 2007 was the N Judah
N Judah
The N Judah is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, so called as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system...
, which started service after the Sunset Tunnel
Sunset Tunnel
The Sunset Tunnel is a tunnel in San Francisco, California, used by the N Judah Muni Metro line. It opened on 21 October 1928 in a ceremony presided over by Mayor James Rolph, and lies directly beneath Buena Vista Park and the steep hill that the park is located on. The western entrance to the...
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 (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
, and thus could not be converted to bus lines. As a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued operation.
Original plans for the BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
system drawn up in the 1950s envisioned a double-decker subway tunnel under Market Street (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. After construction of the tunnel had begun, however, 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
Twin Peaks Tunnel
The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a long light rail transit/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California, United States, running under Twin Peaks. When it was opened on February 3, 1918, it was one of the longest railway tunnels in the world . It was the longest U.S...
. 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
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle was an attempt at a standardized light rail vehicle promoted by the United States Urban Mass Transportation Administration and built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s...
was ordered from Boeing-Vertol, but were not delivered until 1980, even though the tunnel was completed in 1978. In February 1980, Muni Metro was officially inaugurated, with weekday N line service in the subway. The Metro service was implemented in phases, with all five lines running in the subway on a full-time basis by November 1982.
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, and the Metro system began to feel the strain of increased commuter demand. Muni-bashing had always been something of a civic sport for San Franciscans, and not without reason: the Boeing trains were sub-par and grew crowded quickly, and the difficulty in running a system that was half-streetcar and half-subway with five different routes merging together into one, led to scheduling chaos 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 meet these problems. Newer, larger Breda
Ansaldobreda, S.P.A.
AnsaldoBreda S.p.A. is a rail transport engineering company based in Italy. The company designs and manufactures railway and mass transit vehicles.-Company details:...
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 control
Automatic Train Control
Automatic Train Control is a train protection system for railways, ensuring the safe and smooth operation of trains on ATC-enabled lines. Its main advantages include making possible the use of cab signalling instead of track-side signals and the use of smooth deceleration patterns in lieu of the...
(ATC). The Breda cars, however, came in noisy, overweight, oversized, under-braked, and over-budget (their price grew from $2.2 million per car to nearly $3 million over the course of their production). In fact, the new trains were so heavy (10,000 pounds 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, maintenance yards, as well as the rear view mirrors on the trains themselves. Furthermore, the Breda cars are 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 $15 million to quiet them down, while estimates range up to $1 million per car to remedy the excessive noise. To this day, the Breda cars are noisier than the PCC or Boeing cars. In 1998, NTSB inspectors mandated a lower speed limit of 30 mi/h, down from 50 mi/h, 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
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
—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.
Recent expansion
In 1980, the M Ocean View was extended from Broad Street and Plymouth Avenue to its current terminus at Balboa Park. In 1991, the J ChurchJ Church
The J Church is a Muni Metro railway line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown. It began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in 1917, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni...
was extended from Church and 30th Streets to its current terminus at Balboa Park. In 1998, the N Judah
N Judah
The N Judah is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, so called as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system...
was extended from Embarcadero station to the planned site of the new AT&T Park
AT&T Park
AT&T Park is a ballpark located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2000....
(then called Pacific Bell Park) and Caltrain Depot
San Francisco 4th and King Street Station
San Francisco 4th and King Street or 4th and King station or Caltrain Depot is the northern terminus of the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley, and is a major regional transit hub...
, after the extension was briefly served by the E Embarcadero
E Embarcadero
The E Embarcadero is intended to become 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 , and the line will begin operating permanently once additional historic...
(no relation to the currently proposed historic streetcar line).
In 2007, the T Third Street, 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. 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
Sunnydale Station
Sunnydale Station is an island platform light rail station of the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Muni Metro system located in the median of Bayshore Boulevard at Sunnydale Avenue in Visitacion Valley, San Francisco, California. This is the terminal for the T Third Street Muni Metro line...
to Castro Street Station
Castro Street Station
Castro Street 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...
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).
Future expansion
Several projects are underway or under study. But the Federal funding has been secured for the Central SubwayCentral Subway
The Central Subway is an extension of the Muni Metro light rail system in San Francisco, California, from the Caltrain commuter rail depot at 4th and King streets to Chinatown. The subway is the second phase of the Third Street Light Rail Project...
and is starting to begin construction, a combined surface and subway line running from Caltrain Depot
San Francisco 4th and King Street Station
San Francisco 4th and King Street or 4th and King station or Caltrain Depot is the northern terminus of the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley, and is a major regional transit hub...
to Chinatown, with stops at Moscone Center
Moscone Center
Moscone Center is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. It comprises three main halls: Two underground halls underneath Yerba Buena Gardens, known as Moscone North and Moscone South, and a three-level Moscone West exhibition hall across 4th Street...
and Union Square, with the option of a future extension to North Beach
North Beach, San Francisco, California
North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's Little Italy, and has historically been home to a large Italian American population. It still holds many Italian restaurants today, though...
and Fisherman's Wharf
Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California
Fisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street...
. Ground was broken for the expansion on 2010. Muni estimates that the Central Subway
Central Subway
The Central Subway is an extension of the Muni Metro light rail system in San Francisco, California, from the Caltrain commuter rail depot at 4th and King streets to Chinatown. The subway is the second phase of the Third Street Light Rail Project...
will carry roughly 78,000 riders per day by 2030. Planners estimate the Central Subway will be completed by 2016 at an estimated cost of $1.2897 billion.
See also
- List of California railroads
- List of tram and light-rail transit systems
- SelTracSelTracSELTrac is a digital signalling technology used to control the movements of rail vehicles originally developed by Standard Elektrik Lorenz . It was originally developed for the Krauss-Maffei Transurban automated guideway transit system developed in the 1970s, and moved to the ICTS vehicle when the...
, the automated train control system used in the Market Street Subway