March 18 is Transit Driver Appreciation Day. Operating transit vehicles is a challenging job, in any environment. The past two years, it has been more challenging than ever in San Francisco, given justified concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus along with all the other issues they encounter every day. In our member magazine, Inside Track, we gave a shout out in 2020 to three vintage streetcar operators, emblematic of the many who show love for San Francisco’s historic transit vehicles and offer their riders great service.
Features
Cars of many colors
Visitors to San Francisco today frequently comment on the multi-colored fleet of streetcars on Market Street. But it’s not the first time that’s happened.
Completing a century: Muni 1983-2012
Final installment of our six part series on Muni’s birth and first century.
Modernizing Muni: 1963-1982
Fifth of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
Rails to rubber: Muni 1946-1962
Fourth of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
Muni at war: crushloads & consolidation 1941-1945
Third of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
The people’s road: Muni 1912-1941
Second of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
Forty frustrating years underground
The idea of a transit subway under Market Street goes back to the first years of the 20th century, but it took more than 70 fitful years to become reality. That’s a complex and fascinating story we tell in this companion post, which explains the compromises that harmed Muni’s subway operation from the get-go.
Market Street subway dreams
Hard for some of us San Franciscans of a certain age to think of the Muni subway under Market Street as a part of history. Because that means that we ourselves…well, you know.
THIS is why we brought the Boat Trams to San Francisco
Giddy riders. Laughing kids. Happy crew members. Public transit that takes people where they want to go with flair and fun. THIS is why Market Street Railway worked hard to bring two Blackpool, England open-top “Boat Trams” to San Francisco and gift them to the City’s transit agency, Muni, 30 years apart.
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