Dear members and friends of Market Street Railway,

 

It's easy to forget that 2020 started on a bright note. What we'll never forget is how grim the year became for San Francisco, including its historic transit.



On January 29, Mayor London Breed happily rode Blackpool Boat Tram 228 up Market Street from Ferry Plaza to celebrate the banning of private automobiles from Market Street, making Muni service quicker, and improving safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. The Ferry Plaza celebration included a cable car bell serenade by bell-ringing champ Byron Cobb. (Watch it here on YouTube.) 

Within six weeks of this happy day, the City was shut down as the Covid-19 pandemic took off.  The happy sounds of cable car bells have been silenced; E- and F-line streetcar service has been suspended.  Tourism, retail shopping, and dining have been savaged. Muni, like all transit agencies across the country, has deep financial woes.



And yet.  The vintage streetcars continue to appear on Muni's surface streetcar lines almost daily, being kept ready for eventual resumption of service, or in the case of recently arrived renovated cars like 1010 above, being tested for acceptance back into Muni's fleet. Operators report when these cars' operators take a break at Pier 39, lots of people come up wanting to ride; many of them are visitors who have braved the pandemic to come to San Francisco anyway. Residents are constantly giving the vintage streetcars a thumbs-up or applause, especially along the J-Church line headed to and from Market Street.



The seventh and final double-end PCC to be rebuilt, Car 1007, honoring Philadelphia's famed Red Arrow Line has just arrived in town (See story below and photo above, turning onto 30th Street from Church). Like the other six double-enders, it's already equipped with operator barriers that will just need minor modification for Covid protection.  Additionally, the maintenance team at Cameron Beach has converted the partial operator separator on EuroPCC 737 (below at Pier 39) into a full barrier, providing a car ready for service right now. The double-end cars, plus the 737, are enough to at least begin restoring streetcar service while the rest of the PCCs are outfitted with barriers. Of note, Muni did -- finally -- restore its first LRV line, the J-Church, but only the surface portion. The Market Street Subway remains closed for repairs.



Cable cars have been appearing three days a week at the Powell & Market and Aquatic Park turntables for display, to the delight of passers-by, decorated for the holidays by volunteers. The remaining cable car maintenance crew, much of which has been reassigned to other duties by Muni brass for now, has managed to turn on the cable winders and run real (though empty) cable cars on the Powell lines and the California line too, to keep rust at bay. 

On December 9, SFMTA finance official Jonathan Rewers told the board of directors of Muni's parent that one important factor in boosting Muni's decimated revenues is fares from visitors.  “One of our highest sources of fare revenue is tourists that come to the city in the months of July to October.  That is a huge boost…" Despite his comment, SFMTA management has yet to respond to questions on when they plan to bring the streetcars and cable cars back. That's why we are making sure that the city's elected officials understand the revenue importance of the cable cars and F-line and ask that they join in our push to bring them back in time to capture the 2021 visitor season (presuming, of course, that the pandemic abates sufficiently by summer for people to travel safely again).  We are working closely with Muni's operators' union, Local 250A of the Transport Workers, to adopt a common strategy for the return of vintage rail in 2021.

Thanks very much to you readers who donated to or joined Market Street Railway in response to our pleas in the last newsletter. If you haven't done so yet, we urge you to make a tax-deductible donation of any amount, to help us amplify our advocacy in the coming months. Here's the link to do that (or you can send a check to our office, address at the bottom of the newsletter). 

 

And at the end of this awful year, more hope, in the form of the Covid relief bill passed by Congress last night. It includes a continuation of emergency funding for urban transit operations. The numbers for Muni aren't finalized yet, but we believe this should provide the financial wherewithal to at least get streetcar service restarted. The F-line is by far the highest ridership line in the Muni system that has had none of its service restored to date; yet another justification for bringing it back soon. We are awfully grateful for you members and donors who continue to enable us to fight for the streetcars and cable cars.  Thank you. 

 

Looking forward, 

Rick Laubscher
President, Market Street Railway