Market Street Railway: who we are, what we do

Those wonderful vintage streetcars on San Francisco’s Market Street and the waterfront? We led the campaign to turn them from a dream into reality. We continually advocate for robust service levels, and help keep them looking good.

The unique cable cars climbing “halfway to the stars”? We work to make them better, cosmetically, historically, and most importantly, operationally, encouraging effective management to reduce waiting and give riders more time to shop and dine.

We do this not only to preserve part of what makes San Francisco special, but also to ensure these vintage vehicles are put to work as efficiently as possible to help our city’s economy, by providing attractive public transit people really want to ride, to places they’ll enjoy.

We’re Market Street Railway, an independent nonprofit preserving historic transit in San Francisco. We don’t own or operate the historic streetcars or cable cars — San Francisco’s public transit agency, SFMTA (“Muni”), does that — but we advocate and collaborate to make sure these priceless vehicles get the public funding and attention they deserve as world-famous parts of our city. We have acquired numerous historic streetcars from around the world for San Francisco and brought cable cars home as well. We advocate for route extensions, improved service, and other enhancements to San Francisco’s unmatched vintage rail operations.

While we are not part of Muni, we do maintain a positive working relationship with them, as we have done with eight mayors, dozens of elected supervisors, and scores of city leaders over four decades. As an independent group, we receive no government money whatsoever. We rely on tax-deductible membership dues and donations. We welcome your help.

Our work is more important than ever. San Francisco’s city government faces a challenging post-COVID financial future. We know from experience we must increase our advocacy and strengthen alliances with other individuals, groups, and businesses that benefit from these unique public transit vehicles to avoid cutbacks or even elimination of service.

We extend appreciation to our business supporters. Learn about them here.