The Zoom app, an obscure business conferencing tool just a few months ago, is suddenly the star and salvation of the shut-down world, with millions of people jumping on to videochat with friends and family. Zoom offers the option of putting an electronic backdrop behind you, and offers some stock scenics. But you can also upload your own, which gave the archives and communications staffs at SFMTA a great idea. We love it!
Even if you’ve never heard of Zoom, these are still cool to look at. Thanks for the SFMTA folks for keeping history visible, even when it’s off the streets.
Wes Valaris says it warmed his heart. Wes is the cable car superintendent, and in our eyes he’s been doing a fantastic job burnishing the historic aspects of this most historic transit operation. But the test ride he took last Friday (April 17) was unlike anything in his career.
With the cables silent and the cars in the barn for more than a month now, the great maintenance crew has been catching up on a long backlog of restoration and preservation projects for the little cars at the cable car barn in Chinatown (Washington and Mason Streets).
There are hi-tech projects too, believe it or not, including the refitting of required security cameras on cars as they’re repaired. Last Friday, the maintenance team finished replacing the roof of Powell Cable Car 3 (pictured above in normal times at Hyde and Lombard last September). But they couldn’t certify the system until the cable car moved along a line. So they cranked up the Hyde Street cable and made a couple of round trips from the barn to Aquatic Park.
There were only four people on the car to ensure physical distancing, and of course no tourists lined up like they were last September in that photo. No, what greeted the cable car crew along the way were San Franciscans. Walking their dogs. Leaning out of windows. Waving. Smiling. “It seemed to lift people’s spirits,” Wes said. “Just a moment of normalcy.”
More repaired and restored cable cars are going to have to be tested in the coming weeks (just as some of the historic streetcars have been). So, folks along the cable car lines may occasionally hear that familiar clang again. It may be quite a long time until the little cars can come back full time — operator and passenger safety are paramount of course — but these “curtain calls” can remind us that they WILL come back. They’re rarin’ to go!
The cable car machinery is completely shut down, though some cosmetic and restoration work continues on individual cable cars. The past week did see some additional operator training on vintage streetcars, as captured in this memorable photo by Traci Cox — memorable in large part because Pier 39 is empty and closed down in what would normally have been a very busy pre-Easter week. (When this ends, we hope you will visit and support Pier 39, because they, and other Wharf businesses, including Ghirardelli Square, Cioppino’s Restaurant, and others, have been generous supporters of our work.)
Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced six critical indicators that would guide his decision on when to modify the state’s lockdown order. He said there is no precise timeline for modifying the stay-at-home order, but from what we’ve seen, it seems clear it will extend at least through the end of May, and likely longer. At that point, transit agencies, including SFMTA, will have to make decisions on when and how to resume various service levels, depending on demand. The governor has said the restart of activity will be phased and gradual. We don’t know at what point cable car or vintage streetcar service might resume, so we won’t speculate, but we will keep you informed here as we get additional information.
Our San Francisco Railway Museum will be closed at least through the lifting of the stay-at-home order, and probably for some time after that. The most likely reopening would be tied to the resumption of F-line streetcar service, but that hasn’t yet been decided. In the meantime, we continue to offer popular items from the museum shop in our online store. Thanks so much to our wonderful museum and operations manager, Alison Cant, for fulfilling incoming orders on a once-a-week basis. She is so important to our organization.
In the meantime, we pass along a message and photo from former MSR board member Steve Ferrario, sent to us on April 9. “Strange days. Castro end of the F-Line, now terminal for the T buses. 🤨”
Thanks once again to all the SFMTA employees on the job during these most difficult time, maintaining some level of mobility for San Franciscans. Be safe out there!
Muni has announced its most drastic system cutback yet, going into effect the next couple of days. Here is their announcement. It includes a map of the routes that will continue to operate and details on why the service is being further reduced. This follows last month’s shutdown of, first, the cable cars and historic streetcars, on the grounds that operators had no separation from passengers akin to light rail vehicles and most buses. That was followed by the shutdown… — Read More
