San Francisco Municipal Railway fleet

With five different modes of transport from many different vendors, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is commonly known, runs one of the most diverse fleets of vehicles in the United States. Roughly 1,000 buses, 200 streetcars, and 40 cable cars see active duty. Muni's forty cable cars represent one of the oldest, last remaining public transportation fleets of cable cars remaining in service around the world. Muni's fleet of diesel-electric hybrid buses is the third largest in the nation, and there are plans in place to replace the existing diesel fleet with hybrid buses. Continuing the trend, Muni's fleet of electric trolleybuses is one of the oldest and largest remaining in the United States. A summary of the current and historic vehicles follows below.

Summary

Current fleet

Buses

Diesel buses

Muni's active diesel fleet contains coaches ranging from thirty to sixty feet in length. The standard 40ft vehicles include Neoplan (now defunct) AN440, NABI (the American arm of Ikarus) 416, and Orion VII models. Additionally, there are a handful of Gillig Phantoms in reserve duty. At the small end of the scale, Muni has 30 30ft Orion VIIs. At the large end of the scale, Muni's articulated diesel fleet is comprised of Neoplans AN460s. The Orion VIIs (both 30ft and 40ft models) are unique in the Muni fleet in that they are powered by a hybrid diesel-electric system, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/06/BAOKVF1E8.DTL Vandals halt some hybrid buses in Hunters Point] ] with one being a Wi-Fi enabled bus. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/21/BA0LV60MP.DTL Muni's 'Connected Bus' is about to go online] ]

They currently do not operate on the 44 O'Shaugnessy and the 54-Felton due to vandals flipping the switches on the back of the hybrid buses.In December 2007, Muni acquired a double decker diesel bus for testing purposes.cite web
url = http://www.sfmta.com/cms/apress/SFMTAExploresDoubleDeckBusOption.htm
title = SFMTA Explores Double Deck bus option
publisher = San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency
accessdate = December 25
accessyear = 2007] Its proponents claim that the double decker makes more efficient use of Muni's limited service bays, that the lack of an articulation joint will result in a lower cost of ownership, and that the shorter length will also be a boon in congested areas. Its detractors claim that dwell time is increased because there are fewer exits than on an articulated bus, and that Muni's traditionally lax security will render the top level of the bus unsafe.

Historically, Muni has run standard length buses from a wide variety of manufactures. Articulated buses were sourced from MAN (retired in 2002) and New Flyer, which were retired in 2007.

All of Muni's current active diesel buses meet ADA standards.

Electric trolleybuses

Electric trolleybuses (ETB) were very popular in the United States throughout much of the 20th century. Today, San Francisco is one of five cities in the United States with an operational ETB fleet.cite web
url = http://www.trolleybuses.net/
title = Tom's North American (Canada, USA, Mexico) Trolleybus Pix
accessdate = December 25
accessyear = 2007] Muni's ETB fleet is one of the largest in the nation, and services many parts of the city. Initially the ETBs were met with resistance, as residents preferred the uncluttereed skylines that the streetcars provided.citation
url = http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/ccmiscnpart.html#replace2
title = WANT CABLE CARS TO RESUME OPERATION: McAllister Street Residents Would Have Old Line Run Again.
newspaper = San Francisco Chronicle
year = 1906
date = August 3, 1906
page = 14] However, after the 1906 earthquake, ETBs were seen as a cheaper option than rebuilding the cable car infrastructure and eventually the resistance faded. Indeed, there are plans in the works to electrify existing diesel lines.

Muni's active ETB fleet consists of articulated coaches from New Flyer and ETI Skoda, as well as standard 40ft coaches from ETI Skoda. Historically, Muni has run ETBs from Brill, the St. Louis Car Company, Twin Coach, Marmon-Herrington, and Flyer. [cite web
url = http://www.trolleybuses.net/sfo/sfo.htm
title = Tom's Trolley Bus Pictures San Francsico CA Fixed Frame
accessdate = December 25
accessyear = 2007]

Cable cars

Around the turn of the century, there were numerous cable car lines providing service to many sections of the city. Some of those cable cars are built by Muni themselves.cite web
url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/03/MNIITKHLT.DTL
title= Elite craftsmen keep S.F. cable car in good shape
accessdate=2007-12-26
author=Rachel Gordon
date= December 3, 2007
publisher= San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate] Currently only three lines and forty cars remain.

Streetcars

Contemporary light rail vehicles

The Muni Metro has run two types of light rail vehicles. Originally, Boeing-Vertol cars were used. However, these proved extremely troublesome and were phased out of service beginning in 1997. The Boeing cars were replaced by Italian built Breda LRV2 and LRV3 models. Initially the Breda vehicles were hailed as more reliable and easier to service than their predecessors. However, deferred maintenance and design defects have taken their toll on Muni riders.

Historic streetcars

Historic streetcars are run on the F Market & Wharves line. Formally introduced in the 1990s, the F line started out as a replacement tourist attraction for the cable cars, while major cable car infrastructure maintenance took place. The F line is comprised mostly of PCC cars painted in livery from cities around the United States, as well as vintage Peter Witt cars from Milan. Streetcars from many other cities round out the vintage fleet.

Active PCC Fleet

First Batch (Overhauled by Morrision-Knudsen)

This shows the active PCCs entering service 1995 or before. All of these cars were rehabbed by Morrison-Knudsen before entering revenue service. Car 1054 (original 2121) was wrecked in an accident on 11/16/03, and is in storage. [http://streetcar.org/msr/support/insidetrack/it-v20-1.pdf Winter 2004 issue of Inside Track Newsletter] ]

11xx class

The 1100s series of cars were purchased in 1957 by Muni from St. Louis Public Service. These cars were retired in 1982, with most being sold off to Tahoe Valley Lines and then to St. Charles, Missouri.

Historic Streetcar Fleet

References

See also

*Peter Witt streetcar
*US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
*Muni Metro
*Perley A. Thomas
*Jewett Car Company
*W.L. Holman Car Company

External links

* [http://streetcar.org/mim/streetcars/status/index.html Museum In Motion: F-Line Fleet Operational Status]