Muni has announced its most drastic system cutback yet, going into effect the next couple of days. Here is their announcement. It includes a map of the routes that will continue to operate and details on why the service is being further reduced.
This follows last month’s shutdown of, first, the cable cars and historic streetcars, on the grounds that operators had no separation from passengers akin to light rail vehicles and most buses. That was followed by the shutdown of the Market Street Subway, substituting surface buses on all the light rail line. Now, with 40% of operators expected to be off work, mostly self-quarantining for safety purposes, Muni service will be cut down to 17 key lines, focused on serving hospitals and other destinations for essential workers.
Last week did see some vintage streetcars on the streets, though not to carry passengers. Some were test runs by the vintage streetcar maintenance team, still hard at work, catching up on various projects. Above, from an “Orange Milano” training on the J-Church line (at Church & 29th Streets), is the first “Lemon Milano” to appear on the streets in more than two years: Car 1807, which has been out of service. The testing revealed it still has a traction motor problem, which is now being addressed.
Another shop test, of Twin City Rapid Transit PCC 1071, in its original Minneapolis-St. Paul livery, on Church Street, on April 3.
Shop trials weren’t the only vintage operations of the past week. On April 1 (no fooling), PCCs 1051 (the Harvey Milk car) and 1055 (in its original Philadelphia 1940s livery) went out the L-line, resulting in this great shot at 35th Avenue and Taraval, with Car 1055 resting “in the hole” of the track wye on 35th, awaiting a road call from maintenance (remember, these cars haven’t been operating in awhile now). These cars were training new streetcar operators, and this piece of training finished last Friday. Next step is line training, involving supervised operation during regular service, which obviously has been put off. The trained operators have been reassigned to buses for the duration.
Before the training was suspended, though, a clean sweep of Milan liveries, with “Mint Milano” 1814 at the L-line terminal at 46th and Wawona, following “Orange Milano” 1815.
Thanks to the photographers who grabbed these shots. They come from our Facebook Group, which is seeing a big increase in activity with great historic photos being posted and discussed. If you’re not a member, here’s the link. Join us!
And special thanks to all the operators and maintainers doing their very best to keep critical Muni service running. We will get through this!
