J Church

Infobox rail line
name = J Church
color = faa635

logo_width = 100px

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image_width = 250px
caption = Looking south along the private right-of-way near 20th Street
type = light rail
system = Muni Metro
status =
locale = San Francisco, California
start = Embarcadero Station
end = Balboa Park Station
stations = 25
routes =
ridership = 16,695 [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

J Church|The J Church is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods. 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 bus lines after World War II, the J Church remained a streetcar line due to the private right-of-way it uses to avoid the steepest grades on Church Street, between 18th Street and 22nd Street. Buses could not have negotiated the grades, and the right-of-way is too narrow to accommodate anything wider than the streetcar tracks.

The outbound end of the line was originally at Church and 30th Streets, but it was extended to Balboa Park Station in the early 1990s.

The line runs from Embarcadero Station in the Financial District to Balboa Park Station and the Balboa Park neighborhood near City College of San Francisco. The downtown portion of the line uses the Market Street Subway, along with the other four Muni Metro lines. The J exits the tunnel at Duboce Avenue along with the N Judah and turns onto Church Street. Between 18th and 20th Street, the line cuts through Dolores Park on a private right-of-way. After crossing 20th Street, it cuts across the blocks east of Church, around a steep hill and returns to Church Street at 22nd Street in Noe Valley. The J then follows Church to 30th Street, which it then takes to San Jose Avenue to Geneva. Between Randall and Cotter Street, there is a right-of-way in the middle of San Jose Avenue. At the end of the line, the J loops around the Metro yard at San Jose and Geneva.

The J Church line stops at large stations for the downtown section of the route 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. 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 J line, however part of the L-Owl and N-Owl diesel bus line run on Market Street between Church Street and Steuart Street. Owl service on the 24 Divisadero line runs near the portion of the J line north of 30th Street, and 14 Mission owl service runs near the portion of the line south of 30th.

References

External links

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