April 22, 2015April 22, 2015 Rick Laubscher

Information NOT Gladly Given?

Muni unveiled sleek new buses yesterday, both motor coaches and trolley coaches. Their press release was full of positive stuff, and rightly so. Transit chief John Haley deserves credit for pulling strings to get new vehicles ordered and here much faster than used to be the case.

But, as the Chronicle story pointed out, there’s something a little historic missing from the new vehicles:

“some of the familiar signs, replaced mostly with visual images. That includes the classic Muni message: ‘Information Gladly Given But Safety Requires Avoiding Unnecessary Conversation.’ Haley said it’s part of a campaign to eradicate negative and threatening messaging from buses.’ That’s not the environment we want to create,’ he said.”

Well, since our non-profit’s mission is “Preserving Historic Transit in San Francisco,” we figure we’ve got to do something. So we’re not only going to continue to offer our tee shirt bearing that ironic (and now, iconic as well) slogan in the traditional gray, we’ve now added stylish black. (Scroll down the linked webpage to reach the shirt.) Gray or black, starting at $16.95 (members get 10% off!)

There’s no better conversation starter than this shirt, and as Muni excises the slogan from its new vehicles, it’s even more important to own one, to keep the slogan alive!

As mentioned, you can get this great shirt with its endangered slogan online, or at our San Francisco Railway Museum, where we’re rolling out a new shirt featuring a Milan tram as well! (That’ll hit our online store in a few days.)

When our friend Todd Lappin (the guiding light behind the fabulous Bernalwood blog) suggested this shirt to us, he described the slogan as “simultaneously friendly and forbidding, inviting yet indifferent, personable yet coldly professional.” Sums it up pretty well.

Still, it’s not as cheerless as the slogan it replaced: “Do Not Talk To Operator.”

But probably the all-time Muni passenger warning sign was this one, that used to be on the step-down-to-open rear doors of Muni buses in the 1950s and 1960s.

Or, “Don’t squish your kids.” Now that’s threatening!

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April 22, 2015 Rick Laubscher

Super Bowl Party Kicks Out F-Line Streetcars

The F-line’s historic streetcars will be kicked out of Downtown for at least eight days, probably longer, early next year. Lower Market Street and Ferry Plaza are being taken over by a massive party for Super Bowl 50, the NFL Championship game being played 50 miles away in Santa Clara on February 7.

Still, San Francisco is the official “host city,” and the host committee is touting the economic benefits of one of America’s most hyped — and most watched — sporting events. The plans, just released, call for closing Market Street east of Beale from January 30 through game day, taking over the plazas around the Ferry Building as well (including the plaza adjoining our San Francisco Railway Museum).

According to an article on the Chronicle’s web site, “The city is expected to add more public transportation to the area and reroute the historic F-line streetcars…” However, as reporters for the paper should know, there is no way to “reroute” streetcars unless there are tracks for them, and, as the rendering above from the Super Bowl Host Committee shows, the entirety of Market Street is closed to all vehicles, with the tracks blocked by temporary structures in places.

While Muni has not yet announced its plans to handle the Market Street closure, the party would – at a minimum – restrict the F-line streetcars to operating from 11th Street west to Castro during the time lower Market is closed, which could stretch as long as ten days when set up and break down times are added, since there is no place closer than that on Market to turn the streetcars around. Buses would presumably substitute for at least that portion of the F-line, either using Mission Street to get around the parade or turning back at Beale, as the Market Street trolley coach lines likely will.

It’s not clear whether the streetcar tracks on The Embarcadero through Ferry Plaza would remain open. If so, streetcar shuttles could operate between Fisherman’s Wharf and the Ferry Building. If not, it’s possible the entire F-line would be operated with buses, rerouted off lower Market, for this extended period.

We’ll report more developments as we learn of them.

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