🚋June-July News: Streetcar return date uncertain, but they're looking good

Dear members and friends of Market Street Railway,

We've combined two issues of this newsletter, and would appreciate it if you would take just a moment to answer a few questions to help us guide our communications going forward. Unlike our quarterly member magazine, Inside Track, (which goes in the mail July 6), this electronic newsletter is available free to all those interested in San Francisco's historic streetcars and cable cars. With our nonprofit's resources stretched as never before, we want to be sure we use those resources as wisely as possible. Please help us by clicking here to fill out the survey; it's very important to us.

There's no date set (or as far as we know, even contemplated by Muni leaders) for return of the historic streetcars and cable cars to the streets of San Francisco. Muni has announced it will restart its light rail lines in August with big changes (see the link to our blog post "What's New is Old", below), and is very slowly restoring some bus lines. However, Transportation Director Jeff Tumlin told his board at the end of June that many Muni lines may never return to service without new sources of revenue. We at Market Street Railway are building a coalition of groups to advocate for the streetcars' return as soon as they are safe for operators and passengers. That said, we recognize the bigger challenges the city and Muni face in getting people to ride transit while the virus continues unchecked. We also recognize that unlike the streetcars, where protective plexiglass barriers for operators can be fitted on the cars that don't already have them, cable cars pose a unique challenge for operation in this environment.

But the streetcars are still making appearances, without passengers, for training and maintenance purposes (see Photos of the Months below), and crews are taking the opportunity to tackle some needed track work as well, as was done last month on Market. Below, the track crew is replacing ties in the crosswalk at Third and Market.

This maintenance work is a good sign that Muni isn't forgetting the streetcars during this hiatus. We need your help more than ever to keep them top of mind and get them back, through either monthly or annual membership options, or a one-time donation. Check out the options here. If you join as a member during July, we'll make sure you get the current and past two issues of Inside Track, with some great material you won't see anywhere else. Thanks once again to the readers of this newsletter who are already Market Street Railway members.

Looking forward,

News from our Museum & Gift Shop

With our San Francisco Railway Museum closed until historic streetcar service returns, we're focused on expanding our online merchandise offerings. A huge hit right how is our "Information Gladly Given" masks. They've gone national, as evidenced here by MSR Member Todd Glickman, a stalwart of Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine, wearing one here while volunteering.

We're almost sold out of the first batch, but we've already reordered in a larger style with the original lettering fonts used when this famous message was posted on all of Muni's PCC streetcars. (The second generation of masks should be available online in mid-July.) Of course, we have long offered this slogan on tee-shirts, mugs, stickers, and magnets, all available in our online store.

Given how the first half of 2020 has turned out, you might want to get an early start on 2021. The good news there is that our 2021 calendar has left the printer and is on its way to us. We expect to have it available at our online story by late July. We'll post it on our blog the moment you can buy it. Because of the museum closure, we printed fewer copies this year, so you won't want to wait too long.

So show your support for Market Street Railway and our Museum with something unique from our gift shop. Every dollar you spend supports our work in keeping a delightful part of San Francisco’s past present in your future. Here's the online store link again.

What's New is Old

All Muni rail service has been halted since March with selected replacement by buses. Metro lines are now slated to reopen in mid-August, though no date has yet been set for resumption of historic streetcar and cable car service.