Market Street Railway depends on volunteers to make things happen. The more help we have, the more we can do to preserve historic transit in San Francisco.
We played the leading role in saving vintage streetcar service on Market Street, and later extending it to Fisherman’s Wharf along the waterfront. The F-Market & Wharves line is now rightly world-famous and stands as a testament to what volunteers acting in concert can accomplish. Now, with Muni’s budget crunch, we need volunteer help again to strengthen our organization and defend our streetcars, and the cable cars too!
To become a volunteer, fill out the form at the bottom of the page. A member of staff will be in contact shortly thereafter. For any questions, you can email us at msrvolunteering@gmail.com.
Below are some of the volunteer opportunities we offer.
Museum Docents
Market Street Railway volunteers serve as docents in our San Francisco Railway Museum, answering visitor questions about San Francisco transit history, helping them interact with displays, and demonstrating how to operate a vintage streetcar on our full-size replica. Docent shifts are from 1-4 days a month, 2-5 hours between 12 Noon – 5 pm. You’ll meet and greet rail fans and history buffs from around the City, the Bay Area, and the world. We have lots of international visitors, so volunteers with skills in such languages as German, Spanish, and Japanese are especially helpful.
Website Management
This website, streetcar.org, is our virtual window to the world. If you explore the “We Built This City” section, you’ll find scores of well-researched articles on aspects of San Francisco’s transit history, including many rare photographs. We need savvy help from content curators and web designers to make this content more accessible to the public. We would also welcome volunteers able and willing to help us keep our website secure.
Social Media
We’re looking for active social media users to contribute content to our TikTok account, our YouTube channel, our Instagram account, and our Facebook Pages (for our Museum, and for transit history, as well as our popular Facebook discussion group. When you see great historic transit action on the streets (cable cars and F-line streetcars), use your creativity to offer fresh perspectives on these iconic vehicles and POST.
Youth Programming
We have several ways young people can get involved in preserving San Francisco’s historic transit. Students in grades 8–12 can apply to volunteer as youth docents at our San Francisco Railway Museum, gaining experience welcoming visitors and sharing the stories of San Francisco’s historic transit. High school students can also apply for MSR’s Summer Internship Program (SIP), which offers a project-based opportunity for students to contribute to defined MSR initiatives. In addition, high school students who have completed at least 30 hours of volunteer service as a youth docent are eligible to apply for MSR’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB) which offers a year-round leadership opportunity for high school students to elevate youth perspectives and lead impact projects. Applications for SIP and YAB typically open in January or February. More information about these programs and upcoming application deadlines will be added to this page as the dates approach.
Photo Archives
We have collected thousands of historic photographs of San Francisco historic transit from many sources, and use them in a variety of ways. You can help our lead archivist scan and catalogue additional photos and help us make them more accessible.
Fundraising
We need to grow our membership and win grants from foundations to support and extend the efforts of our organization and our volunteers. Those who are willing to approach merchants along the F-line route, or initiate outreach to community and other groups, or who have experience in writing grant proposals are especially welcome.
Office and field support
Volunteers are always welcome to help with office and clerical duties, including processing memberships and donations, keeping our database current and accurate, and more.
Board of Directors
The Market Street Railway Board of Directors are volunteers as well. It’s a prestigious opportunity for service, reserved for those who are able and willing to devote time, talent, financial resources, or a combination of these to governing our organization and helping set our strategy and priorities to keep the F-line streetcars and cable cars operating at adequate service levels, and to help business and government leaders recognize the significant value they contribute to the City’s economy.
Link to volunteer form
Click the link below to fill out our volunteer form on Google Forms
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGB9x8IpPpMN8482IFItTwHlOvYm1KhKgqsSFZzYxUAKNBLw/viewform