Market Street Railway

In the increasingly frothy world of online media, we’ve noticed a definite increase in stories designed to create a controversy where there really isn’t one. With today’s frantic competition for eyeballs, competitors will often build on each other’s story without doing any actual, you know, reporting. (Not that this is just an online media thing; who of a certain age can forget the Chronicle’s “crusade” against bad coffee half a century ago, under the unforgettable headline, “A Great City’s People Forced to Drink Swill.” But we digress.)

Recent case in point on the fake controversy front. The Examiner’s Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez ran a straightforward story on May 30 about SFMTA’s (Muni’s) application for a federal grant to fund the next steps in the proposed historic streetcar extension to Fort Mason. (Joe Fitz, as he’s widely known, routinely breaks good transportation stories through solid old fashioned reporting, only to have his work parroted, often with no credit, by numerous online sites.) This time, the site StreetsblogSF picked up Joe’s story (with full credit) but decided to spice it up with controversy by turning into a story that asked the question, “Is it Time to Modernize the F-line?” The story revived a post the site made back in 2009, asking the same question, that went nowhere. Both stories almost certainly were suggested to the editor by Tom Radulovich, executve director of Livable City, the non-profit associated with the blog. Tom’s a former BART board member and the primary proponent of replacing the F-line vintage streetcars with modern low-floor streetcars. (These would very likely require major track rebuilding wherever used because they would probably not clear crowns on the hills as is, but we’ll leave feasibility out of this discussion.) We’ve talked cordially with Tom on this topic numerous times and, in friendly terms, agreed to disagree.

Anyway, StreetsblogSF ran its story and the comments on the site were strongly in favor of keeping the old streetcars. Immediately though, other local online news sites jumped in to take advantage of the “controversy,” which wasn’t really that at all, just basically one guy’s opinion.

One of these sites, CurbedSF, which primarily covers real estate, jumped in a few days later and regurgitated the story (must have been a slow day in the development/property world). (Neither of these sites bothered calling us for our views before posting their initial story, by the way, though when we called them, CurbedSF did incorporate our comments in an update.)

CurbedSF did add something new to the “controversy”, though, which is the point of this post.They asked their readers to vote on whether they wanted the historic streetcars to stay on Market Street and the Waterfront, or be replaced.

More than 260 readers responded to the question, “Is it time to get rid of the historic streetcars?” 16% said, “Yes,” while 84% — 5 out of every 6 respondents — said, “No.” San Franciscans know there’s almost nothing in this town that gets 84% agreement.

So maybe we can bid farewell, at least for awhile, to this manufactured “controversy”, and focus efforts on making the historic streetcar service run more efficiently, with cashless boarding (pre-paid fares on the busiest parts of the line), even more automobile traffic reduction on Market Street along with consolidated stops from Van Ness to the Ferry, better line management on both lines, but particularly the E-line, and other low-cost measures that Market Street Railway has been advocating for years.

This survey should erase any remaining doubt that the historic streetcars are highly valued by San Franciscans. Now’s the time to actually do something about helping their riders complete their trips faster.

PLEASE SEE JULY 11 UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

Sunday, July 9, has been a gorgeous day in San Francisco, but not a good day (again) for the E-Embarcadero line, which again has been mismanaged, in this case by assigning a streetcar that should have been on the E-line to the F-line instead.

In the photo above, you see one of the seven double-end PCCs, the 1007, working the F-line to Castro, not the E. The double-end PCCs are required on the E-line because single-end streetcars (which are five times more plentiful than double-enders in Muni’s fleet) can’t turn around at the E-line terminal at Sixth and King Streets. Making the issue more critical: for technically complex reasons we won’t get into here, two of those seven double-ended PCCs can’t currently use the Sixth and King terminal and thus have to turn around short of it, skipping the Caltrain stop in both directions and screwing up E-line service along the whole line. So good management means minimizing the number of days those two double-ended PCCs (1009 and 1015) are assigned to the E-line for now. If they had assigned one of those two cars to the F-line, no problem. But assigning a “good” E-line car, 1007, to the F, meant that 1009 was running on the E-line, and skipping the Caltrain stop every time, screwing up the line.

Using a different terminal for the 1009 and 1015 on the E-line guarantees the operation will be thrown off for the entire line, and Muni management knows it.  Market Street Railway has made numerous recommendations to Muni management to try to make the E-line run more reliably, such as using vintage cars like Muni Car 1 or Melbourne 496, which can run the full E-line route without problems, to avoid ever putting those “bad” PCCs into the E-line mix. None of our suggestions has yet been put into effect.

As is common on the E-line now, we saw two E-line cars running nose-to-tail today when they should’ve been 15 minutes apart. That means there is a 30-minute gap between E-line cars elsewhere on the line at that moment…sometimes worse if other factors come into play.

And decisions like the one made today, to put one of the good E-line cars on the F-line instead, only makes things worse.

UPDATE, July 11: Market Street Railway and SFMTA leaders held their monthly meeting today and spent most of their time on the issue. The streetcar pictured above has been reassigned to the E-line and from now on, Muni Operations will do everything they can to limit double-end PCCs on the F-line to those two cars (1009, 1015) that have trouble using the normal E-line southern terminal at Caltrain.

The current issue was not the fault of Muni Rail Maintenance, which put the two double-enders out on the F-line (mistakenly assigning one wrong car) because of an overall temporary streetcar shortage. This included delays in getting some of the new streetcars just returned from Brookville Equipment Company into revenue service because of a shortage of operators to “burn them in” quickly — accumulate the required 1,000 miles without passengers to test the system. One newly returned car is also out with warranty work while another, about to go into rehab at Brookville, was pulled from service when a crack in the bolster under the car was discovered (bolster strengthening is a key target of the rehabilitation process). This temporary single-end car shortage should pass within a couple of weeks.

We had a productive discussion at this meeting on other steps that might be taken in the short-term to try to improve service performance on the E-line, though no actions were clearly committed to by SFMTA. We appreciate the discussion and look forward to seeing concrete positive results soon.

Here’s an unusual shot, photographer unknown (at least to us). We’re at Market and McAllister, looking west. It appears to be about 1940.  When our main drag had four streetcar tracks side by side, there were very few spots where there was enough room to build actual boarding islands like you see on Market now. Instead, there were just raised dots to mark what were optimistically called “safety zones”.

But here we have a real concrete island with its own concrete bench, a rarity back then. There’s a woman on the island with a suitcase on the bench, peering down the tracks waiting for her car to come. (Streetcars were called “cars” in San Francisco then, automobiles were only starting to pick up that designation. Some San Franciscans called automobiles “machines.”)

The tracks of Market Street Railway Company’s 5-McAllister streetcar line (now Muni’s 5-Fulton bus) turn off here to the right, headed for Playland. Within a few years, streetcars will again turn off Market here, thanks to an initiative spearheaded by our non-profit (named for the old Muni competitor) to create a turnback loop for F-line streetcars near Civic Center, allowing Muni to add additional service between downtown and Fisherman’s Wharf when needed. The loop will wrap around the building right center, then called Hotel Shaw, with a layover on Charles Brenham Place (the extension of Seventh Street north of Market), a street that didn’t exist when this photo was taken.

We see a few Market Street Railway Company “White Front” cars in the distance to the woman’s right, headed to the Ferry (or maybe East Bay Terminal), but nothing outbound, either MSR or Muni. One other thing: in another rarity, the photographer has captured the Wiley “bird cage” signal to the right with its reading blank, in that fraction of a second as it was changing from GO to STOP or vice versa (there was no “caution” phase in between). Note the small pedestrian signal beneath it. Countdown timer?  What’s that?

You can see a working Wiley signal, unique to San Francisco and gone from our streets by 1962, at our San Francisco Railway Museum across from the Ferry Building.  Drop by and see our exhibits and unique gifts, perfect for San Franciscans to give to others to demonstrate their love of our city’s transit history.

We received this notification from Muni:

The F Market will be motorized all day and around 3PM, it will have a reroute short of Pier 39 at Bay Street given the street closures. The E line will operate with streetcars until about 2PM, when they will pull-in and be replaced by motorcoaches.

So Muni Operations has decided that E-line streetcars can run until 2 pm, but that F-line streetcars somehow cannot run at all on the 4th, even from Castro to the Ferry on Market, which as far as we know is not blocked or otherwise inaccessible to the streetcars.

This will no doubt disappoint lots of folks. We at Market Street Railway weren’t asked our opinion on this. If we were, we would have urged them to run the F-line with streetcars from Castro to the Wharf until things got too crowded there, and then turn the streetcars back at the Ferry loop, keeping streetcar service on Market.

Enjoy your streetcar-free 4th, folks. We hope Muni will reconsider this policy next year.

Lots of streetcars but even more American flags on and around the Ferry Building on a bright afternoon in October 1909, 1:29 p.m. We don’t know the exact date or who took the photo; if someone knows, fill us in with a comment.

Lots to see in this shot. Double-click on the photo to enlarge it and take a tour. Permanent buildings are in place after the 1906 earthquake, some with electric signs (waffles, anyone?). The Southern Pacific is advertising train service atop that building to the left (it would soon build its impressive headquarters — still there as One Market — immediately to the right of the camera). A teamster’s wagon is front and center with a horse drawn water tank wagon wetting the pavement right behind the last streetcar in the long line of them waiting to get to the Ferry Loop.

Those streetcars frame the range of dates for us. They all appear to be part of the order of 200 cars, numbered 1550-1749, ordered by United Railroads from the St. Louis Car Company and delivered by the end of 1907. They don’t yet have route boxes on their roofs, so it was early in their life. A group of 80 somewhat different looking streetcars (the 100-class) arrived early in 1911 and took over the Sutter Street lines; at least one would likely be in this shot if it was taken then. While the shot shows four tracks on Market Street, these were all United Railroads tracks; the outside tracks only extended as far as Sutter. When Muni’s first lines were extended from Geary and Market to the Ferry in 1913, they shared the outer tracks on this stretch.

While all the flags make one think of the Fourth of July, this hoopla was actually for the Portola Festival, a big celebration from October 19-23, 1909, that ostensibly honored the 140th anniversary of when Don Gaspar de Portola (properly pronounced port-o-LA) became the first European to see San Francisco Bay. The real reason, which no one hid, was to announce that San Francisco had recovered from the earthquake and fire and was again open for business and tourism. We think that object with the shield on it next to the outbound streetcar on the left is a parade float. Our unofficial historian, Emiliano Echeverria, says that United Railroads actually created several streetcar floats for the festival by tearing off the bodies of obsolete cars down to the floor level, later rebuilding them.

The US Pacific Fleet was anchored in the Bay along with warships of other nations. Parades drew huge crowds. It reinforced the city leadership’s desire to stage an even bigger celebration, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, in 1915. But first, they held another Portola Festival, in 1913, and had smaller repeats now and then in the decades that followed.

In any event, all these flags make this photo look like a good one to post for the Fourth of July weekend. Enjoy!

This photo just in from DF Baker in our Market Street Railway Facebook group shows the latest restored PCC from Brookville Equipment Company headed back to San Francisco. It’s Car 1062, freshly repainted to honor Pittsburgh Railways Company. (The PRC logo will be applied after it gets to San Francisco.

The photo was taken at a truck stop Mill City, Nevada, between Winnemucca and Reno. The car could arrive in San Francisco Sunday. Once it’s unloaded, Car 1053 will be pulled onto the trailer for its turn at restoration in Brookville. Muni shop workers will check out the 1062 and then it will run 1,000 miles without passengers in a “burn-in” period like the other cars that have already arrived from Brookville.

Since his passion and determination grabbed the attention of San Franciscans in the 1970s, Harvey Milk has been a household name here. His terrible assassination in 1978 brought global attention to his human rights advocacy, specifically for LGBTQ people. The movie “Milk” in 2008 brought his story to millions more around the globe.

In 2009, Market Street Railway urged the SFMTA to dedicate a PCC streetcar used in the movie, No. 1051, to Harvey. It wears the simple green and creme paint job commonly used on the Muni streetcars of that day — the streetcars Harvey boarded at the old East Portal of the Twin Peaks Tunnel on Castro Street and rode to City Hall to do his job — or sometimes, to protest.

For Harvey Milk was also a dedicated transit advocate, one of the strongest on the Board of Supervisors of his day. He didn’t really have a choice, in one sense, because he didn’t own, or want, an automobile. Living on the limited income from his small camera store on Castro Street and the part-time salary of Supervisors (which was $9600 a year in 1978), he took Muni’s streetcars and buses everywhere. He was the first Supervisor to buy and use a Fast Pass, and believed that attractive, affordable mobility was the key to livability in cities.

Market Street Railway created interior displays for the streetcar when it was first dedicated, celebrating the different facets of Harvey Milk. When the car was rededicated March 15 of this year following a total rebuilding, we restored those internal displays. We were delighted at the ceremony when SFMTA Director of Transit John Haley asked us if we could help create external signage to let people who see the car on the F-line know that it’s Harvey’s car, without making too big an impact on the historic livery the car wears. (By the way, the unique and diverse liveries are a major reason SFMTA prohibits advertising on the outside of the historic streetcars, a position we have steadfastly supported for decades).

Car 1051 now wears this decal over its front door, paying visible tribute to Harvey to boarding riders and passersby. It reads, “Dedicated to Harvey Milk, 1930-1978: SF Supervisor, Human Rights Champion, Transit Advocate.”

We were able to do this thanks to a generous grant from Ambassador James Hormel and his husband Michael Nguyen, which will also enable us to expand and maintain the displays on Car 1051 and tell the story of Harvey Milk, Transit Advocate, in other media and forms as well.  We thank Jim and Michael for their support. We welcome your donations to Market Street Railway to help us bring more positive attention to Harvey Milk and other transit advocates in our city’s history as well. Just click here to help us. Thanks!

By the time historic streetcars returned to San Francisco’s streets for the first Historic Trolley Festival in the Summer of 1983, the annual LGBT Pride Parade was already a summertime fixture on Market Street. Even then, the parade was such a major event that streetcar service was suspended for its duration. But that first year of the Trolley Festival, two of the Trolley Festival cars showed their own pride by joining in. Here we look through the 1934 Blackpool, England boat tram used in the first Festival to see vintage 1912 Muni Car 1 strutting its stuff.

The streetcars were busy that weekend, though. In special service, Car 1 made a couple of trips in from Ocean Beach on the N-line to pick up parade attendees and bring them through the Sunset Tunnel, then down Church and up 17th Street to Castro.

Our non-profit, Market Street Railway, has worked closely with the Castro Merchants and neighborhood groups over the decades to advocate for top-notch F-line streetcar service to the Castro. Our volunteers even clean the streetcars at their 17th and Castro terminal to make the ride more pleasant for passengers. We don’t get any money from the government at all; we depend on memberships and donations from people who think the streetcars are an object of pride for San Francisco.

By the way, that particular boat tram in the 1983 photo, No. 226, was leased from the Western Railroad Museum in Solano County. It was so popular that Market Street Railway leaders went out and acquired one, No. 228, and gave it to Muni. We got a second boat, No. 233, just a few years ago. With two of the popular boat trams at Muni, there’s always one available for groups to charter for a fun, private ride on the waterfront or Market Street. (As for boat tram 226, it has not operated at its museum home for decades, resting with various ailments.)

Happy Pride Week, everyone!

Co-founder of Market Street Railway and respected San Francisco historian Paul Rosenberg has passed away after an extended illness. He was 72.

Paul graduated from Lowell High School and the University of California Berkeley. He was an early member of one of the great San Francisco groups, the Irish-Israeli-Italian Society as well as other groups, and served on Market Street Railway’s board for many years. One of a small group of historians and transit supporters who founded our non-profit in 1977, he was a pillar of our organization in its formative years.

Paul’s career was as a San Francisco civil servant, but his avocation — where he left his heart — was San Francisco history. No one knew more about the nooks and crannies of the city’s history, and he delivered his knowledge in the form of wonderful stories.

On our Facebook group in recent years, Paul could always be counted on to help date an obscure transit photo, not only by the vehicles and the buildings, but also by political advertisements that appeared in the picture. He was a kind and open man, who shared freely and modestly; a real San Franciscan.

We shall miss him greatly and owe him a great deal. Our hearts go out to his wife Sherrie, pictured above with Paul, and their son Coleman.

UPDATE: We received this message from Paul’s wife, Sherrie Katz Rosenberg:

“On Sunday morning, June 18, 2017, my beloved husband of 32 years, Paul Rosenberg, passed away, after a short battle with liver disease and a long battle with lung cancer. His death seemed to be painless. He is survived by our son, Coleman Rosenberg, and me. His funeral will be at our family’s temple, Beth Israel Judea, on Sunday, June 25th at Noon followed by food and conversation. BIJ is at 625 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco, CA 94132. We will also be siting Shiva – taking visitors and having a brief service – on Monday and Tuesday from 6 to 9 pm, with the service at 7. This is also at the temple.