19 Polk

From Transit.Wiki
🚍 Polk: Hunter's Point - Aquatic Park
7 days a week. Holiday service varies.

About the route

The 19 Polk is a north-south crosstown bus route between Ghirardelli Square/Aquatic Park in the north to Hunter's Point in the south. North of Geary Blvd, the bus travels on Polk Street. The bus serves the Tenderloin, Civic Center, South of Market, Potrero Hill, and Indian Basin.

Polk Street once had cable car service between Pacific and Post, which then continued on Larkin and 9th Street. This service was operated by Sutter Street Railway from 1878 to 1906. After the 1906 earthquake, the line was converted to an electric streetcar operated by Market Street Railway. Since 1914, it competed with a city-owned streetcar line one block west on Van Ness. It was briefly converted to buses in 1939, but rail service was restored during World War II. Rail service permanently ended less than a month after the war concluded.

As a bus route, the service extended southward over Potrero Hill in 1969 and to Indian Basin in 1980. Because the route runs 1 to 2 blocks from Van Ness Ave, which offers more frequent service, the section north of Market Street often became a topic of discussion when the city faced budget issues. However, even in April 2020, during the early COVID pandemic when Muni suspended most lines due to social distancing measures, the 19 Polk route remained in service.

Points of interest

Connections

BART:

Muni Metro: