F-line Defenders Say “Leave Our Streetcars on Market Street”

If not for the broken Bay Bridge, it would have been the biggest transportation story of the day: the reaction to Mayor Newsom’s musings about eventually removing all Muni service, including the F-line, from Market Street. The chatter started in Blogsville the moment the Mayor appeared looking pensive on the front page of the Examiner yesterday.
Streetsblog reckoned that Newsom is probably not serious, and then tried to nudge him away from the thought by quoting a variety of transportation “hitters” as saying 1) it won’t work and 2) he doesn’t really mean it.
Curbed SF covered it too, in generally the same way, even using one of Todd Lappin’s great photos (which is featured in our 2010 calendar) to illustrate the piece.

But what we like the best is the comments on these and other blogs, including our own. Not much love given to Muni’s bus lines, but some fierce defense of the F-line streetcars.

• “How tone
  deaf to the aesthetics of cities can people be? The street car line is
  the only good thing to happen to Market street in the many decades of
  taking millions upon millions of Federal highway funds…”
• “Banning the historical streetcars on Market would be a political
  nonstarter. If it does go through, I want to take a match to Gavin’s
  flammable hair.”
• “Enough already, Gavin! This is just ridiculous — the F Line is about
  the only thing left that still gives Market some cosmopolitan
  character, and the city spent tons of money to put it in. And it stops
  for red lights, unlike most bicyclists.”
• “I can understand the removal of cars and diverting some of MUNI’s bus
  service, but the removal of the “F” line is idiotic. I’ve seen
  streetcars in major arteries (without cars) work very successfully.”
• “I don’t
  understand how people like me (too old with ancient knee injury) are
  supposed to get downtown to support local merchants if you take away
  the streetcars.”
• “Bad idea. *Maybe* ban buses on Market, but definitely not the street cars. Instead, can we ban half-naked bums who poop on the sidewalk? Now that would be progress for Market Street!”
• “I”d love to get buses off of Market Street. let’s build a few more streetcar lines..”
• “IMHO, the historic streetcars are one of the best thing to have happened to Market Street in years.”

• “This is
  the first time that I have seen near consensus in a comments field on
  this blog! If that’s not an indictment of this idea I don’t know what
  one is!”

Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear any more about this idea from City Hall.