![]() SFMTA ArchiveĬoping with Covid is the newest chapter in the checkered history of a transit facility that opened on February 18, 1980, promising fast, reliable underground service to replace the aging, smaller “PCC” streetcars on Market Street. All observers agree that the Boeings turned out to be problem children. EXPECTING WHAT, EXACTLY?-Muni mounted a public relations campaign for its Boeing LRVs when they were on their way. This includes the light rail subway-surface systems most akin to San Francisco’s, in Boston and Philadelphia, which opened in 18 respectively. Meanwhile, every other urban rail subway system in North America has either operated continuously through the Covid-19 crisis, or resumed operation after a brief shutdown. During the shutdown, Muni discovered numerous problems with subway infrastructure that they say will likely require further shutdowns over the next five to eight years to remedy. Muni replaced all the splices in the overhead and finally opened again in mid-2021, again on a limited basis. Completely shut down, along with all Muni rail service and most bus lines at that time, the subway reopened on a limited basis in August 2020, only to shut again three days later when the overhead failed. Muni Metro faced its biggest challenge with the Covid pandemic, starting in the spring of 2020. That sealed a decision that has led to 40 years of challenges and frustrations in operating the Muni Metro Subway. The $96.5 bond issue to pay for it was approved by 58% of voters, but it needed 2/3 to pass. The other streetcar lines would become connector buses, feeding the subway. In 1966, after warnings from an expert team that the subway would not function well with all five streetcar lines merging into it, San Francisco voters were asked to approve a true rapid transit subway, extended to San Francisco State College (now University), with high-platform trains like New York used. In passing the 1962 bond issue that built BART and the Market Street subway, voters were told all five existing streetcar lines would use the subway. Under Muni’s Van Ness station, BART trains turn south to continue under Mission Street, while the Muni subway continues west under Market to connect to the Twin Peaks Tunnel just west of Castro Street. The subway that finally got built has two levels between the Ferry Building and Van Ness Avenue, with regional BART trains running beneath Muni light rail vehicles (LRVs). 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. ![]() 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. PRISTINE PLATFORM-Civic Center Muni Metro Station, with a packed two-car N-Judah train, when the subway was new in 1980. ![]()
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