San Francisco Municipal Railway fleet

With five different modes of transport from many different vendors, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is commonly known, runs one of the most diverse fleets of vehicles in the United States. Roughly 1,000 buses, 200 streetcars, and 40 cable cars see active duty. Muni's forty cable cars represent one of the oldest, last remaining public transportation fleets of cable cars remaining in service around the world. Muni's fleet of diesel-electric hybrid buses is among the largest in the nation, and there are plans in place to replace the existing diesel fleet with hybrid buses. Continuing the trend, Muni's fleet of electric trolleybuses is one of the oldest and largest remaining in the United States. A summary of the current and historic vehicles follows below.

Summary

Current Fleet

An Orion VII bus operating in San Francisco. These vehicles entered service in 2006.

Type	Manufacturer	Ordered	Number of vehicles (Current)
40ft. Diesel Bus	North American Bus Industries	1999	45
	Neoplan USA	2000-2003	206
40ft. Diesel-Electric Hybrid Bus	Orion Bus Industries	2007	56
30ft. Diesel-Electric Hybrid Bus	Orion Bus Industries	2007	30
Articulated Diesel Bus	Neoplan USA	2002-2003	124
Trolleybus	ETI Skoda	1999-2003	240
Articulated Trolleybus	New Flyer Industries	1992-1994	60
	ETI Skoda	2003	33
Light-Rail Vehicle	Ansaldobreda, S.P.A.	1997-2003	151
Historic Streetcar	Various	1912-	41
Cable Car	Various	1873-	40
40ft. Double-decker Diesel bus	Alexander Dennis Limited	2007	1

Historical fleet

Muni's Diesel Fleet.

Retired Orion Buses at the scrap yard

Manufacturer	Date of Retirement	Stored	Wheelchair accessible?
New Flyer Industries (8926)	2007	Woods Yard Park	Yes
Orion Bus Industries	2007	Various	Yes
Flyer Industries	2007	Potrero Division	No
Flyer Industries (4574)	2005	Woods Yard Park	Yes
MAN AG (6099)	2002	Marin Division	Yes
GM (3287)	1995	Woods Yard Park	No
Flxible (4009)	1995	Woods Yard Park	No
AM General (4154)	1990	Woods Yard Park	No
Twin Coach	1978	Various	No
Marmon-Herrington (776)	1978	Potrero Division	No
White	1975	Various	No
Unknown (0163)	1982	Various	No

Buses

Diesel buses

Muni's active diesel fleet contains coaches ranging from thirty to sixty feet in length. The standard 40ft vehicles include Neoplan (now defunct) AN440, NABI (the American arm of Ikarus) 416, and Orion VII models. Addtionally, there are a handful of Gillig Phantoms in reserve duty. At the small end of the scale, Muni has 30ft Orion VIIs. At the large end of the scale, Muni's articulated diesel fleet is comprised of Neoplans AN460s. The Orion VIIs (both 30ft and 40ft models) are unique in the Muni fleet in that they are powered by a hybrid diesel-electric system.

In December 2007, Muni acquied a double decker diesel bus for testing purposes. Its proponents claim that the double decker makes more efficient use of Muni's limited service bays, that the lack of an articulation joint will result in a lower cost of ownership, and that the shorter length will also be a boon in congested areas. Its detractors claim that dwell time is increased because there are fewer exists than on an articulated bus, and that Muni's traditionally lax security will render the top level of the bus unsafe.

Historically, Muni has run standard length buses from a wide variety of manufactures. Articulated buses were sourced from MAN (retired in 2002) and New Flyer, which were retired earlier in 2007.

All of Muni's active diesel buses meet ADA standards.

Electric Trolleybuses

A Muni New Flyer articulated trolley coach

While many cities have replaced their electric trolleybuses (ETB) with diesel powered vehicles, Muni continues to operate ETBs all across the city. In fact, Muni's ETB fleet is one of the largest in the nation. Initially the ETBs were met with resistance, as residents preferred the uncluttereed skylines that the streetcars provided. However, after the 1906 earthquake, ETBs were seen as a cheaper option than rebuilding the cable car infrastructure. Indeed, there are plans in the works to electrify existing diesel lines.

Muni's active ETB fleet consists of articulated coaches from New Flyer and ETI Skoda, as well as standard 40ft coaches from ETI Skoda. Historically, Muni has run ETBs from Brill, the St. Louis Car Company, Twin Coach, Marmon-Herrington, and Flyer.

Cable Cars

Main article: San Francisco cable car system

A cable car at Lombard Street.

Around the turn of the century, there were numerous cable car lines providing service to many sections of the city. Currently only three lines and forty cars remain.

Streetcars

Contemporary light rail vehicles

Main article: Muni Metro

A Muni Boeing Vertol car at Duboce Yard

The Muni Metro has run two types of light rail vehicles. Originally, Boeing-Vertol cars were used. However, these proved extremely troublesome and were phased out of service begining in 1997. The Boeing cars were replaced by Italian built Breda LRV2 and LRV3 models. Initally the Breda vehicles were hailed as more reliable and easier to service than their predecessors. However, deferred maintenance and design defects have taken their toll on Muni riders.

Historic streetcars

Main article: List of F Market & Wharves Streetcars

File:Car130OnFMarketAndWharvesAtTerminalFrontQueProfessionalQueImage-1.jpg

Muni Car 130 at Jones Street terminal.

Historic streetcars are run on the F Market & Wharves line. Formally introduced in the 1990s, the F line started out as a replacement tourist attraction for the cable cars, while major cable car infrastructre maintenance took place. The F line is comprised mostly of PCC cars painted in livery from cities around the United States, as well as vintage Peter Witt cars from Milan. Streetcars from many other cities, including London round out the vintage fleet.