SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL RAILWAY

The 'San Francisco Municipal Railway', or 'Muni' as it is commonly known, is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2000, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million. In terms of ridership, Muni is the 7th largest transit agency in the United States. In 2002, ridership on all forms of transit totaled 233,015,740.

Contents

Overview

Fares

Special service

Statistics

Governance

History

Fleet

Streetcar fleet

Bus fleet

Articulated bus fleet

Trolley fleet

System expansion

Divisions

Usage notes

Bibliography

See also

References

External links

Overview

Muni is an integral part of public transit throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, operating 365 days a year and connecting with regional services such as BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and AC Transit. Many weekday riders are commuters, as the daytime weekday population in San Francisco exceeds its normal residential population. Muni shares some stations with BART, which can lead to confusion amongst visitors. Travelers can connect to San Francisco International Airport and nearby Oakland International Airport via BART.



The Muni network consists of the following lines:

★ 54 bus lines (several using articulated buses);

★ 17 trolley bus lines (several using articulated buses)

★ 6 light rail lines. These lines, collectively known as Muni Metro, run articulated light rail vehicles. The lines include underground, grade-separated, and street-running portions

★ 3 cable car lines; see article ''San Francisco cable car system''

★ 1 heritage streetcar line known as the ''F Market''
Selected routes and/or alternate routes operate 24 hours a day; during the overnight hours (between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.), most parts of the city are connected by Owl buses that usually operate with 30 minute headways. Muni routes operate on a schedule, and the ''frequency'' of service varies at various times of day. Trip planning has been made easier by the implementation of GPS monitoring for some routes through NextBus, allowing more informed ETAs.
Muni offers more frequent service than most other public transit agencies in the United States. Most bus lines are scheduled to operate at 5 to 15 minute headways during peak hours, every 5 to 20 minutes mid-days, and about every 10 to 20 minutes from 9 p.m. to midnight. On weekends most Muni bus lines run every 10 to 20 minutes. However, there have been complaints of unreliability, especially on less-often-served lines and older (pre-battery backup) trolleybus lines. A February 20, 2007, article in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' noted that Muni was not able to meet its modest goal of 85%, voter demanded, on-time service.
All Muni lines run roughly inside San Francisco city limits, with the exception of the 76-line to the Marin Headlands area on Sundays and Holidays, which is a popular hiking and biking destination, the 14-Mission, which runs on Mission Street 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the 28-19th Avenue, 28L-19th Avenue Limited, and the 54-Felton, which run to the Daly City BART station daily. Most intercity connections are provided by BART and Caltrain heavy rail, AC Transit buses at the Transbay Terminal and Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans downtown.
Bus and car stops throughout the city vary from Metro car stations with raised platforms in the subway and at the more heavily used surface stops, to small shelters, to simple signs, to nothing more than a yellow stripe across the tracks, on a utility pole, or on the roadway.

Fares

As of September 2005, fares are $1.50 for adults and $0.50 for seniors over 65, youth aged 5-17, and disabled persons. Fares were increased in 2003 in the face of municipal and state budget cuts, and again in 2005. Proof-of-payment (POP) is handled through a transfer slip, either a piece of newsprint-like paper, torn to indicate expiration time (buses and streetcar) or machine-printed on thicker tag stock at subway stations and a few outdoor stops such as San Francisco State University, any of which can be checked by fare inspectors. Frequent riders can get a monthly pass for $45 for adults ("Fast Pass"), $35 for low income residents ^[1], or $10 for youth and seniors. Persons with disabilities who have obtained a Regional Transit Connection discount card may purchase a $10 disabled monthly sticker. Fast Passes are valid on all Muni lines, including cable cars, as well as on BART rides entirely inside San Francisco (between Embarcadero and Balboa Park). Other passes and stickers are valid on all Muni lines, including cable cars, but not on BART (with the exception of BART-Plus^[2] ticket types).
Cable car fare is $5 per trip, with no transfers issued or accepted. "Passports" are folding scratch-off passes that can be purchased by mail, or at various places throughout the city; they are good on all regular-service lines without surcharge, including cable cars, and cost $11 for a 1-day pass, $18 for a 3-day pass, or $24 for a 7-day pass.
Special round-trip fares are set for buses going to Monster Park during football games. They are $7 for adults, $5 for children and seniors, and $3 for anyone with a pass. Riders are given a special pass once they pay the fare, which they can then use on the return-trip from the park. Candlestick Park and other Special Event Fares These fares also increased on September 1, 2005.
Most Fast Passes can be purchased through Muni's official website. They can also be purchased at select locations throughout San Francisco including most Safeway grocery store locations.

Special service

Muni operates 16 express lines, 4 lines limited service (semi-express) lines, and 12 Owl lines. During sporting events, additional lines go to Monster Park.
Most of the express lines only run during peak hours; during mornings they run towards Downtown and during the evening they run away from Downtown. All express lines have an "X", "AX", or "BX" following the line's number. Longer lines are divided into A and B Expresses. The B Express line is shorter and has stops that are closer to Downtown, while the A Express makes stops further away from Downtown and will make few or no stops in the area where the B Express stops.
The 14, 28, 38 and 71 lines all have buses providing limited service along their routes. They make fewer stops than the standard line in order to provide for faster travel, but stops are interspersed at greater intervals along the entire line (as opposed to the expresses, which make frequent local stops near the origin and destination, but not in the middle). Some of them run all day long and on weekends, unlike express buses. All limited buses have an "L" following the line's number.
Owl service runs from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. There is Owl service along the 5, 14, 22, 24, 38 and 108 lines, and as bus service along the L and N rail lines, along with a few trips along the K and M rail lines. Two additional lines which combine several daytime lines, the 90 and 91, only operate during Owl hours.
During football games, the special routes 9X, 28X, 47X, 86, and T-Shuttle run to Monster Park. Note that these routes are not standard express routes and that the 9X that runs during football games is not the same as the normal 9X route. The 9X, 28X, and 47X follow roughly the same routes as the 9, 28, and 47, respectively, and then continue towards Monster Park. The 86 is a shuttle service that only runs between San Bruno Avenue and Monster Park, while the T-Shuttle is a shuttle service that connects with the T Third Street light-rail line at the 3rd Street and Gilman Street/Paul Avenue Station and Monster Park.

Statistics

Muni operates about 1,000 vehicles: diesel, electric, and hybrid electric transit buses, light rail vehicles known as Muni Metro streetcars that run both under and above ground, PCC streetcars running on the F Market heritage line, and the San Francisco cable car system which is a tourist icon for the city. Many buses are diesel powered, but more than 300 are zero-emissions trolleybuses powered by overhead electrical wires. The electricity to run all of Muni's trolleybuses and streetcars comes from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park.
In 2006, Muni purchased 86 hybrid electric transit buses from Orion Bus Industries that are diesel fueled but feature very low emissions and 35% reduced fuel consumption due to their regenerative electrical braking.
All Muni lines except for Cable Cars and the 41 Union are wheelchair accessible( ). Nearly all bus lines have bicycle racks, but streetcars, Muni Metro lines, and Cable Cars do not.
The longest Muni line is the 24.1 mile 91-owl, a nighttime only route that blends several other routes together, and during the day the longest route is the 17.4 mile 29 Sunset. The shortest route is the 89 Laguna Honda at .6 miles. The steepest grade climbed by Muni vehicle is 23.1% by a diesel bus on the 67 line, 22.8% by a trolleybus on the 24 line, and 21% by a cable car on the Powell-Hyde line.
The busiest Muni bus line is the 38-Geary, which travels 6.5 miles in the east-west direction along the Geary corridor, and has an average speed of only 8 mph.^[3] Door-to-door, it takes over 50 minutes to traverse the 6.5 mile distance from the originating terminal (in the Richmond District) to the destination terminal (Transbay Transit Terminal).^[4]
Two interesting intersections of note: Powell and Market Streets and California and Market Streets. At these two points, three types of rail gauges come within a few hundred feet of each other: Bay Area Rapid Transit's 5 feet, 6 inch (1.676 m) broad gauge (which is underground in the lower tunnels), Muni Metro's standard gauge (also underground in the upper tunnels), and the San Francisco cable car system's (narrow gauge, ) (at street level a few hundred feet away to the north of Market Street in both cases). The F Market heritage railway is also present here, at street level on Market Street. The rail lines, however, do not physically intersect.
The F Market and Wharves line uses the same standard gauge as the Muni Metro, and in fact uses the J Church line to travel between its regular route and the storage facility.

Governance

Since the passage of Proposition E in November 1999, Muni has been part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA), a semi-independent city agency created by that ballot measure. The agency, which includes the Department of Parking and Traffic and the Parking Authority, is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors. The executive director and CEO of the MTA is Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., who previously served as general manager and CEO of MARTA, and before that, as a manager for BART.

History

Muni has its origins in the period following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Up until then the city had been served by a number of commercial horsecar, cable car and electric streetcar operators. Many of these had been amalgamated into the United Railroads of San Francisco (URR) company. However the city acquired the still-independent cable car operator Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railway and converted the line into an electric streetcar line in 1912.
Muni soon started on a large building program. On December 29 1914, the new Stockton Street Tunnel under Nob Hill opened, allowing streetcars from downtown to go to North Beach and the new Marina District. On February 3 1918, the Twin Peaks Tunnel opened, making the southwestern quarter of the city available for development. On October 21 1928, the Sunset Tunnel opened, bringing the N Judah streetcar line to the Sunset District.
These improvements plunged Muni into direct competition with the URR on the entire length of Market Street. The two operators each operated their own pair of rail tracks down that thoroughfare, which came to be known as the "roar of the four."
By World War II, the Market Street Railway Company, successor to the URR, was in financial difficulties, and in 1944 the Muni acquired its commercial competitor.
During the late 1990s, with aging equipment and allegedly poor management, Muni developed a reputation for declining service. San Francisco residents responded in 1996 by organizing Rescue Muni, a transit riders association. Muni's previous Boeing-Vertol streetcars were criticized as being unreliable, and were replaced by newer Italian Breda streetcars. Muni's previous non-ADA compliant Flyer trolleybuses were replaced with ETI-Skoda^[5] trolleybuses in the early 2000s; the trolleybus manufacturer is now defunct.^[6] Muni's current livery consists of a silver/red motif. More information on the fleet can be seen below.

Fleet

Streetcar fleet

As described above, Muni has certain buses that are compliant and non-compliant. This list describes Muni's rail history.

Company	Ordered	Retired	City (If Second-Hand)	Current Status	Ordered/Vehicle Number
W.L Holman	1912	1951	-	Retired, Car 1 survives	1-42
Jewett Car Company	1914	1958 (Except 130)	-	Retired, Car 130 in service; Car 162 under restoration	43-168
Bethelem Steel	1923	1958	-	Retired, Cars 171 and 178 survives, both under restoration at Western Railway Museum	169-188
St. Louis Car Company	1939	1959	-	Retired, Car 1003 at Western Railway Museum.	5 ordered, 1001-1005
St. Louis Car Company	1948, 1995	1982, 1987	-	Retired, and at storage.	10 ordered, 1006-1015
St. Louis Car Company	1951-1952	1982, 1987	-	Retired. Some slated for restoration	25 ordered, 1016-1040. 1040 was the last PCC car ever built in the United States, but is not running.
St. Louis, Missouri	1957	1982, 1987	St. Louis	Retired.	1101-1170
Toronto, Ontario, Canada	1970	1980	Toronto	Retired.	1180-1190
Boeing Vertol	1977	1995-2001	Boston, Massachusetts	Retired. One unit at Western Railway Museum, Duboce Division	1201-1335
Ansaldobreda, S.P.A.	1997-2001	Unknown	-	Active Service.	1401-1533

Bus fleet

This table shows the buses that Muni has and will have in the future.

Company	Ordered	Retired	Scrapped	Current Status	Buses Ordered	Bus Numbers	Second-Hand Transit Provider?
Flyer Industries	1984	2004	2005	Retired	172	4500-4672	-
New Flyer Industries	1988	2007	?	Retired	106	8801-8850, 8901-8956	-
Orion Bus Industries	1990	-	-	Phased into Retirement	45	9001-9045	-
NABI	1999	-	-	Active Service	45	8001-8045	AC Transit
Neoplan USA	2000-2003	-	-	Active Service	207	8101-8235, 8300-8371	-
Gillig	2007	2007	-	Reserve Service	45	2801-2845	Acquired 1993 by AC Transit, retired 2004 by AC Transit
Orion Bus Industries	2007	-	-	Active Service	56	8401-8456	-
Orion Bus Industries	2007	-	-	Active Service	30	8501-8530	-

Articulated bus fleet

Muni first ordered 60 articulated buses from MAN AG, numbered 6001-6059. They were replaced with 124 buses from Neoplan (numbered 6200-6299, 6400-6424). They also acquired 24 buses from New Flyer, which were rehabbed in 2005. (9101-9124)

Company	Ordered	Retired	Scrapped	Current Status	Buses Ordered	Bus Numbers	Second-Hand Transit Provider?
MAN AG	1969	2003	2005	Retired	100	6001-6099	-
New Flyer Industries	1988	2007	-	Retired	24	9101-9124	-
Neoplan USA	2003	2012	-	Active Service	124	6200-6299, 6400-6424	-

Trolley fleet

Company	Ordered	Retired	Scrapped	Current Status	Buses Ordered	Bus Numbers	Second-Hand Transit Provider?
Marmon-Herrington	1950	1978	-	Retired, sold to Mexico City	???	???
Flyer Industries	1977	2003	-	98% Fleet Retired	284	5001-5330	-
New Flyer Industries	1992-1994	-	-	Active Fleet	59	7001-7059	-
ETI Skoda	1999-2003	-	-	Active Fleet	273	5401-5640
ETI Skoda	2003	-	-	Active Fleet	33	7101-7133

System expansion

Construction on a sixth light rail line from the Caltrain Depot to Visitacion Valley (and Bayview/Hunters Point) was completed in December 2006. The new line, named the T Third Street, consists of 19 new high-platform stations at street-level, including at least one within walking distance of Monster Park. The line was supposed to connect the Bayshore Caltrain station with light rail, but Caltrain failed to notify Muni of a pending reconfiguration to the Bayshore station, which calls for a modification to the new light rail line. This will force the light rail line to terminate at Sunnydale Avenue for a few years, but it is hoped that the new Muni line will eventually connect to the Bayshore station. Third Street Light Rail/Central Subway
A further underground expansion for the T-line is being planned. Dubbed the Central Subway, four proposed new underground stations at Moscone Center, Market Street and Stockton Street, Union Square, and Chinatown are being studied for a possible target date of 2016. A future extension into North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf or to the Marina District and The Presidio may be built in a third phase. This project is expected to cost approximately USD $1.4 billion.^[7]. A very critical problem with the proposed subway is that the stations will be much narrower and shorter in comparison to existing Muni Metro stations on Market Street; ridership projections reveal that the line will run at near capacity from the start of operations with little or no ability to increase capacity. Some activists have criticized these long-term plans as catering to the needs of visitors at the expense of city residents, asserting that Muni's resources would be better spent on a seventh light rail line running along (or under) Geary Boulevard into the densely populated Richmond District. Currently, a bus rapid transit ("BRT") line is being planned for Geary Boulevard, possibly as a precursor to a light rail line.
Expected smaller changes to service include rerouting the 22 Fillmore and extending either the 30 Stockton or 45 Union-Stockton into Mission Bay when the area becomes developed, and a new E Embarcadero historic streetcar line is expected to begin operation along the Embarcadero from Fisherman's Wharf to the Caltrain station at 4th and King Streets in 2007, with a possible future extension into Mission Bay.
Additionally, there are plans to expand trolleybus service in several parts of the city. Several extensions to existing trolleybus lines are planned, including 14 Mission service to the Daly City BART station, 6 Parnassus service to West Portal Station, 33 Stanyan service across Potrero Hill to Third Street, 45 Union-Stockton service to the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio and 24 Divisadero service into the former Hunters Point shipyard. Other expansion plans include electrification of some diesel bus lines, with the most likely lines for conversion being the 9 San Bruno, 10 Townsend and 47 Van Ness. Electrification of the 10 Townsend line would likely be joined by an extension of the line across Potrero Hill to San Francisco General Hospital. Other lines that may be electrified are the 2 Clement, 27 Bryant, 43 Masonic and 71 Haight-Noriega. Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP)
Overall, the Muni system is not expanding. However the average speed of Muni vehicles has been slowly declining over the years due to increasing vehicular congestion. Therefore, Muni has launched plans to make its transit vehicles move faster through the city. The Transit Effectiveness Project launched in May 2006 to take a comprehensive look at the entire Muni system to see where service can be improved or streamlined to provide faster and more reliable service. 25 years have passed since the last comprehensive review and travel patterns have changed, traffic congestion has increased, operating costs have risen and on-time performance has dropped. Automatic passenger counters will help to provide an accurate picture of where riders get on and off. In addition, bus rapid transit is currently being proposed on the Geary and Van Ness corridors.

Divisions

Muni has eight divisions, facilities where buses and streetcars are stored and serviced.


★ Presidio Division, at Bush Street and Presidio Avenue, houses Muni's 40-foot trolleybuses. It was also Muni's first streetcar division, until it was converted to trolley bus storage between 1951-1956.

★ Potrero Division, at Bryant and 17th Streets, is where all the retired trolleybuses, all 93 articulated trolleybuses, and 75 of the current trolleybuses, including the prototypes, are stored. The division was built in 1915, but the trolleys were stored over at Bryant and 11th Streets until 1951, when it became the Wonder Bread factory.

★ Woods Division, at 24th and Tubbs Streets, houses the majority of diesel buses, including all the retired New Flyer Buses described in the fleet section, and some of the Neoplans. It is unclear how much Neoplans and what number Woods has right now because all of the Neoplans are being phased to Kirkland as the Orion Buses arrive. Woods is also the home to 130 Orion Buses, including the Orion VII low floor types.

★ Flynn Division, at Marin and Indiana, houses all of the articulated buses, as well as most of the retired PCC fleet. Flynn has all 124 Neoplan buses, and the 24 rehabbed New Flyers. Some PCC streetcars are stored at Flynn and nearby Pier 72.

★ Kirkland Division, at Beach and Powell Streets, houses all 45 of the NABIs, and, as of September 8 2007, 150 of the Neoplans, and 5 Orion 30-Footers.

★ Curtis E. Green division, at Geneva and San Jose Avenues near Balboa Park Station, was built in recognition of Curtis E. Green, and houses all streetcars and F Market & Wharves PCCs.

★ David L. Pharr division, at Duboce and Buchanan, was used when they shut down the right-of-way for the J Church and N Judah. It currently stores one retired Boeing Streetcar, Car #798, and many unrestored streetcars for the F Market & Wharves. All cars stored there are currently not in revenue service, and is usually open to the public sometime around the first Sunday of October.

★ Metro East Maintenance Facility, at Cesar Chavez St., and Illinois St., will open in May 2008, and will house about 80 Breda streetcars.

★ There is also a cable car division, located at the Cable Car Museum at Washington and Mason Streets. All cable cars are stored here.

Usage notes

The main logo on trains and buses is a stylized, trademarked "worm" version of the word "MUNI." Muni Logo This logo was designed by legendary San Francisco-based graphic designer Walter Landor in the mid-1970s.
''Muni'' is short for the "Municipal" in "San Francisco Municipal Railway" and is not an acronym; thus, when it is written in plain text, only Muni (not MUNI) is correct. However, many San Franciscans, including some of those who work for Muni, write it MUNI, and so this has become widely accepted. The Muni Metro is often called "the train" or "the streetcar" along with many others.
"Muni" in popular usage usually refers to both the streetcars and the buses as in "Do you know where the nearest Muni stop/station is?" Some natives believe it is a usage error to refer to Muni as "the Muni"; when used, it generally refers to the Muni Metro.
Some people use the term ''streetcar'' or ''trolley'' for cable car or vice versa. The terms actually have distinct meanings; if one asks a driver for directions to the ''trolley'' when one really wants a cable car, one may receive the wrong directions. There have also been observed uses of the term ''bus'' for ''light rail vehicle'', indicating that the term ''bus'' may be becoming generic in current local usage.
The F Market & Wharves line is referred to by Muni as a "historic streetcar line" rather than as a "heritage railway." One could reasonably argue that the cable cars are also a "heritage railway."
All Muni routes, except the cable cars, have two parts to the name, and are most often referred to by both. For example, the "1-California." The word(s) on the end refer, in general, to the street encompassing the plurality of the line. This does ''not'' mean that the line runs solely on that street (e.g., the 1-California runs on Sacramento and Clay Streets east of Pacific Heights). Bus and trolleybus lines have number designations, rail lines have letters and the three cable car lines are typically referred to by name only (California, Powell/Hyde, and Powell/Mason), but Muni maps abbreviate their names to C, PH, and PM, respectively. Direction on bus, trolleybus, and rail lines is identified as "inbound" or "outbound". Generally speaking, the inbound direction is toward downtown and the outbound direction is away from downtown. Inbound and outbound directions for crosstown and neighborhood lines is less intuitive.
Express bus lines run to downtown in the morning and from downtown in the evening, with the exception of the 9X San Bruno Express. All express bus lines have an "X" suffix to the numeric part of the line name, to identify it as an express route (except for the 88-BART Shuttle, which has a short express portion; nevertheless, it is identified on the official Muni Map in red, the express color). If there is an additional letter before the "X," it identifies the location of the local zone, in decreasing distance from downtown (i.e., "B" will have its local stops and terminus closer to downtown than "A"). Thus, the 1BX-California "B" Express has a local stop zone along California Street in Pacific Heights and Inner Richmond, farther east than the 1AX-California "A" Express's Outer Richmond local zone.
Limited stop bus lines run along the most congested routes, and stop only at the major intersections and transfer points along the way, covering most or all of the route and not deviating from it. Limited buses on most lines run in both directions at commute times, and some run on weekends as well. On trolleybus lines, the limited buses are diesel, allowing them to pass local buses. All limited bus lines have the one-letter suffix "L" added to the numeric part of the line name as well as the suffix "Limited" to the end of the name. For example, the 38L-Geary Limited follows the same route as the 38 Geary, but with more widely spaced stops.

Bibliography

★ Perles, Anthony, with John McKane, Tom Matoff, and Peter Straus, ''The People's Railway: The History of the Municipal Railway in San Francisco.'' Glendale: Interurban Press, 1981. ISBN 0916374424. A detailed, illustrated history of the San Francisco Municipal Railway from its inception through 1980. Currently out of print, but used copies are frequently available through booksellers specializing in transportation and railroads.

See also

★ List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines

★ Muni Metro

★ AC Transit

★ Caltrain

★ Bay Area Rapid Transit

★ Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

★ SamTrans

★ Key System

References

1. A Low-Income Buss Pass that Most Don't Use
2. BART Plus Tickets
3. The Year in Review, Geary BRT
4. 38 Geary Inbound Schedule
5. Czech Prime Minister to Visit Trolley Bus Assembly Plant This Tuesday
6. Trolley bus maker hits the brakes -- Historic Skoda Ostrov calls it quits after almost half a century
7. Bond Cash: Muni seeks dumb subway

External links

★ SF Muni Web site

★
★ Page on historic streetcars

★
★ Muni Short Range Transit Plan

★ Muni transit schedules

★ Route map in PDF format (1.12MB)

★ Route map in GIF format (1.7MB)

★ 511.org SF Bay Area transit information

★ Prototype easily scrollable Muni map; much easier to read

★ NextBus for Muni, a GPS system that predicts arrival times for most routes, except cable cars and express buses.

★ Muni Metro On-time Performance Statistics

★ Pictures of Muni at nycsubway.org

★ Rescue Muni

★ Market Street Railway

★ SPUR report on long-term health of Muni

★ Geary Bus Rapid Transit

★ Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid Transit

★ Transit Effectiveness Project to improve service on all routes

★ The N-Judah Chronicles

★ Central Subway Map