Market Street Railway has offered to provide background on the way surface J-line service operated in the past. Management had already volunteered to study this possibility. PCC streetcars are already at home on the J-line, rolling along Church Street every day on their way to and from their assignments on the F-line. And the board wants management to figure out what’s necessary to do that right away, and report back early in 2022. The J-line PCCs would share tracks with the F-line on Market to provide J-line riders a single-seat ride downtown. But they added a big caveat: if, as ridership on the Metro lines returns to pre-pandemic levels, the subway starts getting delayed again, management must consider converting the J-line to be all-surface to the Ferry, running PCC streetcars, like the one pictured above, on the J, instead of LRVs (whose pantographs cannot use the overhead wires on Market). PCC streetcars would, of course, make the same stops as LRVs running shuttles on Church.Īfter taking testimony from dozens of citizens, most of whom advocated for returning the J to the subway immediately, the board voted to do just that early next year. We shared our views with SFMTA board members before the meeting, pointing out that buses can’t use the scenic J-line right-of-way between 18th and 22nd Streets and would have to make stops in different locations, disadvantaging mobility-impaired riders and confusing all riders. Market Street Railway had already proposed to management using PCC streetcars instead for this supplemental service on the surface of Market. They also proposed adding a half-hourly bus on the J from 30th Street (the line’s original streetcar terminal from 1917 to 1982) to the Ferry Building, making the same stops as the F-line. Management’s preferred alternative continued the surface J-line LRV shuttles between Balboa Park and Duboce Avenue during daytime, but as a compromise move to restoring full-time J subway surface, proposed to extend J trains through the subway to Embarcadero station during evenings. Management told its board at the December 7 meeting that the Metro subway was operating far faster without the J (and the L-Taraval, which will use buses for another two years during complete rebuilding of Taraval Street). When Muni resumed rail service after a year-long pandemic shutdown, management implemented a plan they had been considering before the shutdown: make the J a surface line that ended at Duboce Avenue and Church, forcing riders heading downtown to transfer to the Metro Subway or the N or F lines at surface stops. Management said this was because there were too many different lines - the J, K, L, M, N, T, plus shuttles - trying to use the same tracks and stations. But it does open the door to something Market Street Railway has been advocating for years: the serious consideration of surface J-line service on Market Street as a way to unclog the Muni Metro Subway.īefore the pandemic, the Muni Metro Subway under Market Street often faced delays, frustrating passengers. The action does not mean that the J-line will get vintage streetcar service anytime soon (other than the historic cars that use the J-line along Church Street to reach and return from their daily F-line service they are mandated to pick up passengers along the way). The action was part of a broader measure that instructs management to return J-line light rail vehicles to the Muni Metro Subway as soon as possible. At its December 7 meeting, the SFMTA Board of Directors unanimously passed a resolution directing Muni management to evaluate using PCC streetcars to provide single-ride service long-term on the J-Church line.
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