Muni Metro

Muni Metro is a mass transit system operated in the City and County of San Francisco by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Due to its history, in some parts of the city it resembles a metro, such as all segments of the lines running under Market St., while the most other segments of lines resemble either a traditional streetcar network or a modern light rail system.

The system

Muni Metro consists of five lines:

Note: unlike most other rail systems, the lines have no assigned colors on rail maps.

These lines originate in the western and southwestern parts of the city, running in mixed automobile traffic and for the most part stopping at street corners like a traditional streetcar (a few high-platform stations have been built). The K, L, and M lines enter a tunnel at West Portal, and proceed underground for the rest of their routes. The J and N trains meet and enter this tunnel just to the east of Duboce and Church, and the five routes all proceed together to the Embarcadero downtown. Underground stations feature high platforms. The N line continues beyond Embarcadero, coming back to the surface and running along the Embarcadero to the south and east towards SBC Park and the Caltrain depot. Along this portion of the surface route, the system resembles a more modern light rail system, running in reserved lanes and stopping at high-platform stations.

There is also a line called S Castro Shuttle, which runs up and down the Market Street tunnel during peak periods on weekdays.

(Note that the F Market line, an all-surface line running historic streetcars, has not been designated as part of the Metro system by Muni, despite the fact that its route designation is similar to that of the Metro lines. The Metro designation originated with the construction of the Market Street tunnel, where F trains cannot go. However, the F Market trains travel over the J Church Muni Metro line to the storage facility in the Excelsior neighborhood when not in use, using the intersection between the F and J lines at Market & Church streets. F Market trains are occasionally seen in service on the above-ground sections of the J Church line.)

Practical information

Muni Metro runs from approximately 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, with a somewhat later morning start time on weekends. Late-night service is provided along much of the L and N lines by buses that bear the same route designation.

The basic fare for Muni Metro, like Muni buses, was raised on September 1, 2005 from $1.25 to $1.50. The Muni Metro system as a whole is a proof-of-payment system; on paying a fare, the passenger will receive a ticket good for travel on any bus, historic streetcar, or Metro vehicle for 90 minutes. Payment methods depend on where in the system Metro streetcars are boarded. In street running sections in the south and west of the city (the old streetcar routes), passengers can board at the front of the train and pay their fare to the streetcar operator to receive their ticket; those who already have a ticket, or who have a daily, weekly, or monthly pass, can board at any door of the Metro streetcar or train. Underground stations have controlled entries, and passengers must purchase or show Muni staff a ticket in order to enter the platform area. On high-platform stations outside the tunnels, ticket machines are available on the platforms; passengers without tickets or passes must purchase them before boarding. Fare inspectors may board trains at any time to check for proof of payment from passengers.

Passengers can transfer from Muni Metro to Muni buses and vice versa, as well as to and from the F Line historic streetcars; however, passengers must use the front door on these other vehicles. Passengers can also transfer to cable cars at Powell and Embarcadero stations, though an extra fee must be paid to ride this popular tourist attraction. Four of the downtown subway stations shared by all five lines are also stations on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, and some of the lines also have surface stops at or near the Glen Park and Balboa Park BART stops. While passengers can transfer at these stations, the two systems have different fare regimes and a new fare must be paid when transferring.

Vehicles

The first vehicles in the modern Muni Metro system were built by Boeing, which had no previous experience in building light-rail vehicles and didn't last long in the market. Boston's MBTA bought identical vehicles for its Green Line; famously, the MBTA returned some of these vehicles due to their poor quality, which San Francisco Muni subsequently purchased. These vehicles, small, prone to breakdown, and painted orange and white, were the standard bearers for Muni for years, and remained in service until the late 1990s, when they were entirely phased out in favor of new trains from Breda. The Breda cars are larger and more reliable, though some living near surface Metro routes felt that they were much louder than the older Boeings.

Because some stops on the Metro system have high platforms and others do not, both the Boeings and the Bredas have variable-height entranceways. Upon entering a car at a street-level stop, the passenger must walk up a few stairs; when the train enters a tunnel or approaches a high-level stop, the stairs rise up to the level of the car floor. This change is signaled by a piercing whistle, and a savvy commuter standing on the stairway in a crowded car can negotiate the change while still reading the newspaper.

History

In the middle of the 20th century, San Francisco was served by a number of public transit railways. There were two modes: cable cars, driven by traction from underground cables, and streetcars, powered by overhead electric catenaries. The cable cars still run in San Francisco today; the streetcars were the ancestors of today's Muni Metro. San Francisco is thus one of the few North American cities whose light rail system has operated continuously since the streetcar era; others include Boston (with the Green Line) and Cleveland (with the Blue and Green Lines on The Rapid).

In the 1950s, as in many North American cities, public transit in San Francisco was consolidated under the aegis of a single municipal corporation, which then began phasing out much of the streetcar network in favor of buses. However, five heavily used streetcar lines traveled for at least part of their routes through tunnels or otherwise reserved right-of-way, and thus could not be converted to bus lines. As a result, these lines, running traditional PCC cars, continued operation until the 1970s, when mass transit rail projects once again came into vogue in the United States.

It was at this time that the original plans for the BART system were drawn up; these plans envisioned a double-decker subway tunnel under Market Street (known as the Market Street Subway) in downtown San Francisco; the lower deck would be dedicated to express trains, while the upper would be served by local trains whose routes would spread south and west through the city. After construction of the tunnel had begun, however, these plans were altered; only the lower deck would be used by BART, and only a single BART route would travel through the city, while the upper deck would be served by the existing Muni streetcar routes. The new tunnel would be connected to the existing Twin Peaks Tunnel. The new underground stations would feature high platforms, and the older stations would be retrofitted with the same, which meant that the traditional PCCs could not be used in them, and so a fleet of new light rail vehicles was ordered from Boeing. In the event, the tunnel was completed in 1978, but the new LRVs weren't delivered until 1980, when Muni Metro was officially inaugurated.

In the mid to late 1990s, San Francisco grew more prosperous and its population expanded with the advent of the dot-com boom, and the Metro system began to feel the strain of increased commuter demand. Muni-bashing had always been something of a civic sport for San Franciscans, and not without reason: the Boeing trains were subpar and grew crowded quickly, and the difficulty in running a system that was half-streetcar, half-subway, with five different routes merging together into one, led to scheduling chaos on the main trunk lines, with long waits between arrivals and trains packed with commuters sometimes sitting motionless in tunnels for extended periods of time.

Muni did take steps to meet these problems. New, larger, and more reliable Breda cars were ordered; an extension to the system towards South Beach, where many of the new dot-coms were headquartered, was implemented; and the underground section was switched to automatic train control (ATC). The latter move, though, initially caused more harm than good: the ATC system was plagued by numerous glitches when first implemented, resulting in a spectacular service meltdown in the summer of 1998. During this period, two reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle - one riding in the Muni Metro tunnel and one on foot on the surface - held a race through downtown, with the walking reporter emerging the winner. Still, the ATC problems were soon resolved, and today Muni Metro's service is much better than it was a few years ago. Though San Franciscans still grumble about it, the Metro is one of North America's more extensive and useful mass transit systems.

Future expansion

In 1998, a four-station extension of the trunk line was built from Embarcadero station to SBC Park and the Caltrain depot. This new section of the system, though relatively short, was important: it finally linked the Caltrain commuter system into the city's rail transit network, and it provided service to the burgeoning South Beach and SOMA neighborhoods and the new downtown baseball stadium. Perhaps even more important, however, was the mere fact that it was built: it represented the first new light rail tracks laid in the city in decades, and its success heralded more expansion in the wings.

In 2006, a new, extensive line known as the Third Street Light Rail Project will open running south from the current Caltrain depot station along 3rd Street. This line will be a modern light rail line, like the Embarcadero extension, and will run all the way to the south border of the city. At its north end, the line will pass through older industrial areas that have become more residential in the aftermath of the city's late-90s real estate boom; at its center, it will run through some of San Francisco's most economically depressed areas, and planners hope that it will improve the prospects of those neighborhoods. Under current plans, this extension will be served by a new line, the T-Third, which will be through-routed with the current K-Ingleside. J-Church cars will be extended during rush hours to provide extra service to the CalTrain station.

Federal funding has been secured for an ambitious new project dubbed the Central Subway. This line will head north and west from the Caltrain depot and quickly pass underground into a new subway tunnel. The line will pass under the current Metro tunnel, with a transfer station at Montgomery, then turn due north with stops at Union Square and Chinatown. Though the line would be relatively short, it would provide service to areas of downtown currently somewhat isolated from the Metro network, as well as a springboard for future expansion. Planners hope that the Central Subway will be completed by 2010.

No further projects have been settled upon as of yet, though there are several areas in the city that would benefit. One route under particular study is the Geary Street Corridor, which would run west from the Central Subway through the densely populated Western Addition, Japantown, and Richmond neighborhoods north of Golden Gate Park. The 38 Geary bus, which covers this route today, is one of the most heavily used in the system.

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