The E-Embarcadero historic streetcar line will now not return to service until about April 28. The E-line has been temporarily shut down since late January as Muni constructs a long center platform on Third Street opposite Chase Center, the new Golden State Warriors arena opening this fall.
The E-line streetcars don’t use that track, but Muni Operations said they needed to divert the E-line’s operators to drive some of the substitute T-line buses. Other Muni lines also “contributed” drivers to this effort by reducing service on those lines. The platform work should be finished and T-line rail service should resume by the end of March, but two weeks later, on April 14, Muni will be running buses on the outer half of the N-Judah line while they construct a new platform and perform paving work on Irving Street in the Inner Sunset. Here’s a story on the N-line project.
Once again, Muni Operations will be borrowing operators from other lines, including the 14-Mission, 30-Stockton, and 38-Geary. They will use the E-line’s operators for that two week period, too, as well as the operators on the 83X rush-hour Caltrain shuttle.
While we are not at all happy with this situation, we agreed with Muni’s recommendation to not try to restart E-line service for those first two weeks in April (might be less than that if the T-line platform project goes beyond schedule), only to yank it again on April 14 to put the operators on the N-line buses. We do recognize Muni’s operator shortage, but we have made our feelings clear to SFMTA leadership that repeated shutdowns of the E are not acceptable to our members and constituents in South Beach. We are redoubling our efforts to keep this from happening again.
