Utterly confusing (to a Brit), but fascinating! Hard to believe there was once such a massive system of trams/street cars. If only they'd been able to look forward 50-70 years and see what we now know - cars are NOT the answer.
To be fair, SF has brought back a lot of the lines and even built new ones. There's still some parts of the city that are less well served by rail, but the electric trolleys and busses do cover that part of the city pretty well and Muni already has planned rail extension there. LA is the more impressive example for the decline of rail. They had an even _better_ rail transit system than SF and likely the best rail transit system in the world at one time due to the much more flat geography. They've still only brought back a small fraction of their railways. They're building a ton of rail transit too now, but it will take decades to recover everything.
American traffic engineers of today can look forward, but all they can imagine is more cars. "We anticipate traffic will have increased along this road 200% in 2030. Better double the width!"
san francisco still is a predominantly public-transport oriented city. 2/3 of san franciscans don't own a car, and it's the only major US city that does not have a freeway system.
@@adesignersperspective very glad to hear that, it's a place I've always wanted to go to. We were due to go there last summer, having planned an East/West Coast holiday, with a train trip in-between, but we ended up having to break it into two holidays - doing the East Coast only, and hoping to do the train (from Chicago) and San Francisco bit next year. Fingers crossed!
Why does this video have so little views? It seems like a ton of work went into this video.Was this video part of some bigger project? Was is posted anywhere else?
It is definitely fun to imagine! I always dream about visiting pre-war America. When reading literature from that time, you get a feel of what it must've been like. So much innovation and optimism back then, in cities that were still catered to their human inhabitants.
Honest criticism, I feel like you you rushed that last 2 minutes. Like the opening of BART and the T Line. Aside from that, I learned a lot from this video and I thank you for making it. It's just amazing seeing a city once covered in rail transit now only has a handful of lines in operation.
I never knew the SF streetcar system was ever so dense, or that so many companies competed with each other for so long. Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and even New York or London do not have stories like this.
to be fair, the busses that replaced them were essentially the same, of course now they could've been improved with modern rolling stock as the remaining streetcar lines were
Just upgrade the M and N lines to full metro and build an El along 16th Street linking the central subway to the existing tunnel on the N completely grade separating the line. Turn N and M into driverless metro and then the remaining teams become feeder lines and you either upgrade them or drop em your move.
@@calebjiang4056 Don't you be starting to make sense all of a sudden! What are we crazy to do something that makes sense?!? Seriously though! Why the hell don't the Muni Metro lines have signal priority and dedicated lanes?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?
Loved hearing about the proliferation of streetcars and trains. It's fun to see the maps and photos. The narrator was definitely NOT a local. Keer-nee? Noh Valley? Phew. A good number of the lines still exist as streetcar, rail, and bus lines. I lived in SF during high school and never felt I needed a car,crisscrossing the city between almost any two points by various transit options for $5 a month!
This is so well done and carefully explained through the freeway revolt. I would love to see you do an update from that era that includes the halted freeways, the inception and expansion of BART, the creation and expansion of Muni Metro, the (re)proliferation of ferries after the 1989 quake, along with Caltrain and SMART. In a sense, these rail networks are starting to fill in along the lines of your "fantasy" network, as do the next phases of rail expansions now under review: the second Transbay Crossing, the extension of the Central Subway to the northwest, the BART and SMART extensions.
Great video! I am so sad I didn't find this earlier! Out of curiosity, with the east bay, why was the SP Big Red Interurbans left out of the history video? They provided just as varied and comprehensive electric service in Berkley, Oakland and Alameda
Excellent work! It is absolutely amazing that such a dense city, almost 900k souls in 49 square miles of area, was built with just cable cars and trolleys. An atrocity that GM through National City Lines had to come in and pull up almost all the tracks. 😠🔥😡🔥🤬🔥👿
Please, Please do one with Philadelphia's SEPTA Regional, Subway, Trolley, and other routes! Most dont do a good job at all with those but with that kind of effort this video has it would most likey be the best one yet.
Very good research and that’s what I always looked for information of the evolution of public transport in the cities of the states, why didn’t you show the evolution after 1964? Or did I miss something?
This is fascinating and well-done overall, so this might seem like a petty point, but why don't you know the basic proper pronunciation of several streets and areas in San Francisco (Noe Valley, Divisidero, Taraval, to name a few)?
It makes me SO ANGRY to learn just how much was stolen from us by the auto industry. This story isn't unique for San Francisco, it was the norm in every major city across America, with notable exceptions like NYC. And only now are we starting to reckon with horrifying consequences. How many homes had to be razed in order to build this inner-city freeway network? How many more houses could have been built if we hadn't added parking minimums and subsidized the suburban lifestyle so heavily? The current housing crisis, the mental health crisis, income inequality, air pollution, noise pollution... all of these issues are interrelated, and all are, at least in part, due to America's addiction to the car.
He probably means the inner Bay Area. Out of towners often confuse the city and the metro area. Depending on how you count the metro area you can get something around 8.7 million population, but there are many different estimates based on what you choose to count. In all fairness, San Francisco may be a separate city and county but it is heavily integrated with the rest of the Bay. Half of the working population of SF commutes to another city for work and half the workforce commutes in from other cities. It's not really a standalone city except on paper. In any other country the inner Bay would have long ago been united into one jurisdiction for easier governance.
@@TohaBgood2 San Francisco County use to extend down the peninsula. In response to the lawlessness and vigilantism that escalated rapidly between 1855 and 1856, the California government decided to divide the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. Everything south of the line became San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco, to date the only consolidated city-county in California.
I'm done watching theses videos about old rail transportation in the Bay Area. We had a better and faster rail system in the 19th century than we have in the 21st. It's just so depressing! WTH?
Blame GM/other car companies for buying up and dismantling trains and light rails to sell buses that are not as comfortable to ride. They sit in traffic with cars in an already congested city.
Yeah…bay crossing times with a ferry transfer would be nowhere near as quick as the BART transbay tube. How in the world did you come up with that nonsense?
Utterly confusing (to a Brit), but fascinating! Hard to believe there was once such a massive system of trams/street cars. If only they'd been able to look forward 50-70 years and see what we now know - cars are NOT the answer.
To be fair, SF has brought back a lot of the lines and even built new ones. There's still some parts of the city that are less well served by rail, but the electric trolleys and busses do cover that part of the city pretty well and Muni already has planned rail extension there.
LA is the more impressive example for the decline of rail. They had an even _better_ rail transit system than SF and likely the best rail transit system in the world at one time due to the much more flat geography. They've still only brought back a small fraction of their railways. They're building a ton of rail transit too now, but it will take decades to recover everything.
@@TohaBgood2 The LA story is truly depressing. What a sad loss.
American traffic engineers of today can look forward, but all they can imagine is more cars. "We anticipate traffic will have increased along this road 200% in 2030. Better double the width!"
san francisco still is a predominantly public-transport oriented city. 2/3 of san franciscans don't own a car, and it's the only major US city that does not have a freeway system.
@@adesignersperspective very glad to hear that, it's a place I've always wanted to go to. We were due to go there last summer, having planned an East/West Coast holiday, with a train trip in-between, but we ended up having to break it into two holidays - doing the East Coast only, and hoping to do the train (from Chicago) and San Francisco bit next year. Fingers crossed!
Why does this video have so little views? It seems like a ton of work went into this video.Was this video part of some bigger project? Was is posted anywhere else?
It is definitely fun to imagine! I always dream about visiting pre-war America. When reading literature from that time, you get a feel of what it must've been like. So much innovation and optimism back then, in cities that were still catered to their human inhabitants.
Honest criticism, I feel like you you rushed that last 2 minutes. Like the opening of BART and the T Line. Aside from that, I learned a lot from this video and I thank you for making it. It's just amazing seeing a city once covered in rail transit now only has a handful of lines in operation.
th-cam.com/video/-HDnn1t9_p8/w-d-xo.html
The last part of it was a what if
I never knew the SF streetcar system was ever so dense, or that so many companies competed with each other for so long. Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and even New York or London do not have stories like this.
How shocking it is to see that such a dense grid of trams were razed so fast!
to be fair, the busses that replaced them were essentially the same, of course now they could've been improved with modern rolling stock as the remaining streetcar lines were
As an SF public transit advocate, this hurts me so much...
Just upgrade the M and N lines to full metro and build an El along 16th Street linking the central subway to the existing tunnel on the N completely grade separating the line. Turn N and M into driverless metro and then the remaining teams become feeder lines and you either upgrade them or drop em your move.
@@qjtvaddictor... for essentially free, just ban cars on the ROW and achieve the same travel time improvements
@@calebjiang4056 Don't you be starting to make sense all of a sudden! What are we crazy to do something that makes sense?!?
Seriously though! Why the hell don't the Muni Metro lines have signal priority and dedicated lanes?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?
@@calebjiang4056 delusional fantasies again...SMH
@@calebjiang4056how about you just build the damn metro like normal countries instead of the just ban cars crap 💩 driverless is superior
Great history lesson on the SF transit world!
Loved hearing about the proliferation of streetcars and trains. It's fun to see the maps and photos. The narrator was definitely NOT a local. Keer-nee? Noh Valley? Phew. A good number of the lines still exist as streetcar, rail, and bus lines. I lived in SF during high school and never felt I needed a car,crisscrossing the city between almost any two points by various transit options for $5 a month!
SOW salito? Tah RAHV al?
This is so well done and carefully explained through the freeway revolt. I would love to see you do an update from that era that includes the halted freeways, the inception and expansion of BART, the creation and expansion of Muni Metro, the (re)proliferation of ferries after the 1989 quake, along with Caltrain and SMART. In a sense, these rail networks are starting to fill in along the lines of your "fantasy" network, as do the next phases of rail expansions now under review: the second Transbay Crossing, the extension of the Central Subway to the northwest, the BART and SMART extensions.
This is amazing! I feel like I have found a gem and definitely going to subscribe if you make more content like this.
Amazing! Sad that so much was lost, but at least some lines were saved, and are coming back too.
Great video! I am so sad I didn't find this earlier! Out of curiosity, with the east bay, why was the SP Big Red Interurbans left out of the history video? They provided just as varied and comprehensive electric service in Berkley, Oakland and Alameda
Awesome work! Quick note about some pronunciation mistakes, e.g. Noe Value is pronounced "Know-ee Valley"
Great work!
this is a great video.keep uploading.
Nice video; I wish I found this sooner.
That was a great video! Mind if I ask how you animated this?
Excellent work! It is absolutely amazing that such a dense city, almost 900k souls in 49 square miles of area, was built with just cable cars and trolleys.
An atrocity that GM through National City Lines had to come in and pull up almost all the tracks. 😠🔥😡🔥🤬🔥👿
That was great! How did you animate it?
Excellent vid 👍
Please, Please do one with Philadelphia's SEPTA Regional, Subway, Trolley, and other routes! Most dont do a good job at all with those but with that kind of effort this video has it would most likey be the best one yet.
As a public transit lover, this makes me so sad.
Very good research and that’s what I always looked for information of the evolution of public transport in the cities of the states, why didn’t you show the evolution after 1964? Or did I miss something?
What is the BART system ?
Bay Area Rapid Transit. It's a separate interurban light rail system
@@L-Taraval not a light rail, but more of a regional commuter heavy rail system
Can Bart Extend The Geary and Fulton Lines To Ocean Beach Great Highway Or Sunset Line To Beach
Yes, but it is very expensive and unfortunately people do not want to pay for it. They would use it if it were built, of course, but yeah...
You're missing the T line and the central subway in SF that is yet to open
you should do this but with chicago!
This is fascinating and well-done overall, so this might seem like a petty point, but why don't you know the basic proper pronunciation of several streets and areas in San Francisco (Noe Valley, Divisidero, Taraval, to name a few)?
San Francisco has a population of 800,000 not 8 million
He's talking about the metro area of San Fran.
Is that how Taraval is pronounced? I was never sure
Terrible, wasn't it?
Thank goodness I wasn't drinking when he said that, as I would have doused my screen.
Nice😊
12:18 nooooooooooooooooo
came from youtube recommend
What if humany DIDNT kill the trams??? We wouldnt need to get them back today. We would have solved lots of infrastructure issues. Geezz... !!!
It makes me SO ANGRY to learn just how much was stolen from us by the auto industry. This story isn't unique for San Francisco, it was the norm in every major city across America, with notable exceptions like NYC.
And only now are we starting to reckon with horrifying consequences. How many homes had to be razed in order to build this inner-city freeway network? How many more houses could have been built if we hadn't added parking minimums and subsidized the suburban lifestyle so heavily? The current housing crisis, the mental health crisis, income inequality, air pollution, noise pollution... all of these issues are interrelated, and all are, at least in part, due to America's addiction to the car.
8.7 million?? You mean 870,000 lmao
He probably means the inner Bay Area. Out of towners often confuse the city and the metro area. Depending on how you count the metro area you can get something around 8.7 million population, but there are many different estimates based on what you choose to count.
In all fairness, San Francisco may be a separate city and county but it is heavily integrated with the rest of the Bay. Half of the working population of SF commutes to another city for work and half the workforce commutes in from other cities. It's not really a standalone city except on paper. In any other country the inner Bay would have long ago been united into one jurisdiction for easier governance.
@@TohaBgood2 San Francisco County use to extend down the peninsula. In response to the lawlessness and vigilantism that escalated rapidly between 1855 and 1856, the California government decided to divide the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. Everything south of the line became San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco, to date the only consolidated city-county in California.
I'm done watching theses videos about old rail transportation in the Bay Area. We had a better and faster rail system in the 19th century than we have in the 21st. It's just so depressing! WTH?
Blame GM/other car companies for buying up and dismantling trains and light rails to sell buses that are not as comfortable to ride. They sit in traffic with cars in an already congested city.
It's disgusting how the car completely took over and ruined cities because daddy Ford and whoever ran GM needed to boost their stock price.
Yeah…bay crossing times with a ferry transfer would be nowhere near as quick as the BART transbay tube. How in the world did you come up with that nonsense?
8.7 mil do NOT live in SF along 😂
The correct number, as of the 2020 census, is almost exactly 10% of that. Methinks he saw 870,000 and thought it was 8,700,000.
You guys need to learn what a metropolitan area is.
Hes talking about the bay area
Uh…. SF does NOT have 8 million people.
The SF Bay Area has 8 million people, which is clearly what he's referring to, seeing as the video is about the Bay Area, and not just SF city-proper.
Idk 🤷♀️