This month 25 years ago, Muni opened an extension of the F-Market historic streetcar from Market Street to the Fisherman’s Wharf along the Embarcadero. Before the extension opened, the F line, which debuted in 1995, operated between the Castro and the Transbay Terminal on the surface of Market Street. For nearly 30 years, the F line has been a moving tribute to the streetcar systems that once dotted across the United States. Although not as recognizable an icon as the cable cars, it’s an essential, functional, and affordable form of transit for both tourists and residents.
The development of a historic streetcar line in San Francisco dates back to the 1970s, with the help of community activists, ambitious urban planners, and transit fans. Decades earlier, during the post-World War II era, San Francisco witnessed the destruction of its extensive street railway system and the construction of freeways to support fast automobile travel from the suburbs. Regardless of their productivity, high ridership streetcar lines like the Muni’s B-Geary and the Key System from the East Bay were transitioned to buses in the 1950s so that tracks could be removed to make room for cars. Even with strong voter support for the cable cars, the iconic system was reduced to half its size in that decade. This allowed some of the streets the cable cars ran on to be converted into one-way streets to speed up traffic flow. While BART was proposed during that period, the high-speed space-age trains were designed to align with the freeway-first transportation agenda and support suburban growth. As BART became a de facto replacement for the Key System, the Geary corridor has relied on buses ever since, despite many plans for BART to serve that area.
As freeways were being built in San Francisco during that period, under a grand plan to have freeways throughout the city and connect the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge, one of the freeways struck a nerve. The State Route 480, the Embarcadero Freeway, was built at the Downtown San Francisco waterfront between Folsom Street and Broadway, and opened to traffic in 1959. The two-level concrete elevated freeway created an unsightly visual barrier, blocking downtown from the Ferry Building, and many considered it a huge mistake. It was a key factor in the growing momentum behind “the Freeway Revolt.” As a result of the revolt, the city withdrew plans to construct the remaining portions of the Embarcadero Freeway, including segments in the south connecting I-280 with the Bay Bridge and in the north connecting the Bay Bridge with the Golden Gate Bridge. Plans to build freeways in other parts of the city were also shelved.
The freeway revolt in San Francisco started a national trend against unconstrained highway expansions. Laws were passed in the federal level to add additional regional and environmental planning requirements, creation of Urban Mass Transportation Administration to support transit programs, and eventually allowed federal highway funds to be used for transit in the 1973 reauthorization bill. This led to the concept that rail transit could be built as a alternative to the unpopular freeway on the Embarcadero.
In 1974, a transit concept was proposed to operate on the Embarcadero with an exclusive right of way (possibly using the Belt Line tracks) between the Southern Pacific (now Caltrain) depot and Fisherman’s Wharf, extending to Fort Mason via a disused rail tunnel. This was part of a broader plan to replace the original proposal to extend I-280 to the Bay Bridge and the existing Embarcadero Freeway. Under this transit scenario, auto commuters would park their vehicles in the South of Market area and take transit along the Embarcadero to reach their destinations north of Market Street, covering trips that would have used the freeway. The concept was endorsed in the 1976 Northern Waterfront Plan, which was approved by the City’s Planning Commission. The rail proposal was refined and formalized when it was included in Muni’s first 5-year plan in 1979 as an all surface E-Embarcadero line, separate from the decision on the elevated freeway.
The Waterfront streetcar — particularly if a “historic streetcar” type vehicle is used (as discussed further in Section A-4: Vehicle Requirements) — has the potential to at least double the present available capacity of the cable car system by providing a similarly distinctive, easily identified, inherently interesting transit service which is “fun” to use. It can be expected that many — perhaps most — tourists who now ride the cables in both directions (including those who would if they could get aboard a cable car in the first place), could be persuaded to use the cables in one direction, and use the E-EMBARCADERO streetcar in the other.
-1979-1984 Muni’s 5 Year Plan
Meanwhile, during the 1970s, BART commenced service, and construction of the rest of the Market Street Subway for Muni (part of BART program) was underway. Due to the subway’s configuration, Muni had to acquire a new fleet of light rail vehicles to support subway-surface operations. The Muni stations have center-loading high platforms that are incompatible with the PCC streetcars Muni was using. The subway also had a two-track stub-end terminal at the Embarcadero Station, limiting capacity and being incompatible with the old fleet, which mostly consisted of single-ended cars. Because of the new fleet, Muni gradually phased in subway operations. Muni first began converting subway service for N-Judah on weekdays in February 1980, while the rest of the streetcar lines ran on the surface of Market with PCC cars. By 1982, all streetcar lines operated with light rail vehicles in the subway seven days a week. Originally, it was expected that there would be no rail service on the surface of Market Street. Meanwhile, Muni preserved some PCC cars for E-Embarcadero service, as recommended in its 5 Year Plan.
Due to the original stub-end configuration at the Embarcadero terminus for all five Muni Metro lines, Muni planned to build a proper turnback facility to improve frequency and reliability. Under Muni’s 5 Year Plan, the agency proposed extending the subway beyond the Embarcadero station to a loop or turnback tracks and continuing further south along the Embarcadero waterfront to the SP depot. This would also connect the Market Street line with SP, which was proposed to be upgraded under separate studies to save the service from elimination.
In September 1982, as Muni transitioned to subway service and ended PCC surface streetcar operations, the agency began a complete reconstruction of its worn-out cable car system. This reconstruction required a temporary discontinuation of the moving National Historic Landmark. To compensate, Muni planners and transit activists devised a plan to bring historic streetcars from other cities, along with the PCCs and other historic cars Muni owned, to start a “Trolley Festival” in the summer of 1983 as an alternative attraction to the closed cable cars. Business interests and then-mayor Diane Feinstein got involved. The service ran five days a week (Thursday through Monday) every 15 minutes on a single shift, operating on the surface of Market Street from the Castro to the Transbay Terminal. Due to the popularity of the historic streetcars, the festival repeated every summer until 1987, even though the cable cars returned to service in 1984. After the final trolley festival, Muni began upgrading tracks on Market Street for a permanent F Line historic streetcar service, which was completed in 1995.
In September 1987, Muni historic streetcar 578, powered by a portable generator, provided a demonstration service on the Embarcadero. It ran between Pier 39 and Market Street, partly beneath the freeway, on disused SF Belt Railroad freight tracks.
Despite calls from the city’s leadership to demolish the Embarcadero Freeway, voters rejected such plans at the ballot box in 1986. Although many considered the freeway an eyesore, it was seen as a lifeline for Chinatown businesses, which vigorously fought against its demolition. This isn’t surprising. While many want to support transit and reduce car reliance, a car-first mindset persists, with concerns about the negative impacts of losing car access. This kind of struggle reappeared years later over the fate of the Central Freeway.
In 1989, a 7.1 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake struck, causing serious damage to much of the infrastructure, including the total collapse of the double-deck Cypress Freeway in West Oakland. The Embarcadero and Central freeways, which had the same design, did not collapse but were damaged enough to require closure. The Embarcadero Freeway was so disliked that the earthquake only made the decision easier. Then-Mayor Art Agnos successfully had the freeway demolished in 1991, a year and 4 months after the earthquake, but lost his re-election later that year when Chinatown voters took revenge. To compensate for the loss of the freeway, Muni subsequently proposed the Central Subway project to extend Muni Metro service in Chinatown. That line opened in 2023.
After the freeway came down, Muni began constructing an underground turn-back track for Muni Metro, extending Muni Metro to Caltrain, and building the historic streetcar line to Fisherman’s Wharf as an extension of F Line. The F Line extension was built in phases to minimize impacts on Fisherman’s Wharf businesses, and also as the final roadway configuration in front of the Ferry Building was still undetermined for many years. The Muni Metro extension to Caltrain opened for service in 1998, while the F Line extension opened in February 2000.
Despite these two rail extensions on different parts of the same roadway, the initial construction did not include a rail connection between them to support a single line operation as originally envisioned. Subsequent construction added the rail connection and low-level side platforms on the Embarcadero south of Market, as the original Muni Metro line only had high center platforms. Even so, the E Line remained largely elusive because Muni lacked suitable double-ended PCC cars for service, along with funding and labor shortages. Regular weekend service, though infrequent, was introduced in 2015. Less than a year later, service was provided midday and afternoon, seven days a week, until COVID-19 hit in March 2020 when Muni suspended all rail services. F Line service was restored in May 2021.
The workhorses of the F Line service are art deco-inspired PCC cars. Some are original Muni-owned vehicles from before the Muni Metro era, while many were purchased second-hand from other systems, like Philadelphia, that were retiring them. As the F Line provides the same level of service as other bus routes, the historic cars were modernized for reliability and equipped with necessary accessibility features. The PCC cars are operated by one person, without a separate conductor, allowing labor to be used effectively. The cars are painted in various liveries as a tribute to other systems that had or would have operated PCCs. Muni also has other historic vehicles in its collection, some original and some acquired from other systems, including New Orleans and Milan, Italy. They appear on the F Line occasionally, as many require a two-person operation. Fan favorites include the open-top “boat” cars originally from Blackpool, England.
North of Market Street, the F Line is also a de-facto bus rapid transit, similar to the bus way on Van Ness Avenue. Despite the popularity of the historic streetcars, Muni didn’t always have enough historic cars or qualified operators available and often buses were substituted to cover the streetcars. Unlike most bus substitution scenarios, the buses were able to operate on trackway paved with cobblestones. The rides were bumpy, but at least the buses serve the same exact stops. On major event days like the 4th of July or the Fleet Week air shows, street closures and crowd control required complete bus substitution on the Embarcadero segment. Overnight service is served by the L-Owl bus running on the trackway.
While many other cities maintain historic streetcar lines, they often fall short in coverage and service quality. Some lines, like those in Seattle and San Pedro, were discontinued when cities viewed them as novelties and removed tracks for other projects. In contrast, transit planners and streetcar advocates in San Francisco have successfully transformed a transit mode once considered obsolete into a vital component of the transit network and a cherished city attraction. This achievement required thoughtful planning, seizing various opportunities, and strong community motivation to establish and sustain historic streetcars on the Embarcadero for a quarter of a century.
