103-627: The San Francisco Transbay development is a completed redevelopment plan for the neighborhood surrounding the Salesforce Transit Center site, South of Market near the Financial District in San Francisco , California . The new transit center replaced the since-demolished San Francisco Transbay Terminal , and new skyscrapers, such as Salesforce Tower , took advantage of the height increases allowed through
206-554: A 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (2.4 km) race: one took the train, and the other walked along Market from Civic Center to Embarcadero. The two reporters tied as both completed their trips in 23 minutes; this was an improvement compared to the previous week, at the height of the Meltdown, when the same trip on Muni Metro could take three times as long. Mayor Brown re-enacted the race as the pedestrian on September 3; this time, Muni Metro service had improved and train passengers completed
309-507: A heritage streetcar line , which is also standard gauge, is also present here, at street level on Market Street. The rail lines, however, do not physically intersect. Muni operates about 1,200 vehicles: 550 diesel-electric hybrid buses , 300 electric trolleybuses , 250 modern light rail vehicles , 50 historic streetcars and 40 cable cars . All vehicles, except for cable cars, are wheelchair accessible . The electricity to run all of Muni's trolleybuses, light rail vehicles, streetcars, and
412-482: A naming rights deal announced on July 7, 2017, the transit center was given the official name of Salesforce Transit Center; the adjoined City Park took the official name Salesforce Park. The first phase of the new Transit Center was originally to be completed by the end of 2017. This was delayed to March 2018 in July 2017, and to June 2018 that December. On December 26, 2017, Muni began operating route 5 buses into
515-557: A connector downtown to transfer between the Bayshore, Geary, and North Beach corridors. These have since been implemented as a combination of light rail ( T Third and Central Subway ) and bus rapid transit ( Geary and Van Ness ) services. During the late 1990s, with aging equipment and poor management, Muni developed a reputation for poor and erratic service. In 1996 a group called Rescue Muni representing transit riders formed to organize concerns and press for change, advocating for
618-477: A cost of $ 70 million, three times the original estimate. Riders angry over delays confronted one driver during the Monday afternoon commute on August 24; he responded by locking himself in the driver's compartment and refused to move the train, halting all service for half an hour. Otherwise, no delays were attributable to the new automatic control system that Monday. However, by August 26, Mayor Willie Brown
721-538: A larger network of manually operated cable cars . The first city-owned line was acquired in 1906, although the current configuration is an amalgamation of several former lines and has operated as such since in 1952. The system was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. There are three cable car lines being the Mason-Powell line,
824-525: A legacy of the inadequate 38-Geary bus serving these neighborhoods. Construction on BART's Market street tunnel started in 1967, with two decks tracks – the upper intended to provide local service. Major cost overruns in the BART project forced the state legislature to rescue the project in 1969: curtailing local service in San Francisco and converting the partially constructed stations into the basis of
927-430: A municipal rail line down Geary. Three years later in 1912, the city declined to renew the franchise that bestowed cable car operator Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railway the privilege of operating on Geary Street. The route was converted into a municipal electric streetcar line, the first line of Muni. (In 1912, the average speed of the city's public transit was approximately 8.5 miles per hour – slightly faster than
1030-595: A new light-rail subway called the Muni Metro to connect the downtown stations to the Twin Peaks Tunnel and continuing along reserved tracks to St. Francis Circle. Construction on the metro began in 1970, but the project suffered from further cuts and design changes throughout the 1970s. The Muni Metro finally opened in February 1980, for one line (N-Judah), with other lines following later in 1980, but
1133-526: A passenger waiting area, including ticket sales and retail amenities. The waiting area would be connected via tunnel to the BART/Muni Metro Embarcadero Station . As of May 2024 , the extension is projected to cost $ 8.25 billion and start construction in 2025 with a completion date in 2032. A federal funding pledge covers $ 3.4 billion of the cost, provided that local officials identify matching funds. The project would include
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#17327762573941236-481: A second, parallel beam was also found to be cracked, causing the transit center and Fremont Street to remain closed at least through the end of the following week. On October 2, 2018, it was reported that the Transit Center would remain closed at least through the end of the month. Fremont Street reopened on October 15. A Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) peer review panel investigated whether
1339-607: A system-wide problem. Muni has had some difficulty meeting a stated goal of 85% voter-demanded on-time service. All Muni lines run inside San Francisco city limits, with the exception of several lines serving locations in the northern part of neighboring Daly City , and the 76X Marin Headlands Express line to the Marin Headlands area on weekends and major holidays. Most intercity connections are provided by BART and Caltrain heavy rail, AC Transit buses at
1442-536: A three-block underground concourse connecting to BART and Muni Metro trains at Embarcadero station . San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway ( / ˈ m juː n i / MEW -nee ; SF Muni or Muni ), is the primary public transit system within San Francisco , California . It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses ), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable car lines , and two historic streetcar lines. Previously an independent agency,
1545-627: Is 23.1% by a diesel-electric hybrid 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 corridor is the Geary corridor . The two major routes that operate on the corridor, the 38 and 38R , travel 6.5 miles (10.5 km) in the east–west direction along the Geary corridor, and has an average speed of only 8 miles per hour (13 km/h), taking over 50 minutes to travel from
1648-425: Is completed, Caltrain riders would no longer need to transfer to Muni to reach the downtown financial district. The heavy rail portion of the terminal would be designed to accommodate the planned high speed rail from Los Angeles , which shares the right-of-way (Peninsula Corridor) with Caltrain between San Francisco and San Jose. BART has expressed interest in having their proposed Second Transbay Tube connect to
1751-444: Is either a Clipper card, MuniMobile, Muni Passport, or paper transfer. One fare entitles a rider to unlimited vehicle transfers for the next 120 minutes. Cable cars are $ 8 one way, with no transfers, unless the rider has a Muni Passport or a Muni monthly pass. As of July 2019 monthly passes cost $ 81 for adults ($ 98 with BART privileges within city limits), $ 40 for low-income residents ("Life Line Pass"), or $ 40 for youth, seniors and
1854-571: Is popularly known as "Muni", a shortening of the "Municipal" in "San Francisco Municipal Railway" (and not an acronym). Muni's logo is a stylized, trademarked "worm" version of the word muni . This logo was designed by San Francisco-based graphic designer Walter Landor in the mid-1970s. To cater to the large Hispanic and Latino American and Asian American populations in San Francisco, bus announcements are in four languages: English , Spanish , Cantonese and Tagalog . Bus and trolleybus lines have number designations, rail lines have letters and
1957-584: Is the site of Salesforce Tower. As of 2013, Transbay Joint Powers Authority has accepted proposals for Blocks 6/7 and Block 9. The first parcel developed was Block 11, also known as the Rene Cazenave Apartments, an affordable housing project located at 25 Essex Street. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) oversees the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Salesforce Transit Center. The charter of
2060-543: Is the street entrance to the Transit Center. Above that are administrative offices, retail shops, restaurants, and the Amtrak/Greyhound waiting room. The final indoors level services Transbay buses from San Francisco's Muni , the East Bay's AC Transit , and WestCAT , as well as long-distance buses operated by Greyhound and Amtrak Thruway . Future Caltrain and HSR service would utilize two underground levels,
2163-496: Is underground in the lower level of the Market Street subway), Muni Metro 's 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge (also underground in the upper level of the subway), and the San Francisco cable car system 's 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge (at street level a few hundred feet away to the north of Market Street in both cases). The F Market and Wharves ,
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#17327762573942266-464: The Caltrain commuter rail line from its current location at Fourth and King Streets; the downtown Caltrain extension is projected to alleviate roadway traffic and Caltrain rider delays, resulting in an estimated $ 20 million savings per year. The Caltrain extension depends on the electrification of its rolling stock, as the current diesel engines are not appropriate for tunnel service. When this project
2369-646: The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . Most bus lines are scheduled to operate every five to fifteen minutes during peak hours, every five to twenty minutes middays, about every ten to twenty minutes from 9 pm to midnight, and roughly every half-hour for the late night "owl" routes. On weekends, most Muni bus lines are scheduled to run every ten to twenty minutes. However, complaints of unreliability, especially on less-often-served lines and older (pre-battery backup) trolleybus lines, are
2472-596: The Presidio Go Shuttle . As of January 2020 , Amtrak Thruway buses also use a surface stop outside the terminal — despite previous plans to use the bus deck — due to disagreements between the TJPA and other agencies about costs. The Transbay Transit Center project was designed to include a tunnel (the Downtown Rail Extension, now known as The Portal ) extending the terminus of
2575-789: The Richmond District to the Transbay Terminal when operating on schedule. As of 2015, the corridor has a total of 55,270 average daily boardings, making it the second busiest transit corridor west of the Mississippi after the Los Angeles Metro Wilshire transit corridor. At Powell and Market Streets and California and Market Streets, three types of rail gauges come within a few hundred feet of each other: Bay Area Rapid Transit 's 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ) broad gauge (which
2678-438: The Salesforce Transit Center , and Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans downtown. Bus and car stops throughout the city vary from Metro stations with raised platforms in the subway and at the more heavily used surface stops, to small shelters to signposts to simply a yellow stripe on a utility pole or on the road surface. 70% of stops are spaced closer than recommended range of 800–1,000 feet (240–300 m) apart. The system
2781-578: The San Francisco Transit Center District Plan . The sale of several land parcels formerly owned by the state and given to the managing Transbay Joint Powers Authority helped finance the construction of the transit center. The original Transbay Terminal opened in 1939 as the San Francisco terminus for the Key System and other commuter trains that travelled across the new San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge to
2884-634: The $ 2 billion already spent, and is currently unfunded. Based on the policies established by the FTA encouraging the inclusion of public art in transportation facilities, the TJPA committed $ 4.75 million to fund the creation of public artwork for the Program. Working with the San Francisco Arts Commission, the TJPA oversees the planning and development of the public art program. Initially there were five artists included in
2987-486: The 100,000 expected daily rail passengers, the bus-only terminal was expected to lose as much as $ 20 million annually. Daily AC Transit ridership to/from Transbay Transit Center was 17,436 in February 2020, but just 3,895 in April 2023. The transit center was abruptly ordered closed on September 25, 2018—six weeks after opening and during Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference—following the discovery by workers installing
3090-684: The 1939 Transbay Terminal , voters approved funds for the new Transbay Transit Center in 1999. Construction on the first phase, the bus terminal, began in 2010. Limited Muni bus service began in December 2017, and full service from AC Transit and other regional and intercity bus operators began in August 2018. Full funding has not yet been secured for the second phase of construction, the Downtown Rail Extension (now known as The Portal ), which hopes to add an underground terminal station for Caltrain and California High-Speed Rail . The transit center
3193-565: The 1950s and 1960s, the regional BART system was conceived as a much more extensive system than was eventually built, with plans for express trains through San Francisco and local service within San Francisco. Because it was assumed BART would provide local rail service, investment in Muni infrastructure failed to keep pace with major urban redevelopment projects. For example, BART was intended to provide Richmond district and Western Addition service as part of its Golden Gate Bridge/Marin line. This leaves
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3296-474: The 5.4-acre (2.2 ha) rooftop park. The bus deck has a dedicated highway ramp (consisting, in part, of a cable-stayed bridge ) to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and an off-site bus storage facility under the western Bay Bridge approach. In order to allow buses with doors on the right to serve the central (island) platform on the bus deck, buses circulate clockwise (i.e., driving on
3399-518: The Bay Area segment of the future California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) and terminate at the station, as mandated by California voters in Proposition 1A , the ballot measure authorizing CAHSR construction. This extension would cost an additional $ 2–4 billion and is currently unfunded. The Transit Center currently has three levels plus a 5.4-acre (2.2 ha) public rooftop park. The ground level
3502-592: The California State line, and the Powell- Hyde line. Popular areas from the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf are served by cable cars. In the system, there are 62 allocated stations. The system accrues five million annual riders and has always been a tourist destination as well as a convenient means for travel around the city. Additionally, Muni operates two heritage streetcar lines distinct from
3605-823: The Clipper system. Fares can also be paid with a mobile app called MuniMobile since 2015. The app is developed by moovel, who have built mobile ticketing apps for a number of other transit agencies such as Caltrain and TriMet. The app is planned to be deployed until around 2021 when the next generation Clipper card mobile app is planned to launch and replace agency-specific ticketing apps. Muni operates 14 express lines, 5 Rapid lines, and 12 Owl lines, which run between 1 am and 5 am. For San Francisco Giants games, additional "baseball shuttles" supplement N Judah and T Third service to Oracle Park . Express lines only run during peak hours ; during mornings they run towards downtown (the Financial District ) and during
3708-743: The Downtown Plan, which slowed development in the Financial District north of Market Street and directed it to the area South of Market around the Transbay Terminal. In the early 1990s, the Embarcadero Freeway was demolished following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake , freeing up numerous city blocks for development south of the Transbay Terminal. In 1995, Caltrain agreed to study extending its commuter rail service from its Fourth and King terminus closer to
3811-541: The East Bay. Train service to San Francisco was discontinued in 1958 and the Transbay Terminal was reconfigured for buses. Transbay train service would resume in 1974 with the opening of BART and the Transbay Tube , but the BART tracks were routed under Market Street , bypassing the Transbay Terminal. By the end of the 20th century, the Transbay Terminal was underused and rundown, handling an average of about 20,000 commuters per day. In 1985, San Francisco adopted
3914-587: The East Loop Ramp of the Transbay Terminal and are not needed for the new Transit Center. In 2007, the state of California officially agreed to transfer the state-owned parcels to the City and County of San Francisco. The former freeway parcels are located mostly along the north side of Folsom Street between Essex and Spear and have been zoned for residential use. Other lots, called Parcel F, Parcel M, and Parcel T, have been zoned for office buildings. Parcel T
4017-519: The Financial District, including whether the obsolete Transbay Terminal should be removed, remodeled, or rebuilt. Ultimately, it was decided that the Transbay Terminal should be rebuilt, with the rail extension entering the Terminal under Second Street. In 1996, then-San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown issued the idea of redeveloping the earthquake-damaged Transbay Transit Center. To that end, Brown tapped his then-new deputy Mayor Maria Ayerdi Kaplan to head
4120-668: The Muni Meltdown had passed and service was uneventful, albeit with fewer LRVs than normal and with drivers onboard each train. Muni officials apologized for the rough transition and promised to continue to improve service; privately they called the Meltdown "the biggest fiasco in the railway's history." In an effort to improve service, Muni began to replace its troublesome fleet of Boeing-Vertol light rail vehicles with newer Italian Breda light rail vehicles in late 1996. The two-decade-old fleet of Flyer trolleybuses were replaced with Electric Transit, Inc. (ETI) trolleybuses in
4223-649: The Muni Metro: the E Embarcadero and F Market & Wharves , however the former has been suspended since April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formerly run for the Historic Trolley Festival , in the 1980s, regular service of heritage equipment began in 1995. Streetcars do not utilize tunnel segments and the F line utilizes infrastructure optimized for trolleybuses along Market Street (the former routing of all downtown streetcar lines before
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4326-724: The R-Howard line. Trolleybuses had been running in San Francisco since 1935, but operated only by the Market Street Railway Company (MSRy), successor to the URR. By 1944, the MSR was in financial difficulties. Thus, at 5 am on September 29, 1944, Muni acquired its commercial competitor. Along with the routes and equipment, Muni adopted its competitor's more expensive seven-cent fare. Following national trends, Muni replaced most of its rail lines with trolleybus service in
4429-563: The SFMTA since August 15, 2019 has been Thomas Maguire, appointed by the SFMTA Board as the interim replacement for Director of Transportation Edward Reiskin. On April 29, 2019, Director Reiskin announced that he would step down at the end of his contract in August 2019. On November 13, 2019, the agency announced that Jeffrey Tumlin would take over as the new director on December 16, 2019. The day-to-day operations of Muni are overseen by
4532-577: The San Francisco Chronicle, it is "frequently out of order", but the park level is also accessible by stairs, escalators and elevator. The second phase of the project, constructed as part of the Downtown Rail Extension (now known as The Portal ), will add a two-level underground train station to be served by Caltrain and California High-Speed Rail . The platform area will have three island platforms serving six tracks. A mezzanine with ticketing and waiting areas will be located above
4635-585: The San Francisco County Transportation Authority released The Four Corridor Plan , a vision to extend Muni Metro service along four major routes in the city: Bayshore (north-south along Third from the county line to California), Geary (east-west along Geary from 48th to Market/Kearny), North Beach (extending the new north-south Bayshore line along Kearny and Columbus to Fisherman's Wharf), and Van Ness (north-south along Van Ness from 16th and Mission to Aquatic Park), with
4738-712: The San Francisco Municipal Railway merged with two other agencies in 1999 to become the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). In 2018, Muni served 46.7 square miles (121 km ) with an operating budget of about $ 1.2 billion. Muni is the seventh-highest-ridership transit system in the United States , with 142,168,200 rides in 2023, and the second-highest in California after
4841-511: The TJPA announced that it expected repairs to be completed in June 2019, but cautioned that the center would not reopen until the MTC peer review panel published its final report. In April 2019, it was determined that the cracks were caused when crews welding the beams together skipped a crucial step—mandated by the building code—that led to tiny micro-cracks forming. Multiple inspections failed to notice
4944-482: The TJPA includes three initiatives: The TJPA was created in 2001 as a collaboration of several Bay Area government and transportation agencies. It coordinates the efforts of 11 local, regional, and statewide transit systems. Salesforce Transit Center The Salesforce Transit Center , also known as the Transbay Transit Center , is a transit center in downtown San Francisco . It serves as
5047-439: The TJPA. The TJPA announced on May 10 that repairs were complete. The rooftop park reopened on July 1, 2019. Muni and Golden Gate Transit buses resumed using the surface bus plaza on July 13, and the full facility reopened on August 11. The park has been criticized for allowing a commercial company to own the naming rights, as well as not having enough bike lanes connecting to other major transit routes. Wired criticized
5150-491: The Temporary Transbay Terminal three days later on August 15, leaving Amtrak Thruway as the sole remaining bus operator using the Temporary Transbay Terminal. Amtrak buses began using a street-level stop at Salesforce Plaza on Mission Street near Fremont Street on October 28, 2019. That stop was temporarily relocated along Mission Street to near 2nd Street on November 9, 2020. Without the revenue from
5253-557: The Transit Center was anticipated to be complete by late 2016, with bus operations expected to commence by August 2017. Demolition of the former Transbay Terminal and ramps was completed in September 2011. Amtrak Thruway bus service, which connects to Amtrak trains at Emeryville station , moved from the Ferry Station Post Office Building to the Temporary Transbay Terminal on March 2, 2015. Under
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#17327762573945356-544: The Transit division of the SFMTA, which is currently headed by Director of Transit Julie Kirschbaum. Muni has its origins in the period following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Until then the city had been served by several commercial horsecar , cable car and electric streetcar operators. Many of these had been amalgamated into the United Railroads of San Francisco (URR) company. In 1909, voters approved
5459-497: The administrative joint powers authority for the project. The final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was published in 2004. The project was divided into two phases, with Phase 1 being demolition of the original terminal and construction of the Transbay Transit Center, and Phase 2 being the Downtown Rail Extension (now known as The Portal ). In 2006, developers agreed to a new Mello-Roos tax district in
5562-455: The area surrounding the Transbay Transit Center in order for permits for higher buildings to move forward. San Francisco set the tax rate in 2012 at 0.55 percent of assessed value; due to rising real estate prices, however, the 2014 tax burden had risen by nearly 50% compared to the 2012 tax burden, and the developers threatened to pull their building plans entirely or sue the city. The lawsuits never materialized, however. On September 20, 2007,
5665-556: The average speed of 8.1 in 2007.) 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 . The new line also served the Marina District , the site of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition . On February 3, 1918, the Twin Peaks Tunnel opened, making the southwestern quarter of
5768-812: The cable car powerhouse comes from the hydroelectric dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park . All of Muni's current internal combustion buses use diesel-electric hybrid powertrains, fueled with renewable diesel fuel made from bio-feedstock sources, including fats, oils and greases. The combination of hybrid technology and renewable diesel fuel helps reduce fuel consumption and cut vehicle emissions. Weekday mode share on Muni services in 2019 In November 1999 San Francisco voters passed Proposition E setting standards for performance of having at least an 85% on-time record In July 2012 Muni vehicles were on-time 60% of
5871-570: 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 tracks down that thoroughfare, which came to be known as the "roar of the four". In 1941, Muni introduced its first trolleybus line,
5974-586: The city; they are good on all regular-service lines without surcharge, including cable cars. As of September 2018, Passports cost $ 23 for a 1-day pass, $ 34 for a 3-day pass, or $ 45 for a 7-day pass, with discounts for using Clipper card or MuniMobile. Muni has implemented a dual-mode smart card payment system known as Clipper (formerly TransLink). The transponders have been in use since at least 2004, and replaced most paper monthly passes in 2010. BART , Caltrain , Golden Gate Transit , VTA , AC Transit , SamTrans , SMART and San Francisco Bay Ferry also utilize
6077-436: The cracks may have been caused by flaws that developed in the steel during fabrication, plus by stress concentrations arising from weld access holes or weld termination holes cut into the beams, that were added after the shop designs were submitted for approval. Weld access holes have more stringent building code requirements than weld termination holes, and it was not clear which type of holes were added. In February 2019,
6180-673: The delays frustrated many commuters. On Friday, August 28, 67 of the 131 LRVs (55 Boeing and 12 Breda) in the Muni Metro fleet were out of service for the morning commute; Mayor Brown personally rode from Civic Center to Embarcadero in the afternoon to experience the chaos for himself. Muni riders abandoned the underground system for carpools, taxis, buses, and F-Market streetcars after LRVs were delayed and stopped with no communication as to when they would resume service; transit times from 4th and Irving to Powell swelled to 120 minutes. On August 31, two San Francisco Chronicle reporters staged
6283-521: The design proposed by César Pelli of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects was chosen for both the Transit Center and the Transbay Tower, now known as Salesforce Tower . The first phase of construction consisted of the aboveground bus terminal, including retail spaces and the rooftop park, plus the concrete shell of the underground rail levels. It cost $ 2.4 billion, of which $ 500 million was for the underground shell. On August 7, 2010, all bus service
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#17327762573946386-507: The disabled. Passes are valid on all Muni lines—including cable cars—and the $ 98 adult pass allows BART transit entirely within 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 ticket types). Cable car fare is $ 8 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
6489-406: The evening they run away from downtown. All express lines have an "X", "AX", or "BX" following the line's number. Some 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 8 Bayshore, as the 8X Bayshore Express,
6592-399: The final ceiling panels of a “major crack ” in a steel beam supporting the bus deck above Fremont Street. Beale, Fremont, and First Streets were closed beneath and adjacent to the transit center; Beale and First reopened soon after. The Temporary Transbay Terminal, which had been in use during construction of the new transit center, was hastily reopened to serve riders. The following day,
6695-507: The fleet. In September 1982, the cable car system was shut down for 21 months for rebuilding, and there were massive line reorganizations as Muni restructured their route network to provide stronger cross-town services. In 1983, Muni temporarily ran streetcars down Market Street as part of the San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival, initially conceived of as a substitute attraction for tourists during
6798-439: The formation of Muni Metro). The longest Muni line is the 24.1-mile (38.8 km) 91 Owl a nighttime-only route that blends several other routes together, while the longest daytime route is the 17.4-mile (28.0 km) 29 . The shortest route is the peak-hour only 88 BART Shuttle at 1.4 miles (2.3 km), while the shortest off-peak route is the 39 Coit at 1.6 miles (2.6 km). The steepest grade climbed by Muni vehicle
6901-400: The ground level of the terminal in order to meet the federal deadline of some service to the terminal beginning in 2017. On June 16, 2018, Muni began operating all 5 , 5R , 7 , 38 , and 38R buses to the surface level of the terminal. The first phase opened for full bus service on August 12, 2018; the rooftop park opened on the same date. Greyhound and BoltBus service moved from
7004-436: The left) while inside the terminal. The bus bridge includes a traffic light to facilitate the transition between right-hand traffic (outside the transit center) and left-hand traffic (inside the transit center). The rooftop park, designed by PWP Landscape Architecture , includes an amphitheater, a restaurant, and water features. The inclusion of the park was part of the winning bid in the architectural design composition for
7107-452: The lower of which would house the tracks and platforms, and the upper of which would house a retail concourse and waiting areas. Adjacent to the Transit Center and at the center of the redevelopment effort is a signature skyscraper at First and Mission Streets. The proposal featured plans from several major architecture firms including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill , Richard Rogers Partnership , and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Eventually
7210-422: The many design compromises and piecemeal planning led to long-term operational challenges and inefficiencies. In 1970, Muni also suffered a severe diesel bus crisis. Muni experienced a diesel bus availability crisis in 1981–1982 when most of their diesel buses, 401 GMC and Flxible "New Looks" purchases in 1969, reached the end of their 12-year design life and funds for their replacement were not available. Most of
7313-453: The new Bay Bridge . It was converted to a bus terminal in 1958 and began serving AC Transit commuter buses. The structure was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake , necessitating replacement. In 1995, Caltrain agreed to study extending its commuter rail service from its Fourth and King terminus closer to the Financial District, including whether the obsolete Transbay Terminal should be removed, remodeled, or rebuilt. Ultimately, it
7416-527: The new Salesforce Transit Center replaced the former Transbay Terminal at a cost of roughly $ 2 billion USD and has been dubbed the "Grand Central Station of the West" by proponents. The new center is planned to eventually include an extension of the Caltrain commuter rail service into the station from its current northern terminus at 4th and King Streets in Mission Bay via tunnels which would also carry
7519-605: The new terminal and Alameda. DTX was planned to open for rail service in 2019 at a budgeted cost of US$ 2,600,000,000 (equivalent to $ 3,400,000,000 in 2023). The DTX scope also includes moving the existing 4th & King Caltrain station underground. Part of the DTX project also includes building out two below-grade levels below the TTC. One level would serve as the actual train platform, hosting six tracks and three platforms to accommodate Caltrain and HSR service. The other level would be
7622-403: The new transit center, thirteen towers have been built or proposed on adjacent parcels, ranging from 300 feet (91 m) to 1,070 feet (326 m) tall, on land freed by the demolition of the former terminal and bus and freeway ramps. The most prominent of these is the city's new tallest building, Salesforce Tower. Two of the skyscrapers, Salesforce Tower and 181 Fremont, are linked directly to
7725-517: The one summer when no cable cars would be in operation. The service became so popular that the festival was repeated for several years following. Anticipating the return of permanent streetcar service on Market Street, Muni began rehabilitating tracks in 1987, a process that culminated in the opening of the F line in 1995. The first modern Muni shelter was installed in front of the War Memorial Opera House in 1987. The F line
7828-495: The original design cues were later restored and reincorporated due to complaints about the design modifications. The tower and the new terminal had their groundbreaking ceremonies on March 27, 2013. The office tower opened in early 2018, followed by the Transit Center in August of that same year. With the adoption of the Transit Center District Plan in 2012, height limits were raised for several parcels in
7931-492: The park for its control over access, claiming that there could never be a political demonstration at the park. In September 2018, just a month after the transit center's opening, the TJPA revealed that the walkway around the rooftop park, made of decomposed granite, had begun to deteriorate much faster than expected. Repairs on the pathway were completed in May 2019, but it is not clear if the costs fall under warranty. Along with
8034-745: The passage of Proposition E in November 1999, Muni has been part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), a semi-independent city agency created by that ballot measure. The agency, into which Muni, the Department of Parking and Traffic, and the Taxicab Commission were merged, is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors. The acting Director of Transportation of
8137-595: The plan from Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects was picked. The original plans from Pelli Clark Pelli Architects called for a 1,200-foot (370 m) tower as the main tower and a massive three-block-long Transbay Center. However, due to considerations about how the tower would cast a shadow over some of the city's parks, the height was eventually reduced to 1,070 feet (330 m). The designs to the supertall tower changed during its planning phase, its final design eventually incorporates slits at each side of its angular top along with an altered terminal station design. However some of
8240-461: The platform and below the ground-level entrances. A pedestrian tunnel was planned to be constructed below Beale Street to Embarcadero station , connecting the Transbay Transit Center with BART and Muni Metro . This was later scrapped as a cost-saving measure. The proposed second Transbay Tube , which may be used by Caltrain, CAHSR, and/or BART, may also connect to the Transit Center. This extension would cost as much as $ 6 billion on top of
8343-669: The primary bus terminal for the San Francisco Bay Area , and is proposed as a possible future rail terminal. The centerpiece of the San Francisco Transbay development , the construction is governed by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA). The 1,430-foot-long (440 m) building sits one block south-east of Market Street , a primary commercial and transportation artery. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged
8446-497: The program: James Carpenter , Julie Chang , Tim Hawkinson , Jenny Holzer and Ned Kahn . In June 2017, SFAC and TJPA announced the planned Hawkinson installation would be cancelled as "the nature of the materials, the sculpture's size, and its location" made it "a particularly complex engineering task." The original Transbay Terminal opened in 1939 to serve Key System and East Bay Electric Lines commuter trains and Sacramento Northern Railway interurban trains operating over
8549-401: The project includes the aboveground structure plus a belowground shell for the second phase. The structure has four levels: the ground floor with entrances, retail space, ticketing, and Muni/Golden Gate Transit boarding platforms; the second floor with retail space, food hall, offices, and Greyhound ticket counter and waiting room; the bus deck with bus bays surrounding a central waiting area; and
8652-702: The project. Kaplan created, and then became executive director of, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority in 2008. To finance the projects and promote development in the area, the Transbay Redevelopment Plan was adopted by the City of San Francisco in June 2005. By raising a number of building height limits and selling former freeway parcels, the plan envisions the development of over 2,500 new homes, 3 million square feet of new office and commercial space, and 100,000 square feet of retail. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli ,
8755-416: The rest of the fleet were undersized 36-foot AM Generals purchased for neighborhood routes, and their use on heavier lines exacerbated conditions. The trolley bus fleet was in good order and had excess capacity at the time so Muni improvised a few temporary services with them to help out. One such service was a trolley 14-Limited that used the abandoned trolley overhead on South Van Ness. The diesel 82-Chinatown
8858-561: The role of diesels in the total operation. Three trunk diesel lines were converted to trolley bus service in the next twelve years. But these efforts have not been as successful as hoped. Out of necessity most of the fleet, 330 standard bus equivalents out of 506, were replaced in just two years in 1985–1986. (Standard bus equivalents factor the 30-foot and 60-foot into their equivalent capacity in 40-foot buses). And seven years passed without any new buses coming on board before Muni started its next full diesel fleet replacement cycle in 1999. This
8961-635: The rooftop park. Salesforce Tower has a dedicated pair of elevators, open to the public and accessible via the rear lobby, which serve as one of the access points to the park. The following services use the bus deck: Several additional services use the street-level transit plaza: Numerous other transit services converge into downtown San Francisco with stops nearby. These include BART and Muni Metro at Embarcadero station and Montgomery Street station , Golden Gate Transit peak-only routes (with stops on Fremont Street), Muni bus and streetcar routes, SamTrans routes 292 and 397, AC Transit route 800, and
9064-484: The skipped step, and those micro-cracks grew into larger ones. The facility is under warranty for two years "after substantial completion", placing financial responsibility for the issue on contractors, Webcor Builders and Obayashi Corporation , and their subcontractors. The beams were fabricated by Herrick Corporation in Stockton as part of a $ 189 million contract between Skanska USA Civil West of New York and
9167-464: The structure. The building includes a free, 20-passenger aerial tram to provide access from street level (at Mission Street and Fremont Street) to the rooftop park. Described as a "whimsical gondola" by the building's architects, it was the second passenger-carrying aerial tram to operate in San Francisco, after the one formerly located at the Cliff House (operational 1955–1965). According to
9270-525: The succeeding decades. A few lines with dedicated rights-of-way (including those serving the Twin Peaks and Sunset tunnels) continued as rail lines running 1940s-era PCC streetcars through the 1970s. These lines became the foundation of the Muni Metro. During World War II, because male employees had been called to serve in the military, both MSRy and Muni hired female 'motorettes' and conductors, including poet and author Maya Angelou in 1943. In
9373-665: The successful 1999 Proposition E that formed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and set service standards for Muni. In August 1998, San Francisco residents witnessed a protracted malfunction of Muni Metro after switching to an automatic train control implemented by Alcatel Transport Automation , culminating in an event that is now known as the Muni Meltdown . Automatic control of Muni Metro light rail vehicles began on Saturday, August 22, three years behind schedule and at
9476-552: The three cable car lines are typically referred to by name only (Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde and California). Except for cable cars, cash fares are $ 3.00 for adults; $ 1.50 for seniors over 65, people with disabilities, and Medicare card holders; and free for low- and moderate-income seniors, youth aged 18 and under, and people with disabilities residing in San Francisco. Clipper card and MuniMobile fares are $ 2.50 for adults and $ 1.25 for seniors, and people with disabilities. Proof-of-payment , which fare inspectors may demand at any time,
9579-733: The time and in August 2012, they were on-time 57% of the time. A report conducted by the San Francisco Municipal Transport Agency in early 2013 noted that Muni was on time only 58% of the time. It delayed its customers a total of 172,195 hours and reduced the city's economic activity by US$ 50 million per year. In 2013 the performance hit an all-time low of 57%, the on-time performance improved to 60% in January 2014, 60% in February 2014, and 60% in March 2014. Muni Metro on-time performance as of June 2022: Since
9682-526: The trip in just seven minutes. At the request of the San Francisco Examiner , a member of the executive committee for Rescue Muni tracked the length of each ride on her eight-stop daily commute to the Financial District from the Sunset that week. Four of the ten trips took longer than 40 minutes, and the best time was 15 minutes. By the third week of operation under automatic train control,
9785-554: The vicinity of the Transit Center. Among the parcels zoned for taller buildings are 50 First Street , 181 Fremont Street , 350 Mission Street , Golden Gate University 's campus at 536 Mission Street, the proposed Palace Hotel Residential Tower , and the Salesforce Tower site. Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake , the Embarcadero Freeway was torn down, opening up a number of blocks for development. Several other parcels, near Beale and Howard streets, were used for
9888-472: Was closed for repairs in September 2018 after cracks were found in structural beams; services resumed in July and August 2019. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCPA), the Salesforce Transit Center is about 1,430 feet (440 m) long and 165 feet (50 m) wide. It occupies the entire block between Minna and Natoma Streets (just southeast of Mission Street), and stretches from Beale Street to 140 feet (43 m) east of 2nd Street. The first phase of
9991-404: Was decided that the Transbay Terminal should be rebuilt, with the rail extension entering the Terminal under Second Street. In November 1999, San Francisco voters adopted Proposition H declaring that Caltrain shall be extended downtown into a new regional intermodal transit station constructed to replace the former Transbay Terminal. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) was founded in 2001 as
10094-428: Was fourteen years after the previous cycle instead of the twelve years that buses are designed to last. Muni is now aware that they must expect to keep diesel buses past their design life and have also found that funds granted for mid-life rebuilds require that the buses be kept longer still. As the fleet replacement cycle begins again in 2013, Muni has arranged for life-extending rebuilds of 142 buses, by count over 30% of
10197-586: Was moved to the interim Temporary Transbay Terminal. The $ 18 million outdoor terminal is located on the block bounded by Folsom, Beale, Howard and Main Streets in the South of Market district , two blocks from the site of the former Transbay Terminal. Ground was broken for the new Transbay Transit Center four days later. Much of the initial construction work was underground, and aboveground evidence of construction did not appear until late 2014. As originally planned,
10300-486: Was reintroduced in 1995 as a heritage streetcar service. Initially designed as a temporary tourist attraction to make up for the suspension of cable car service for rebuilding, the F has become a permanent fixture. E line service, initially known as the Muni Metro Extension, started in January 1998 initially as a shuttle between Embarcadero station and Caltrain's 4th and Townsend station. In June 1995,
10403-424: Was replaced with short runs of the 30-Stockton. But the trolleys could only go where their wires went. Muni adopted some policies to alleviate future service issues due to an aged fleet. They would stagger bus purchases so not as large a portion of the fleet would hit retirement age at once. They would arrange for mid-life rebuilds to keep the buses more serviceable in their final years. And they would work to reduce
10506-438: Was the only Express route that ran daily until April 25, 2015, the date when it was no longer an Express route. Rapid lines (having an R following their route number) are limited-stop services. They stop at only a subset of the stops of their corresponding "standard" line—typically every third stop and at transfer points. Muni also operates the San Francisco cable car system , a heritage streetcar system descendant of
10609-543: Was threatening to sue Alcatel. Alcatel and Muni instead blamed delays on malfunctioning train cars. In addition, a proof-of-payment fare enforcement system went into effect that week, compounding rider confusion. Finally, riders who had previously been able to secure a seat by riding in the opposite direction (outbound) to Embarcadero station were forced to disembark there because of the E/Muni Metro Extension service that had begun in January; these changes and
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