M Ocean View

Infobox rail line
name = M Ocean View
color = 018752

logo_width = 125px

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image_width = 250px
caption = The San Francisco State University Station at the intersection of 19th Avenue and Holloway
type = light rail
system = Muni Metro
status =
locale = San Francisco, California
start = Embarcadero Station
end = San Jose at Geneva/Geneva Yard, Balboa Park Station (rush hour only)
stations = 28
routes =
ridership = 28,671 [cite web|url=http://www.sfmta.com/cms/rtep/tepdataindx.htm |title=Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) Data |accessdate=2008-02-23 ]
open =
close =
owner = City of San Francisco
operator = San Francisco Municipal Railway
character =
stock =
linelength =
tracklength =
notrack =
gauge =
el = overhead catenary
speed =
elevation = underground, at grade

M Ocean View|The M Ocean View is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni Metro system in the late 1970s. While many streetcar lines were converted to buses after World War II, the M Ocean View remained a streetcar line due to its use of the Twin Peaks Tunnel.

The outbound end of the line was originally at the intersection of Broad Street and Plymouth Avenue, but it was later extended to Balboa Park Station. Eureka Station in the Twin Peaks Tunnel was originally a stop on the M line, but the station was closed and replaced by Castro Street Station when the Metro system opened.

The line runs from the Embarcadero Station in the Financial District to Geneva Avenue and San Jose Avenue near City College of San Francisco in the Balboa Park neighborhood. The downtown portion of the line runs through the Market Street Subway, which it shares with the four other Muni Metro lines. It continues through the much older Twin Peaks Tunnel, along with the K Ingleside and L Taraval lines, emerging at West Portal Station. From there, it follows West Portal Avenue to the Saint Francis Circle, where it then takes its own right-of-way to 19th Avenue. The portion of the line on 19th Avenue between where it joins 19th near Eucalyptus Drive and Junipero Serra Boulevard is a right-of-way separated from the street. This section has two stations with high-platforms, one at the Stonestown Galleria on Winston Drive and the other at San Francisco State University on Holloway Avenue. It continues on 19th Avenue past Junipero Serra to Randolph Street. At the end of Randolph, the M uses Orizaba Avenue to get to Broad Street and takes that to San Jose Avenue. The rest of the line follows San Jose Avenue to Geneva Avenue, where the line loops around the Metro yard there.

The M Ocean View line stops at large stations for the downtown section of the route and on 19th Avenue and at smaller stops on the rest of the line. Most of the smaller stops are nothing more than a sign on the side of the street designating a stop and a few others are concrete 'islands' in the middle of the street next to the tracks that provide access for wheelchairs. Muni bus routes provide service to all stations and other systems with access to the stations are noted.

There is no late night service along the entire M line, however part of the L-Owl diesel bus line runs from West Portal Station to Market Street and Steuart Street, near Embarcadero Station, and the 91 Owl line operates on 19th Avenue. On Sunday mornings only, there is a M-Owl diesel bus line that runs on surface streets from Market Street and Steuart Street to Balboa Park between the times owl service stops and the underground subway stations open.

References

External links

* [http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mmaps/documents/M.pdf Muni Metro and San Francisco rail map (195KB PDF)]
* [http://fusion.sims.berkeley.edu/MuniMap/prototype/lineDetail.cfm?lineNum=M M Ocean View route information from the SF Muni Map Project]