Muni’s famed streetcar No. 1, on its very first run, with Mayor James Rolph, Jr. at the controls, headed west on Geary at Jones, December 28, 1912. San Francisco History Room, San Francisco Public Library photo.
December 28 is the 100th anniversary of Muni’s opening day — the first big city publicly owned transit system in America. We wish we could all meet at Kearny and Market and ride Muni’s first streetcar out Geary Street — for a nickel. But we’ve teamed up with Muni to offer maybe the next best thing: riding that very same streetcar, No. 1, gloriously restored, along Market Street and The Embarcadero — for free!
Car No. 1 as recently restored, thanks in part to the advocacy of Market Street Railway.
But (as the TV commecials say) wait, there’s more. ALL Muni service, including the cable cars, is free on December 28. We are working with Muni to put additional historic streetcars into regular F-line service that day, including 1914 car No. 162, 1948 PCCs 1006 and/or 1008, and 1952 PCC No. 1040. The historic streetcars will likely operate between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. We’re hoping to see 1950 trolley coach No. 776 operating downtown as well, but that hasn’t yet been finalized.
The center of action is going to be our San Francisco Railway Museum, across from the Ferry Building at the F-line Steuart Street stop, open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. that day. On that Centennial day, we’re offering Muni employees (with their ID cards) a 10% discount on all merchandise in our gift shop (the same deal our Members get every single day, whether at the museum’s gift shop or in our online store).
We’re planning special events for our Members that day, including a talk from our board chair and president, Rick Laubscher, on the status of the E-line and our vision for it. He’ll also answer your questions. That’ll happen at the museum at 2 p.m.
Don’t forget, all Muni rides are free that day, so pack up the friends and family and come to San Francisco — and the San Francisco Railway Museum — to celebrate Muni’s 100th birthday December 28.
Happy Birthday MUNI from Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission…MF
Also, December 28th will be the last day to ride cars 162 and 1818 while they are adorned with holiday decorations. (The decorations are scheduled to be removed by MSR volunteers on December 29th.) So get out there and ride ’em (and take pictures) while they’re still decorated before it’s too late!
“Celebrating Muni’s Big Day December 28” was posted on December 23, 2012, too late for me to get there, as I only travel on Amtrak.
How about more timely notice in the future!
Well, we could reply by just promising to do better for Muni’s bicentennial — but seriously, we hope it does go better in the future. We don’t operate the system, of course; we can only recommend centennial activities. As soon as Muni made firm commitments to its several centennial events this year, we immediately publicized them. We do plan to hold several special charters next year; since we would be the sponsor of those, we will be able to give our out-of-town members plenty of opportunity to plan their trip.