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October 2020 Newsletter
Dear members and friends of Market Street Railway,

San Franciscans are staying cautious; tourists are still staying away.  The combination of those two factors makes it harder to get the F-line streetcars running again at this moment.

The vigilance of city leaders, led by Mayor London Breed, and the cooperation of citizens in almost universally wearing masks and social distancing, has yielded the lowest rate of Covid-19 infections and deaths among the top 20 U.S. cities, a statistic especially remarkable given that San Francisco is second only to New York City in population density. 

The city has just further loosened restrictions on many activities, but it is a long way from being fully reopened. The city's schools will not reopen at least until January, the normal tourist season has ended, and most workers are still based in their homes. In fact, a regional government body, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (not to be confused with Muni's parent, SFMTA) has adopted a policy (not yet a requirement) that would mandate employers with 25 or more workers to have at least 60% of their workforce telecommute on any given workday. The goal is to reduce congestion and air pollution in the long term. While preliminary and non-binding, it has already stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition, led by Mayor Breed, who feels it will gut the downtown economy and disproportionately hurt low-wage workers.

This leaves Muni in a state of deep uncertainty. How long will it take downtown workers to return to the high-rise office buildings in substantial numbers? Will the virus have subsided sufficiently around the world by next visitor season to bring large numbers of people to our city? As of now, no one knows, or can know. So, we are focusing on the things we can do to be ready for the comeback. We have renewed our call on top SFMTA leadership to install protective operator barriers in the PCC streetcars (as Boston's now have) and to consider at least partial F-line service on Market Street.  But the dramatic decline in Muni ridership and the uncertainty of its future levels has led Muni to rethink how it will use Market Street going forward, a subject we'll cover in the next issue of our quarterly member magazine, Inside Track, due out in late November.  You can join here to get it.


The streetcars are still out and about for training and testing purposes. The first of the three double-end PCCs just restored by Brookville Equipment Company, Car 1015 (pictured above at 30th and Church by Jeremy Whiteman) is just about finished with its 1000-mile "burn-in" acceptance testing. The second car, 1010 (Muni "Magic Carpet" blue and gold livery) should begin its burn-in shortly. The third and last of the three double-enders, 1007, which has a more accurate (and beautiful) Philadelphia Suburban "Red Arrow" livery, should be heading west to San Francisco any day now. 

On the cable car front, the static display at the Powell and Market turntable has drawn quite a few appreciative visitors. Our board member James Giraudo was there last week and reports great interest from adventurous tourists from Spain and Germany who posed for photos on the car. But the number of people at Hallidie Plaza is nothing like a normal October. Still, it's very important to keep the cable cars -- and streetcars -- top of mind to San Franciscans, especially decision-makers.

If you're not a current supporter of Market Street Railway, please consider either monthly or annual membership options, or a one-time donation. Check out the options here.  Thanks once again to the readers of this newsletter who are already Market Street Railway members.

Looking forward, 
Rick Laubscher
President, Market Street Railway

News from our Museum & Gift Shop


Though our San Francisco Railway Museum will probably not reopen until the F-line streetcars return, we now offer just about every item from our physical gift shop in our online store. Among the latest additions are slices of genuine 1880s era cable car rail (pictured above) and multiple rail pieces mounted on handsome wooden plaques (choose either three pieces of rail or four).  These make unique San Francisco gifts, as do many other items in the souvenir section of the online store. And when it comes to holiday gifts, don't forget our 2021 Calendar. All proceeds support our campaign to bring the F-line streetcars back into regular service.

If you're reading this as a Market Street Railway dues-paying member, don't forget you get 10% off any purchase with the code msrdiscount10 (please don't use it if you're not a member; we check). And we're also thanking Muni operators and all SFMTA employees with the same 10% discount (muni10; again only for current SFMTA employees). Our museum windows now feature this tribute sign to operators. They've got an even tougher job these days.



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.

Recent Posts from Streetcar.org

Subscribe here to have all our blog posts delivered straight to your inbox.


October 24, 2020

Uncovering Cal Cable's past


 

Constructing a new form of transportation for San Francisco, workers uncovered an old one the other day.  — Read the full post


October 13, 2020

What might have been: Geary




Geary was Muni’s first “backbone”. It is still easily its busiest corridor, operated now with buses longer than it was with streetcars. By any transit measure, its ridership justifies rail service on Geary, including a subway through at least downtown, yet every attempt at a subway in the Geary corridor has fallen short.    — Read the full post
 

October 5, 2020

What might have been




Many streetcar fans believe it was all a plot by fiendish bus builders, tire makers, and fuel providers, forming an illegal conspiracy to rob America of its beloved streetcars after World War II. That conspiracy is why we have so few lines left in San Francisco, they say.  — Read the full post

Photo of the month



Put your back into it! - One of San Francisco's greatest street photographers, Fred Lyon, recently turned 96. To celebrate, we share this iconic image of turning a cable car at Powell and Market Streets back when the turntable area was still open to automobiles and anyone could pitch in to help. Looks to us like the late 1940s.

Fred's San Francisco portfolio has been sampled in a couple of recent and wonderful books. This photo comes from "San Francisco: Portrait of a City, 1940-1960" of which we have just one copy remaining on our online store. Fred's other recent book, "San Francisco Noir" is available from several sources. A salute to Fred--and the cable cars he (and all of us) love!

Become a member today and get exclusive benefits like our quarterly newsletter, Inside Track, filled with information you won’t see anywhere else, a 10% discount on all gifts and memorabilia from the San Francisco Railway Museum, and other member perks. Or if you'd prefer to support our cause by donating, visit our donation page.

MSR is supported entirely by members and donors, and receives no financial support from Muni or the City of San Francisco. 

We depend on the generosity of volunteers to make things happen, and the more help we have, the more we are able to do. MSR offers a variety of volunteer opportunities, some requiring just energy and time, and some requiring advanced skills. We can provide training in some areas.

Visit our volunteer page, email us at volunteer@streetcar.org, or call (415) 956-0472 to learn more.

 

Interact with our Online Community
MSR Facebook Group
@sfmsr on Twitter
MSR Website
About Market Street Railway
 
We are an independent advocacy group with the mission of preserving historic transit in San Francisco. We operate the San Francisco Railway Museum and also serve as a nonprofit partner of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. SFMTA is the city agency that owns and operates San Francisco’s transit system, known as Muni, which includes the city’s historic streetcars and cable cars.

While we support Muni’s historic transit activities, we are not part of Muni and we receive no government money whatsoever.

Instead, we rely on membership dues and private donations to help keep San Francisco’s past present in the future by serving as an effective independent advocate for the famed historic streetcars that operate on the F-line and E-line, and the national landmark cable cars. These irreplaceable historic vehicles carry almost 50,000 riders per day.
 
Copyright © 2020 Market Street Railway, All rights reserved.


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