This is an absolutely brilliant explication of how five original Muni streetcar lines survived. A couple of notes, though, to clarify. First, Muni did intend to replace the J-Church in the early 1950s with electric trolley buses, which could easily climb Church Street itself, bypassing the, er, bypass. Neighborhood opposition squelched that. Second, BART never intended to establish a "second, local BART service inside the city". The Muni Metro subway level downtown, and its extension to Castro, was always to be part of Muni, and was included to get San Franciscans to vote for the BART bonds. In 1966, Muni asked voters to approve more bonds to make the Muni subway level a true Metro, including only the M and N lines, and putting the outer ends of those lines underground. But voters did not approve. That's how all five lines, the J, K, L, M, and N, ended up in the subway.
@@ababababaababbba Yes, but not through the second level of the Market subway. As always with BART, that was supposed to just be a spur off the main line. BART does this all throughout its system. The way the spurs all interline is supposed to match commuting patterns. BART brings people from out in the suburbs to denser and denser areas with the lines interlining more and more to eventually all join together in the Transbay Tunnel. The idea was that the BART lines would do the same in reverse once they reached SF. But we stopped funding BART so we only got half a system.
Ugh, that crazy interlining pattern is still the transit mistake of the century! I understand that every SF NIMBY wants _his_ train to go all way downtown through the tunnel. But every single transit engineer that they asked told them that this interlining was an idiotic idea. As always, SF caved to the loudest activists and allowed this ridiculous service pattern that hobbles Muni to this day. I know that the T will now run into the Central Subway instead. And they seem to be intent on moving the single-car J onto the surface alignment on Market. And just maybe the L will be rerouted to Balboa Park instead of the tunnel. But that subway is still at least two lines too interlined. With street-running trams that get stuck in car traffic, the last thing you want to make them do is to interline in a complicated ballet of the absurd to all cram into one single tunnel. The fact that Muni still does these crazy maneuvers all these years later is insane!
Thank you for clarifying that. Out of curiosity is there any concept art for how the Muni Metro would have looked had it been implemented as a heavy rail system?
To be fair, it is entirely possible ot have fast frequent service on surface level street cars, and many cities do it. The trick is to give these systems their own lane seperate from private motor traffic. Considering that there are two lanes of traffic and two for parking on most roads, along major public transport routes all you would have to do is turn the two parking lanes into private traffic lanes, and let the trams and buses have their own dedicated lanes on the street. It is a quick and very cheap fix for a massive improvement on public transport. If you want to take it a step further, you do what Zürich has done for decades, and other cities have also implemented, where traffic lights automatically stop cross traffic when a tram/bus is approaching so that public transport never stops at lights. At the end of the day its just a matter of priorities, and in the US public transit is unfortunately very far down on the list.
And, for the love of god, don’t have your trains stop at stop signs. Prevent cross streets from running through if you have to. Every time I watch a Muni line operating in mixed traffic, I die a little.
Oh god!God!! Really!! San Francisco has twice the population of Zurich and occupies a quarter of the land mass. If you are going to be critical, educate yourself. Hell, San Francisco is not even the biggest city in the Bay Area. Don't be dumb.
Checkout Manchester, UK which has a system which runs on the street in the city and streetcars but is a rapid transit system on its own network out of town.
Man, as someone living in the UK, I had _no idea_ just how darned _pretty_ San Francisco really is! Especially in the bright sun! It's made me realise just how little footage I've actually seen of San Fran, other than the classic "here's a quick look at a really steep street and an old-timey cable car". It clearly has _so_ much character and is actually a genuinely _good looking_ city, which is a really hard thing to achieve even with modern developments and more modern cities. Plus it looks like there's lots of green spaces and parks around with some really _fantastic_ views!! I'm rather jealous now. I live in a relatively flat, large-ish town, mostly consisting of similar/identical brick houses and not much else - and even where there _are_ hills there isn't much to see/look at and definitely none of the views you fine folks get!
It certainly makes an impression on me pretty much every time I walk through it. Seemingly one of the few US cities I've been to where I can get around almost entirely on walking and public transit, and gives you the views for doing it too.
@@sunshineyellow The thing to remember is that "everyone" is just a very loud but small segment of our population who have never been to the city before and should be ignored.
Fantastic video. Living in the inner Sunset district, I use to ride the N Judah all the time through the sunset tunnel to go downtown. I also miss taking the 38 Geary bus out to 48th avenue and Cabrillo street to Playland
Growing up in San Francisco in the 70's I remember watching the transition from the old streetcar system to the newer light rail style. We were completely amazed by the moving stairs in the LRV's.
Me too. We would always come to San Francisco to visit family back then,and I remember when they transitioned from the old PCC cars to the Boeing LRV and the Metro. Took a long time for folks to get used to.
Tbh,as a kid, I loved the old green Muni streetcars. The Key System in the East Bay was long gone before I was born, so taking BART over to SF to ride the Muni was always an adventure. As an adult now, I'd much rather take the Muni than driving and trying to find parking. This video really took me back in time.
As someone who lives on Dolores and uses the J regularly, this vid is great. Imo the J and N should be combined as complete streetcar line, that way there can be less jams and more frequency on the other lines in the market street subway, they can just transfer to the subway at Church station. Also couldn't agree more about Geary street (and tbh also Van Ness, Sunset, and 19th Ave could also use a subway)
Great video, I think a lot of the "wistfulness" for the streetcar era more harkens back to a time when people and cities actually cared about having good public transit infrastructure that, you know, worked for the public to maintain a sense of walkability. It's an ethos that most american cities (SF is a rare exception) have lost, by way of turning many streetcar routes into bus services then cutting those buses to provide infrastructure for cars. American cities used to have some of the best public transit infrastructure in the world, and now we just don't seem to care much anymore.
The thing is, america always goes with whatever is cheapest. When they were in their heyday, streetcars were simply the cheapest option for cities to maintain vs infrastructure for expensive cars, which very few people owned. It’s sad, but it’s true that once more people could get cars, it was simply cheaper for cities to cater to them
@@Shinyarc it’s not cheapest. At least not in the long term. Generally American politicians make decisions based on what companies lobby them the hardest, not what is more affordable or good for the American people
Most streetcars in Bratislava are separated, even in the city center. Running on the surface is not the problem. Nor is running through pedestrian zones. Running with cars is a problem and it can be solved super easily. Btw. very nice video, I learned something new about the SF system. I hope one day I will visit SF.
Great video! Your next one should be on unbuilt BART lines/projects like Marin County, Market Street (as you wonderfully alluded to here) a second bay crossing to name but a few...
Dude, this is so cool to learn the lore behind the streetcars. We really live in a special place. That tip about why Castro's platforms are so ridiculously long blew my mind. Love this stuff. Also yes, Geary needs a streetcar sooooo bad oml the Richmond needs that so bad!
As a transit planner I like the franken system - it provides good local coverage in the suburbs and grade separation and capacity down town. Full grade separation in the burbs would have led to less frequent stations and less vibrancy, access and activity
Market Street is now prohibiting private vehicular traffic east of 10th Street. This allows only buses, trolleybuses, and the F Market streetcar line to run on the surface of Market Street. The K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Oceanview, and N Judah run on tracks in semi-dedicated-to-dedicated lanes on city surface streets. Parts of the M and N also run on full grade separated tracks in the outlying areas.
@@RaymondHng : "M Oceanview, and N Judah run on tracks in semi-dedicated-to-dedicated lanes on city surface streets" Uhhhhh no. Only PARTLY true. The M only is on private ROW from St. Francis Circle to the intersection of 19th Avenue and Junipero Serra. From there it travels on shared streets in the Oceanview where the M is slow as shiite. The N is only private ROW at 9th and Judah to 19th Avenue and Judah where it goes back to sharing Judah with autos though there are signs telling autos to stay off the N tracks. As a side note: many many eons ago, I was doing my graduate work at SFSU and working as an office monkey in the Financial District. I used to actually hop onto the M Oceanview TO Balboa Park station where I would transfer to a BART train headed to the Embarcadero Station and the office. Believe it or not, BART plus the M through Oceanview to SFSU was USUALLY faster than M through Twin Peaks tunnel to SFSU.
Pre-pandemic, my family used to travel to San Francisco a lot, and I was always eager to ride the streetcars as a railfan myself. We look forward to going back there sometime in the near future! ~A fan from the Philippines 🇵🇭
Pinoy to kabayan, Ive been here since 94 but frequent traveller to PI, SF have change a lot ,too much homelessness and drugs (legal to shoot heroin) in the street especially the Tenderloin District, other parts are doing well and big development in the south of market (Mission Bay where the Warriors arena located and big hospitals...much better now after 3 years of pandemic but still financial district is slow (still lots of work at home so those buildings are just 40% occupied..
The J-Church bypass going behind houses always reminds me of the “Alley El” segments of the Chicago L, where the elevated CTA tracks have segments that literally pass through alleyways behind houses
I used to go to SF on weekends and would often overshoot my downtown Van Ness stop to ride the metro for fun. The transitions between the central underground section and aboveground sections are quite special IMO. The train just stops there while the steps slowly move into position, and suddenly you go from fairly normal subway right onto the tight, hilly streets of SF, and every so often move off the street again to grade-separated sections. It's cool to see some of the history visualized and to learn that these transitions were also what helped keep the metro in place. Definitely looking forward to you making more content about Fog City history!
Bravo! This video blew my mind 4 or 5 times. Can't believe the the recycled headstones at buena vista or that Bart was planning on stopping at Castro Street! 🤯
I feel the same way, having grown up in SF. This guy has made a compelling video with wonderful editing and fascinating history, and as many people have said, let's hope he continues :-)
Great video! I love the hydrant that saved San Francisco, or at least that section. I live in Baltimore & remember before living there the street car lines. The dependence on the automobile and the bus killed what could have been a very good transit system. Thank you for posting and all the best.
Nobody in their right mind would have wanted to scrap the street car system. Especially if you considered replacing it with a more expensive BART system. The advantage of the street car system is that it is an on and off system. You get on on street level and off on street level.
Great video! I love you included maps of the old lines. I didn't know there were so many lines back in the day. I very often drive by 15th St and San Bruno Ave, and always wonder why are there tracks there that lead to nowhere. Now I know maybe long time ago there was a street car line there. I personally love MUNI metro, being a teen in the 90's me and my friends were not about to pay for BART, with a fast pass we could get downtown faster, the zoo, or the movies at West Portal or Stonestown.
Thanks for the informative history. Even though streetcars can get stuck in traffic, I think they're more energy efficient, don't pollute as much, require less maintenance, and last longer compared to buses.
And streetcars are just more pleasant to ride. I want to love buses because they cost relatively little to deploy and are flexible, but I simply don't like riding them. Market Street has both busses and streetcars, and I'll literally watch the busses go by and wait so I can take a streetcar.
Track maintenance is almost as much as busses, and they require a lot of electrically to run. They are changing one carbon for another carbon, electrically does not come out of thin air. I happen to like the streetcars but they are just another mode of transportation not more or less anything then busses.
@@scotttild The whole *_"changing one carbon for another carbon"_* argument is deliberately misleading and has got to *STOP* now. It totally ignores the massive improvements currently being made to the power grid. On April 30, 2022 California for the first time ran on 100% clean energy with solar making up the largest slice.
@scotttild I think the streetcars themselves are less maintenance than busses and last longer, and I've read differently on the energy consumption on using electric versus diesel (or at least electric is not putting out as much smoke close to you). I'm comparing to diesel busses of course, not electric or alternative fuel.
I don't own a car in SF. I rely on my bicyle and Muni. I love the Muni metro, the only thing I would change is honestly its frequency. The services could stand to be closer together. I rarely find the trains to be overly crowded with exception of the morning train to work which is during a peak rush hour time. Then I am usually required to stand until Embaracadero at which point I can sit but that is really a minor complaint for what is honestly a very nice way to get round. I do wish we'd retained some of those services above ground rail like they originally were over the bus system, though projects like the Van Ness Bus lanes do make it a bit easier to not fall victim to the traffic. I dont pretend to haver all the information just my own observations as a resident.
I rode the old cars above ground on Market as a kid in the 60's and 70's before and during the construction of the subway. The service was usually frequent on weekdays. And the traffic on Market east of Van Ness often caused delays. And the first couple of years of the subway,it only ran on weekdays,the J still ran above ground on Market.
Hi from Melbourne, Australia. We also never lost our tram system which is the largest tram network in the world with around 250km (150mi) of track. Trams have priority on the road and cars behind or alongside the tram must stop when it does. I wouldn't swap our trams for anything.
Former Liberal Premier Sir Henry Bolte wanted to close Melbourne's tram system, but couldn't because the Victorian Government didn't own it. He did unfortunately manage to rip up the Bendigo and Ballarat systems in 1970 because the Vic government did own them (via the State Electricity Commission).
I'm a Brit and I live in the UK, but for a while I was working off and on in the Bay and I love the SF streetcar system. I would ride it regularly. And Delores Park was a regular hangout so I know that hydrant, Church Hill, and the diversion well. My home city of Leeds removed its streetcars in the 50s. There was a plan to reintroduce them as a rapid transit system but was shelved due to budget issues. It means Leeds is now the largest city in Europe without a rapid transit system. I wish we had the systems that SF has.
The Leeds budget problem is shared by SF. There is no local money for new Municipal Railway or BART projects. This leaves federal money as the only way to finance major transit improvements. Yet federal money today is spent on brand new light-rail systems in various auto-oriented cities around the country. These new lines are underutilized and may one day be abandoned or become tourist attractions.
@@Stilicho19801 That's not entirely true. Those systems are usually built in areas that are already pretty dense and that were built around some old electric streetcar system to begin with. In most cases, those cities also commit to dense development around those new light rail lines. For example, Portland built a pretty incredible system from scratch! San Diego did a pretty good job of it too. Unfortunately, SF and San Jose refused to add more density round their light rail lines. This is the kiss of death for many systems of this kind. You need a ton of usually young people who want to take transit to make these kinds of systems viable in modern day America. That's why SF is often being deprioritized. If we refuse to add 4-5 story buildings around our lines then they aren't viewed as particularly viable. San Jose is getting the short end of the stick here with their system. SF at least had some existing density to work with. SJ had none and failed to add any to make the light rail system viable.
4:52 The old unburnt side reminds me of Boston while the new rebuilt side has New York City vibes. Definitely the unburnt side is more charming and therefore more cherished. 8:58 I think not building the BART Geary Street Tunnel was a mistake. It could have been the beginning of a second transbay tube! EDIT: I think San Francisco's hills are also why the city's trolleybusses/trackless trolleys survived. Boston recently got rid of theirs this past March! It was big mistake IMO.
Geary as a BART subway (rather than Muni), in conjunction with the second Transbay Tube, is very much on the proverbial table right now with the Link21 project.
originally the plan was to have Bart service through the Richmond and possibly a crossing to Marin by modifying the Golden Gate Bridge with a lower deck
Truly fascinating. You answered so many questions I've had about the muni for decades. Loved it so much i watched it twice and sent it to like 10 other people. Great job!
Wow, this is great. I've been to SF and ridden Muni Metro many times, but hardly ever outside of the Downtown area. This makes me realize I haven't really ridden on Muni Metro...
Excellent video! I did know that the streetcar line letters came from the old Muni streetcars but I didn't know that the bus line numbers came from the Market St RR. That's pretty cool. I do love how you weaved SF history into the story. The City is a treasure trove of interesting history. It's too bad that the Central Subway took precedence over a Geary subway because, unless that Central Subway goes on to The Marina, it won't relieve the 30 Stockton bus and will have little use as just a Chinatown line. Between the time it takes to get from the Powell MUNI Station to the Union Sq Station and then the wait for a T streetcar, you can probably walk to Chinatown in about the same amount of time. It's only a 10 min walk. Now, a Geary subway probably won't happen for at least a generation or two. And yes, those MUNI platforms under Market St are very long for what MUNI uses them for. Back in the day (the 90s) when MUNI used to couple cars from several lines together in the tunnel, like a K, L and M train together, to be split up at West Portal, or a J and N train to be split up at Duboce, it seemed to make sense. As a frequent rider of the 38 Geary and 1 California buses, too bad they didn't construct a tunnel under Nob Hill and Lafayette Park along Sacramento St. for streetcars. Maybe that would have necessitated keeping a streetcar line into The Richmond. What could have been!!! Anyways, really good video both the commentary and the video scenes. You are very thorough and made sure to visualize everything you were talking about. I need to look for the gravestones in Buena Vista Park. I did not know about that!!
@@janettemcclelland2959 Exactly, that's because it isn't worth getting on the Central Subway just to have to get off in 5 min to get on the bus anyways. Might as well just get on the bus from the beginning and stay on it.
I never comment on videos but: Absolutely amazing. 10/10. Fantastic content. History, rail, and transit - I feel like this video was made for me. Subscribed. Looking forward to future videos!
The E branch of the Boston Green Line going from Heath Street to Symphony still runs as a streetcar, even though the rest is light rail/subway nowadays.
Excellent video. I really enjoyed it. Great job! I hope you upload more videos to this channel. Yes, I agree there should be a subway built underneath Geary Boulevard for BART or MUNI.
In Jersey City we built a modern street car/light rail that’s very similar to the San Francisco system. They mostly run in a dedicated track space in the middle of streets downtown, and then a separate right of way as you get farther out where it runs at much higher speed. It also turns into a subway to deal with steep hills and connect farther out neighborhoods.
Tunnels and private rights-of-way also saved some other old trolley systems, like those of Boston and Philadelphia. Street running was the real trolley killer. It must be significant that most of the light-rail construction of the last half-century, in the US and Canada at least, tries to avoid street running as much as possible.
Muni used to be a 3 car train with the old Boeing cars. The overweight Breda cars introduced in the 1990s forces two car operation. Now the new Siemens cars are light enough to restore 3 car ops if demand calls for it. The stairways at Forest Hills was used to mimic a NYC subway station for the movie "Milk" in the scene where Harvey met his partner. I lived in West Portal (actually between WP and FH) and lived through two Twin Peak Tunnel shutdowns which lasted each about a year each. That lack of planning forcing people back into their cars or slow buses was one of the reasons I left SF after 16 years for NYC.
Weren't those shutdowns when they were building the subway connection to the Twin Peaks tunnel? IIRC they had to create an elevated entrance and exit for the KLM before Castro so they could still operate.
@@janettemcclelland2959 No there were recent shutdowns. The Twin Peaks tunnel work to go underground happened in the early 1970s with the construction of the BART tunnel under Market. The FH and WP stations have been able to handle KLM trains for decades.
@@lohphat As in Fix-It Week? And it never gets fixed! They're always trying to fix the overhead between Castro and West Portal. It's always had dead spots where the power goes on and off for as long as I can remember(since the early 60's). And other things. And let's not forget when the entire train system was shut down during the pandemic.
@@janettemcclelland2959 The first year shutdown was to replace the tracks. Then 2-3 after it reopened they closed it AGAIN to replace the overhead catenary. They couldn't have done both at the same time? 🙄
Well done! And thank you for your comments about the need for a subway or some sort of grade separated rail on Geary. There's your subject for another excellent video.
Excellent historical review of the once extensive streetcar system in SF. Agree that Geary blvd would benefit from a surface based solution or subway (more expensive option). I’d urge you to do a cable car line historical review and comment on a possible extension of the California street cable car line to Fillmore or all the way to the Presidio. Service to the Fillmore would enhance the line and anchor both ends to a commercial area.
The California Cable Cars did run all the way out to Presidio, but were cut back due to low ridership and because crossing Van Ness is a logistical nightmare. It was considered best to just lop it off at Van Ness! I too wish they would run it back out to the Ocean! We can dream, can't we?
Love this video. i agree with your last statement on Geary subway 😂 muni should have put the central subway extension to fisherman’s wharf on the ballot years ago when voters first approved Phase 2 in the early 2000s. We are still years away from being out on the ballot despite the tunnels already there…
I moved away from SF 15 years ago. I just found out about the billion dollar N-S downtown subway. I would never have thought they even needed that, certainly not as much as something on tracks on (or under or a combo) Geary. The diesel buses roar up and down Geary continually.
@@emjayay Geary makes a lot of sense. Originally the plan was to build Geary subway, T line Subway/light rail and Van Ness subway. We got stuck with an above ground T line for Phase 1, Van Ness converted to BRT and Central Subway was added and approved because light rail crossing through downtown makes no sense given the existing gridlock. Geary subway was once again traded for a some red paint and transit lanes.
Really great video, I learned a lot even as a resident. Thank you! I personally am grateful for public transportation, and like the mixed above/underground MUNI, but at the same time would like to see a unified system. Geary line 100%
Terrific video! With today's transportation costs and schedules (as seen by the Central Subway), well, I can appreciate a Geary Subway, but I'd prefer a light rail running up through the Sunset across the Richmond through the Presidio over to the Marina connecting with the F-line. And another light rail along Geary. (And another running across the Bridge into Sausalito and Marin)
I agree with the sentiment I think you're expressing at the end: I think it would have been better converted to a BART line when they had the chance, but it still works well enough that there are much higher priority transit projects we should be pursuing instead, like a new BART extension under Geary.
Thanks for this amazing deep dive into SF history. I’d love to support you for more content like this. What are your plans for this channel in the future and have you thought about a Patreon or tip jar?
Americans love using confusing terminology.. Light rail (streetcars) can be used for street, dedicated right of way and subway operations using the same rolling stock. There is no difference as light rail is very versatile.
There's a distinction among light rail, heavy rail, heavy rail/rapid transit, and heavy rail/commuter rail. The term _light rail_ was coined in 1972 by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the Federal Transit Administration) to describe new streetcar transformations that were taking place in Europe and the United States.
@@RaymondHng - I know the term light rail was coined in 1972 by by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration as to give a new term for 'streetcars' despite the fact trams/streetcars are light rail operations which have been operating in various guises since 1807 when the first horse-drawn passenger tramway started operation in Wales(UK). The word 'tramway' was the early version of light rail.
@@chrismckellar9350 In North America, the term _tram_ is more likely to be understood as an aerial tramway or a people-mover. Unlike other languages such as Spanish and French, there is no international governing body that regulates use of the English language.
Here is a Little Historical FYI On the N line - Back in the late 1970's more like 1978, as I was listening to the Radio while shaving getting for school that I heard that Muni had alittle problem on the N line tunnel in which it was going through Art School, as I heard on the radio by the station KCBS that MUNI hired a contractor to removed the old rail road bed to replace the tracks from the old streetcars to the Boeing LRV's as they found 3 sticks of TNT buried deep in the road bed as they had to called the SFPD Bomb Squad to removed the Explosives as the N line was running on Bus service. These Sticks of TNT were there during the construction of the N line tunnel during the time of the 1926 as also my High School of Mission High was relocated at the Old Poly High School building along the N line route as then their was a MUNI Railway strike, and that we the students of Mission had to WALKED Through the Inside of the tunnel just to get to class. Now if any of the student lite a match with all the inner combustible material that the sticks of TNT would of cause a cave in. So next time that you ride the N line just be glad that they discovered the Sticks of TNT, and that they try to find the company that was hired to build the Tunnel in the first place, but with no luck.... And how do I remember this incident is that I was born in San Francisco....
To be fair they are currently working to improve a lot of the aboveground segments to be somewhat separated from traffic and have signal priority. They’ve done a lot of the N Judah and are currently doing the L taravel. I think keeping the historic streetcars was important, even if buses could have replaced them at the time because we now have something to build on rather than having to completely rebuild a system from scratch.
The trouble with BART is that it is priced like regional rail. Look how far one can go on Metro in Los Angeles for just a $7 day pass compared to BART. Even Metrolink is often cheaper per mile, especially on the $10 weekend pass rate. I use it when I'm in the Bay Area, but I notice the price.
@@michaelsullivan3581 - Maybe the better question is: "Should BART be priced like regional rail?" Part of the problem is built into BART's design, specifically the lack of more than two Trans-Bay tubes. A lower fare on BART would overload the Trans-Bay trains, while also impacting the finances of the Bay Bridge. If that's the case, flatten the prices of BART on both sides of the Bay, and then add a special peak-hour surcharge to Trans-Bay trains. That single change would encourage support for a third or fourth Trans-Bay rail tube. Metrolink even has a $10 all-day weekend pass that includes free rides on L.A. Metro transit, LADOT buses, and many other city bus lines. I can travel more than 180 miles in one day for $10 on a Saturday or Sunday from my home in Oceanside. BART needs to keep it peak-hour Trans-Bay trains from being overloaded, but otherwise, it should be priced to encourage drivers to not drive.
This proves historic streetcar and interurban radial railways can be modernized and upgraded , a better more profitable option than scrapping and decommissioning
I lived in S.F. for nine months in 2010. I was a block away from forest hill stop and rode the the trains to downtown every day. Being from AZ and living now in Tempe near ASU, our light rail and Tempe street car can't even come close to S.F. or any other CA rail system.
This is an absolutely brilliant explication of how five original Muni streetcar lines survived. A couple of notes, though, to clarify. First, Muni did intend to replace the J-Church in the early 1950s with electric trolley buses, which could easily climb Church Street itself, bypassing the, er, bypass. Neighborhood opposition squelched that. Second, BART never intended to establish a "second, local BART service inside the city". The Muni Metro subway level downtown, and its extension to Castro, was always to be part of Muni, and was included to get San Franciscans to vote for the BART bonds. In 1966, Muni asked voters to approve more bonds to make the Muni subway level a true Metro, including only the M and N lines, and putting the outer ends of those lines underground. But voters did not approve. That's how all five lines, the J, K, L, M, and N, ended up in the subway.
bart originally was going to go through the richmond and to marin until marin dropped out
@@ababababaababbba Yes, but not through the second level of the Market subway. As always with BART, that was supposed to just be a spur off the main line. BART does this all throughout its system. The way the spurs all interline is supposed to match commuting patterns. BART brings people from out in the suburbs to denser and denser areas with the lines interlining more and more to eventually all join together in the Transbay Tunnel. The idea was that the BART lines would do the same in reverse once they reached SF. But we stopped funding BART so we only got half a system.
Ugh, that crazy interlining pattern is still the transit mistake of the century! I understand that every SF NIMBY wants _his_ train to go all way downtown through the tunnel. But every single transit engineer that they asked told them that this interlining was an idiotic idea.
As always, SF caved to the loudest activists and allowed this ridiculous service pattern that hobbles Muni to this day. I know that the T will now run into the Central Subway instead. And they seem to be intent on moving the single-car J onto the surface alignment on Market. And just maybe the L will be rerouted to Balboa Park instead of the tunnel. But that subway is still at least two lines too interlined. With street-running trams that get stuck in car traffic, the last thing you want to make them do is to interline in a complicated ballet of the absurd to all cram into one single tunnel. The fact that Muni still does these crazy maneuvers all these years later is insane!
Thank you for clarifying that. Out of curiosity is there any concept art for how the Muni Metro would have looked had it been implemented as a heavy rail system?
@@ababababaababbba Yes I recall reading that, and wasn’t there talk of a second transbay tube paralleling the Golden Gate Bridge?
To be fair, it is entirely possible ot have fast frequent service on surface level street cars, and many cities do it. The trick is to give these systems their own lane seperate from private motor traffic. Considering that there are two lanes of traffic and two for parking on most roads, along major public transport routes all you would have to do is turn the two parking lanes into private traffic lanes, and let the trams and buses have their own dedicated lanes on the street. It is a quick and very cheap fix for a massive improvement on public transport. If you want to take it a step further, you do what Zürich has done for decades, and other cities have also implemented, where traffic lights automatically stop cross traffic when a tram/bus is approaching so that public transport never stops at lights. At the end of the day its just a matter of priorities, and in the US public transit is unfortunately very far down on the list.
Thank you for saving me the time of making a similar point.
And, for the love of god, don’t have your trains stop at stop signs. Prevent cross streets from running through if you have to. Every time I watch a Muni line operating in mixed traffic, I die a little.
Oh god!God!! Really!! San Francisco has twice the population of Zurich and occupies a quarter of the land mass. If you are going to be critical, educate yourself. Hell, San Francisco is not even the biggest city in the Bay Area. Don't be dumb.
@@vpolite1 huh? If anything what you just said just makes his point more valid
Checkout Manchester, UK which has a system which runs on the street in the city and streetcars but is a rapid transit system on its own network out of town.
Man, as someone living in the UK, I had _no idea_ just how darned _pretty_ San Francisco really is! Especially in the bright sun! It's made me realise just how little footage I've actually seen of San Fran, other than the classic "here's a quick look at a really steep street and an old-timey cable car". It clearly has _so_ much character and is actually a genuinely _good looking_ city, which is a really hard thing to achieve even with modern developments and more modern cities. Plus it looks like there's lots of green spaces and parks around with some really _fantastic_ views!! I'm rather jealous now. I live in a relatively flat, large-ish town, mostly consisting of similar/identical brick houses and not much else - and even where there _are_ hills there isn't much to see/look at and definitely none of the views you fine folks get!
Yes it's wonderful! Come visit sometime, it's not nearly as bad as everyone tries to make it out to be
It certainly makes an impression on me pretty much every time I walk through it. Seemingly one of the few US cities I've been to where I can get around almost entirely on walking and public transit, and gives you the views for doing it too.
@@sonicwave32 Yes, you nailed it! I've lived here since 1984 and I still feel this way.
@@sunshineyellow How much poop do you encounter on a daily basis?
@@sunshineyellow The thing to remember is that "everyone" is just a very loud but small segment of our population who have never been to the city before and should be ignored.
Fantastic video. Living in the inner Sunset district, I use to ride the N Judah all the time through the sunset tunnel to go downtown. I also miss taking the 38 Geary bus out to 48th avenue and Cabrillo street to Playland
Growing up in San Francisco in the 70's I remember watching the transition from the old streetcar system to the newer light rail style. We were completely amazed by the moving stairs in the LRV's.
Me too. We would always come to San Francisco to visit family back then,and I remember when they transitioned from the old PCC cars to the Boeing LRV and the Metro. Took a long time for folks to get used to.
SF native here --- excellent video. Keep it up.
Tbh,as a kid, I loved the old green Muni streetcars. The Key System in the East Bay was long gone before I was born, so taking BART over to SF to ride the Muni was always an adventure. As an adult now, I'd much rather take the Muni than driving and trying to find parking. This video really took me back in time.
As someone who lives on Dolores and uses the J regularly, this vid is great. Imo the J and N should be combined as complete streetcar line, that way there can be less jams and more frequency on the other lines in the market street subway, they can just transfer to the subway at Church station. Also couldn't agree more about Geary street (and tbh also Van Ness, Sunset, and 19th Ave could also use a subway)
Great video, I think a lot of the "wistfulness" for the streetcar era more harkens back to a time when people and cities actually cared about having good public transit infrastructure that, you know, worked for the public to maintain a sense of walkability. It's an ethos that most american cities (SF is a rare exception) have lost, by way of turning many streetcar routes into bus services then cutting those buses to provide infrastructure for cars. American cities used to have some of the best public transit infrastructure in the world, and now we just don't seem to care much anymore.
The thing is, america always goes with whatever is cheapest. When they were in their heyday, streetcars were simply the cheapest option for cities to maintain vs infrastructure for expensive cars, which very few people owned. It’s sad, but it’s true that once more people could get cars, it was simply cheaper for cities to cater to them
@@Shinyarc It isnt tho, check out the suburban growth ponzi scheme by not just bikes
@@Shinyarc it’s not cheapest. At least not in the long term. Generally American politicians make decisions based on what companies lobby them the hardest, not what is more affordable or good for the American people
Most streetcars in Bratislava are separated, even in the city center. Running on the surface is not the problem. Nor is running through pedestrian zones. Running with cars is a problem and it can be solved super easily. Btw. very nice video, I learned something new about the SF system. I hope one day I will visit SF.
I like the current MUNI trains and glad for the expansion.
Great video! Your next one should be on unbuilt BART lines/projects like Marin County, Market Street (as you wonderfully alluded to here) a second bay crossing to name but a few...
Dude, this is so cool to learn the lore behind the streetcars. We really live in a special place. That tip about why Castro's platforms are so ridiculously long blew my mind. Love this stuff.
Also yes, Geary needs a streetcar sooooo bad oml the Richmond needs that so bad!
The production value of this is INSANE for an 83-sub channel!
what is an "83-sub channel"?
@@Yowzoechannel with 83 subscribers
7 days later and now it has 1.73K subscribers :D
114k views in 3 weeks. Looking forward to what the future holds!
As a transit planner I like the franken system - it provides good local coverage in the suburbs and grade separation and capacity down town.
Full grade separation in the burbs would have led to less frequent stations and less vibrancy, access and activity
Market Street is now prohibiting private vehicular traffic east of 10th Street. This allows only buses, trolleybuses, and the F Market streetcar line to run on the surface of Market Street. The K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Oceanview, and N Judah run on tracks in semi-dedicated-to-dedicated lanes on city surface streets. Parts of the M and N also run on full grade separated tracks in the outlying areas.
@@RaymondHng : "M Oceanview, and N Judah run on tracks in semi-dedicated-to-dedicated lanes on city surface streets" Uhhhhh no. Only PARTLY true.
The M only is on private ROW from St. Francis Circle to the intersection of 19th Avenue and Junipero Serra. From there it travels on shared streets in the Oceanview where the M is slow as shiite.
The N is only private ROW at 9th and Judah to 19th Avenue and Judah where it goes back to sharing Judah with autos though there are signs telling autos to stay off the N tracks.
As a side note: many many eons ago, I was doing my graduate work at SFSU and working as an office monkey in the Financial District. I used to actually hop onto the M Oceanview TO Balboa Park station where I would transfer to a BART train headed to the Embarcadero Station and the office. Believe it or not, BART plus the M through Oceanview to SFSU was USUALLY faster than M through Twin Peaks tunnel to SFSU.
Aren’t the main suburbs across the bridge? It would be nice if they ran the light rail down the other bridges like they did before.
Pre-pandemic, my family used to travel to San Francisco a lot, and I was always eager to ride the streetcars as a railfan myself. We look forward to going back there sometime in the near future!
~A fan from the Philippines 🇵🇭
Pinoy to kabayan, Ive been here since 94 but frequent traveller to PI, SF have change a lot ,too much homelessness and drugs (legal to shoot heroin) in the street especially the Tenderloin District, other parts are doing well and big development in the south of market (Mission Bay where the Warriors arena located and big hospitals...much better now after 3 years of pandemic but still financial district is slow (still lots of work at home so those buildings are just 40% occupied..
The J-Church bypass going behind houses always reminds me of the “Alley El” segments of the Chicago L, where the elevated CTA tracks have segments that literally pass through alleyways behind houses
I used to go to SF on weekends and would often overshoot my downtown Van Ness stop to ride the metro for fun. The transitions between the central underground section and aboveground sections are quite special IMO. The train just stops there while the steps slowly move into position, and suddenly you go from fairly normal subway right onto the tight, hilly streets of SF, and every so often move off the street again to grade-separated sections. It's cool to see some of the history visualized and to learn that these transitions were also what helped keep the metro in place. Definitely looking forward to you making more content about Fog City history!
Bravo! This video blew my mind 4 or 5 times. Can't believe the the recycled headstones at buena vista or that Bart was planning on stopping at Castro Street! 🤯
I feel the same way, having grown up in SF.
This guy has made a compelling video with wonderful editing and fascinating history, and as many people have said, let's hope he continues :-)
Great video! I love the hydrant that saved San Francisco, or at least that section. I live in Baltimore & remember before living there the street car lines. The dependence on the automobile and the bus killed what could have been a very good transit system. Thank you for posting and all the best.
Nobody in their right mind would have wanted to scrap the street car system. Especially if you considered replacing it with a more expensive BART system.
The advantage of the street car system is that it is an on and off system. You get on on street level and off on street level.
Great video! I love you included maps of the old lines. I didn't know there were so many lines back in the day. I very often drive by 15th St and San Bruno Ave, and always wonder why are there tracks there that lead to nowhere. Now I know maybe long time ago there was a street car line there. I personally love MUNI metro, being a teen in the 90's me and my friends were not about to pay for BART, with a fast pass we could get downtown faster, the zoo, or the movies at West Portal or Stonestown.
Thanks for the informative history. Even though streetcars can get stuck in traffic, I think they're more energy efficient, don't pollute as much, require less maintenance, and last longer compared to buses.
And streetcars are just more pleasant to ride. I want to love buses because they cost relatively little to deploy and are flexible, but I simply don't like riding them. Market Street has both busses and streetcars, and I'll literally watch the busses go by and wait so I can take a streetcar.
Track maintenance is almost as much as busses, and they require a lot of electrically to run. They are changing one carbon for another carbon, electrically does not come out of thin air. I happen to like the streetcars but they are just another mode of transportation not more or less anything then busses.
@@scotttild The whole *_"changing one carbon for another carbon"_* argument is deliberately misleading and has got to *STOP* now. It totally ignores the massive improvements currently being made to the power grid. On April 30, 2022 California for the first time ran on 100% clean energy with solar making up the largest slice.
@scotttild I think the streetcars themselves are less maintenance than busses and last longer, and I've read differently on the energy consumption on using electric versus diesel (or at least electric is not putting out as much smoke close to you). I'm comparing to diesel busses of course, not electric or alternative fuel.
@@scotttild Where I live, power is generated through hydroelectricity.
I don't own a car in SF. I rely on my bicyle and Muni. I love the Muni metro, the only thing I would change is honestly its frequency. The services could stand to be closer together. I rarely find the trains to be overly crowded with exception of the morning train to work which is during a peak rush hour time. Then I am usually required to stand until Embaracadero at which point I can sit but that is really a minor complaint for what is honestly a very nice way to get round. I do wish we'd retained some of those services above ground rail like they originally were over the bus system, though projects like the Van Ness Bus lanes do make it a bit easier to not fall victim to the traffic.
I dont pretend to haver all the information just my own observations as a resident.
I rode the old cars above ground on Market as a kid in the 60's and 70's before and during the construction of the subway. The service was usually frequent on weekdays. And the traffic on Market east of Van Ness often caused delays. And the first couple of years of the subway,it only ran on weekdays,the J still ran above ground on Market.
Hi from Melbourne, Australia. We also never lost our tram system which is the largest tram network in the world with around 250km (150mi) of track. Trams have priority on the road and cars behind or alongside the tram must stop when it does. I wouldn't swap our trams for anything.
Former Liberal Premier Sir Henry Bolte wanted to close Melbourne's tram system, but couldn't because the Victorian Government didn't own it. He did unfortunately manage to rip up the Bendigo and Ballarat systems in 1970 because the Vic government did own them (via the State Electricity Commission).
@@ktipuss Didn't know that. The Libs seem to have always been anti-PT.
I'm a Brit and I live in the UK, but for a while I was working off and on in the Bay and I love the SF streetcar system. I would ride it regularly. And Delores Park was a regular hangout so I know that hydrant, Church Hill, and the diversion well. My home city of Leeds removed its streetcars in the 50s. There was a plan to reintroduce them as a rapid transit system but was shelved due to budget issues. It means Leeds is now the largest city in Europe without a rapid transit system. I wish we had the systems that SF has.
The Leeds budget problem is shared by SF. There is no local money for new Municipal Railway or BART projects. This leaves federal money as the only way to finance major transit improvements. Yet federal money today is spent on brand new light-rail systems in various auto-oriented cities around the country. These new lines are underutilized and may one day be abandoned or become tourist attractions.
@@Stilicho19801 That's not entirely true. Those systems are usually built in areas that are already pretty dense and that were built around some old electric streetcar system to begin with. In most cases, those cities also commit to dense development around those new light rail lines. For example, Portland built a pretty incredible system from scratch! San Diego did a pretty good job of it too.
Unfortunately, SF and San Jose refused to add more density round their light rail lines. This is the kiss of death for many systems of this kind. You need a ton of usually young people who want to take transit to make these kinds of systems viable in modern day America.
That's why SF is often being deprioritized. If we refuse to add 4-5 story buildings around our lines then they aren't viewed as particularly viable. San Jose is getting the short end of the stick here with their system. SF at least had some existing density to work with. SJ had none and failed to add any to make the light rail system viable.
You do a great service in the tribute and attention you pay to the details that have woven the urban fabric of your city. Really enjoyed the content.
4:52 The old unburnt side reminds me of Boston while the new rebuilt side has New York City vibes. Definitely the unburnt side is more charming and therefore more cherished.
8:58 I think not building the BART Geary Street Tunnel was a mistake. It could have been the beginning of a second transbay tube!
EDIT: I think San Francisco's hills are also why the city's trolleybusses/trackless trolleys survived. Boston recently got rid of theirs this past March! It was big mistake IMO.
Geary as a BART subway (rather than Muni), in conjunction with the second Transbay Tube, is very much on the proverbial table right now with the Link21 project.
@@peteralbert1485 That's good to hear! 👍
Many of the electric trolleybus lines in San Francisco where once streetcar lines.
originally the plan was to have Bart service through the Richmond and possibly a crossing to Marin by modifying the Golden Gate Bridge with a lower deck
im love this! I lived for 14 years in South of Market, and used these lines every day I was there. Facinating history!
This looks like your first video and it was very well done. Hoping for more of this content!
Truly fascinating. You answered so many questions I've had about the muni for decades. Loved it so much i watched it twice and sent it to like 10 other people. Great job!
Wow, this is great. I've been to SF and ridden Muni Metro many times, but hardly ever outside of the Downtown area. This makes me realize I haven't really ridden on Muni Metro...
Amazing video! I’ve visited SF and all of the transit lines amazed/confused me. Great info and some great history tidbits!
Excellent video! I did know that the streetcar line letters came from the old Muni streetcars but I didn't know that the bus line numbers came from the Market St RR. That's pretty cool. I do love how you weaved SF history into the story. The City is a treasure trove of interesting history. It's too bad that the Central Subway took precedence over a Geary subway because, unless that Central Subway goes on to The Marina, it won't relieve the 30 Stockton bus and will have little use as just a Chinatown line. Between the time it takes to get from the Powell MUNI Station to the Union Sq Station and then the wait for a T streetcar, you can probably walk to Chinatown in about the same amount of time. It's only a 10 min walk. Now, a Geary subway probably won't happen for at least a generation or two.
And yes, those MUNI platforms under Market St are very long for what MUNI uses them for. Back in the day (the 90s) when MUNI used to couple cars from several lines together in the tunnel, like a K, L and M train together, to be split up at West Portal, or a J and N train to be split up at Duboce, it seemed to make sense.
As a frequent rider of the 38 Geary and 1 California buses, too bad they didn't construct a tunnel under Nob Hill and Lafayette Park along Sacramento St. for streetcars. Maybe that would have necessitated keeping a streetcar line into The Richmond. What could have been!!! Anyways, really good video both the commentary and the video scenes. You are very thorough and made sure to visualize everything you were talking about. I need to look for the gravestones in Buena Vista Park. I did not know about that!!
And even with the Central Subway the 8,30 and 45 on Stockton are STILL overcrowded.
@@janettemcclelland2959 Exactly, that's because it isn't worth getting on the Central Subway just to have to get off in 5 min to get on the bus anyways. Might as well just get on the bus from the beginning and stay on it.
@@bryanCJC2105 True. Especially if I'm going to get off the 8,30 or 45 at Market & Stockton.
I never comment on videos but:
Absolutely amazing. 10/10. Fantastic content. History, rail, and transit - I feel like this video was made for me. Subscribed. Looking forward to future videos!
This is such a fantastic and incredible video. Thank you for putting so much effort into it.
The E branch of the Boston Green Line going from Heath Street to Symphony still runs as a streetcar, even though the rest is light rail/subway nowadays.
Awesome video. My grandmother was a artist and salvaged a bunch of those gravestones to carve into sculptures back in the 20's
This is a great video, I knew nothing about the San Francisco street cars before watching. I was fascinated.
Top notch quality! I've lived in SF my whole life and learned quite a bit.
great video! love learning about SF history :)
Wonderful! I thought I knew a lot about MUNI, but this is a great perspective and history. Subscribing!
Great Video! reminds me of Jay Foreman's Unfinished London series, in a good way!
Cool video, I love SF transportation. I found this very informative. Thank you.
Born and raised in San Francisco. Very interesting video. Look forward to seeing more videos
Excellent video. I really enjoyed it. Great job! I hope you upload more videos to this channel. Yes, I agree there should be a subway built underneath Geary Boulevard for BART or MUNI.
Really well done for a new video! Also great to see a city that isn't always talked about like London or NYC or something
In Jersey City we built a modern street car/light rail that’s very similar to the San Francisco system. They mostly run in a dedicated track space in the middle of streets downtown, and then a separate right of way as you get farther out where it runs at much higher speed. It also turns into a subway to deal with steep hills and connect farther out neighborhoods.
Wow, you only have one video? The production and content are top notch! Looking forward to more videos :)
Tunnels and private rights-of-way also saved some other old trolley systems, like those of Boston and Philadelphia. Street running was the real trolley killer. It must be significant that most of the light-rail construction of the last half-century, in the US and Canada at least, tries to avoid street running as much as possible.
Awesome, someone who takes history without eyes or head clouded
excited for more videos!
Muni used to be a 3 car train with the old Boeing cars. The overweight Breda cars introduced in the 1990s forces two car operation. Now the new Siemens cars are light enough to restore 3 car ops if demand calls for it.
The stairways at Forest Hills was used to mimic a NYC subway station for the movie "Milk" in the scene where Harvey met his partner.
I lived in West Portal (actually between WP and FH) and lived through two Twin Peak Tunnel shutdowns which lasted each about a year each. That lack of planning forcing people back into their cars or slow buses was one of the reasons I left SF after 16 years for NYC.
Weren't those shutdowns when they were building the subway connection to the Twin Peaks tunnel? IIRC they had to create an elevated entrance and exit for the KLM before Castro so they could still operate.
@@janettemcclelland2959 No there were recent shutdowns. The Twin Peaks tunnel work to go underground happened in the early 1970s with the construction of the BART tunnel under Market. The FH and WP stations have been able to handle KLM trains for decades.
@@lohphat As in Fix-It Week? And it never gets fixed! They're always trying to fix the overhead between Castro and West Portal. It's always had dead spots where the power goes on and off for as long as I can remember(since the early 60's). And other things. And let's not forget when the entire train system was shut down during the pandemic.
@@janettemcclelland2959 The first year shutdown was to replace the tracks. Then 2-3 after it reopened they closed it AGAIN to replace the overhead catenary.
They couldn't have done both at the same time? 🙄
@@lohphat I know right? Muni being Muni.
Thanks, I’m not far away but there is so little that I know. I hope you have more to tell, really looking forward to your next story.
Well done! And thank you for your comments about the need for a subway or some sort of grade separated rail on Geary. There's your subject for another excellent video.
I saw the J-Church cut-out in the thumbnail, had to click. That's my ride downtown!
Excellent historical review of the once extensive streetcar system in SF. Agree that Geary blvd would benefit from a surface based solution or subway (more expensive option). I’d urge you to do a cable car line historical review and comment on a possible extension of the California street cable car line to Fillmore or all the way to the Presidio. Service to the Fillmore would enhance the line and anchor both ends to a commercial area.
The California Cable Cars did run all the way out to Presidio, but were cut back due to low ridership and because crossing Van Ness is a logistical nightmare. It was considered best to just lop it off at Van Ness! I too wish they would run it back out to the Ocean! We can dream, can't we?
Love this video. i agree with your last statement on Geary subway 😂 muni should have put the central subway extension to fisherman’s wharf on the ballot years ago when voters first approved Phase 2 in the early 2000s. We are still years away from being out on the ballot despite the tunnels already there…
I moved away from SF 15 years ago. I just found out about the billion dollar N-S downtown subway. I would never have thought they even needed that, certainly not as much as something on tracks on (or under or a combo) Geary. The diesel buses roar up and down Geary continually.
@@emjayay Geary makes a lot of sense. Originally the plan was to build Geary subway, T line Subway/light rail and Van Ness subway. We got stuck with an above ground T line for Phase 1, Van Ness converted to BRT and Central Subway was added and approved because light rail crossing through downtown makes no sense given the existing gridlock. Geary subway was once again traded for a some red paint and transit lanes.
I cant believe this is your only video on your channel. Definitely subscribing!
Please make more videos like this! Thanks for sharing
What a great video right out of the gate. Looking forward to more!
Loved the detail explanation, thanks for this!
great footage and explanations - thank you!
Love this video!! Can’t wait for some more San Francisco vids from you
I knew all of this stuff already because I too am fascinated by SF's streetcars, but the video is great nonetheless!
Very informative. Thanks for your hard work on this video.
Love this! I learned so much!
Really great video, I learned a lot even as a resident. Thank you!
I personally am grateful for public transportation, and like the mixed above/underground MUNI, but at the same time would like to see a unified system. Geary line 100%
Terrific video! With today's transportation costs and schedules (as seen by the Central Subway), well, I can appreciate a Geary Subway, but I'd prefer a light rail running up through the Sunset across the Richmond through the Presidio over to the Marina connecting with the F-line. And another light rail along Geary. (And another running across the Bridge into Sausalito and Marin)
The J is one of the most beautiful lines in the city. Got to ride that for years to the second highest hill in the city.🎉
I agree with the sentiment I think you're expressing at the end: I think it would have been better converted to a BART line when they had the chance, but it still works well enough that there are much higher priority transit projects we should be pursuing instead, like a new BART extension under Geary.
Ah the N Judah to Cole! My favorite ride.
This was so great please make more videos!
Wow, would always see those bypass tracks in the tunnel going to street level and wonder what they were for
Thanks for this amazing deep dive into SF history. I’d love to support you for more content like this. What are your plans for this channel in the future and have you thought about a Patreon or tip jar?
Very interesting never knew this information. Thanks. But now I do..
Awesome video. I wish, everyone make their video like this.
What a great video. I've never been to the States but SanFran would be my first port of call if I ever did.
this video was so great! what an awesome smaller creator making such good content!!!
Great history. Thanks!
I grew up on Potrero Hill in the 1940s and the H street car on Potero Ave. was a main link to downtown,11tth & Market, and points between.
What a great video Man!
Excellent video informative and well detailed.
Americans love using confusing terminology.. Light rail (streetcars) can be used for street, dedicated right of way and subway operations using the same rolling stock. There is no difference as light rail is very versatile.
There's a distinction among light rail, heavy rail, heavy rail/rapid transit, and heavy rail/commuter rail. The term _light rail_ was coined in 1972 by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the Federal Transit Administration) to describe new streetcar transformations that were taking place in Europe and the United States.
@@RaymondHng - I know the term light rail was coined in 1972 by by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration as to give a new term for 'streetcars' despite the fact trams/streetcars are light rail operations which have been operating in various guises since 1807 when the first horse-drawn passenger tramway started operation in Wales(UK). The word 'tramway' was the early version of light rail.
@@chrismckellar9350 In North America, the term _tram_ is more likely to be understood as an aerial tramway or a people-mover. Unlike other languages such as Spanish and French, there is no international governing body that regulates use of the English language.
@@RaymondHng - The word tram is 'British' English as mentioned, first coined in 1807 as a term for what we mow know as light rail.
Here is a Little Historical FYI On the N line - Back in the late 1970's more like 1978, as I was listening to the Radio while shaving getting for school that I heard that Muni had alittle problem on the N line tunnel in which it was going through Art School, as I heard on the radio by the station KCBS that MUNI hired a contractor to removed the old rail road bed to replace the tracks from the old streetcars to the Boeing LRV's as they found 3 sticks of TNT buried deep in the road bed as they had to called the SFPD Bomb Squad to removed the Explosives as the N line was running on Bus service. These Sticks of TNT were there during the construction of the N line tunnel during the time of the 1926 as also my High School of Mission High was relocated at the Old Poly High School building along the N line route as then their was a MUNI Railway strike, and that we the students of Mission had to WALKED Through the Inside of the tunnel just to get to class. Now if any of the student lite a match with all the inner combustible material that the sticks of TNT would of cause a cave in. So next time that you ride the N line just be glad that they discovered the Sticks of TNT, and that they try to find the company that was hired to build the Tunnel in the first place, but with no luck.... And how do I remember this incident is that I was born in San Francisco....
So was I. I went to George Washington High at the same time and never heard about this.
Thank you for the insight!
Absolutely agreed about a Geary subway!
To be fair they are currently working to improve a lot of the aboveground segments to be somewhat separated from traffic and have signal priority. They’ve done a lot of the N Judah and are currently doing the L taravel. I think keeping the historic streetcars was important, even if buses could have replaced them at the time because we now have something to build on rather than having to completely rebuild a system from scratch.
Awesome video 🚈🚋👍
Great video! Keep it up!
Thank you, this is great.
Thanks for the knowledge…
Are you a new channel? I'd love to hear more about our city! Will you produce more content?
Excellent video
The trouble with BART is that it is priced like regional rail. Look how far one can go on Metro in Los Angeles for just a $7 day pass compared to BART. Even Metrolink is often cheaper per mile, especially on the $10 weekend pass rate. I use it when I'm in the Bay Area, but I notice the price.
But Bart IS basically regional rail - compare BART fares to the same distance on the LIRR in New York.
Yup. BART is an interurban. It runs from city to city.
@@michaelsullivan3581 - Maybe the better question is: "Should BART be priced like regional rail?" Part of the problem is built into BART's design, specifically the lack of more than two Trans-Bay tubes. A lower fare on BART would overload the Trans-Bay trains, while also impacting the finances of the Bay Bridge. If that's the case, flatten the prices of BART on both sides of the Bay, and then add a special peak-hour surcharge to Trans-Bay trains. That single change would encourage support for a third or fourth Trans-Bay rail tube.
Metrolink even has a $10 all-day weekend pass that includes free rides on L.A. Metro transit, LADOT buses, and many other city bus lines. I can travel more than 180 miles in one day for $10 on a Saturday or Sunday from my home in Oceanside. BART needs to keep it peak-hour Trans-Bay trains from being overloaded, but otherwise, it should be priced to encourage drivers to not drive.
This proves historic streetcar and interurban radial railways can be modernized and upgraded , a better more profitable option than scrapping and decommissioning
I agree about the subway under Geary. GearyBoulevard is way too congested to run buses, and the Sunset and outlying areas would improve immensely
super high quality!
Very cool! Make more videos!
I lived in S.F. for nine months in 2010. I was a block away from forest hill stop and rode the the trains to downtown every day. Being from AZ and living now in Tempe near ASU, our light rail and Tempe street car can't even come close to S.F. or any other CA rail system.