Marathon Pundit: California Collision: F-line streetcars

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

California Collision: F-line streetcars

I'm aware that in my last California Collision post I said I was going to cover my visit to Castro Street, but I forgot about how I got from Fisherman's Wharf--where our Alcatraz ferry trip ended, to The Castro. It was on the F-Line, which is formally known as The F-Market & Wharves Streetcar Line.

I had no idea that the F-line existed, or that other cities have built heritage streetcar lines.

Streetcars, also known as trolleys, were common in large cities until the end of World War II. Buses were discovered to be cheaper to operate, streetcar tracks required a lot of maintenance, and besides, then and now, people prefer to drive their own cars.

Of course, if you've seen "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," you know it was Detroit auto manufacturers who derailed the streetcar lines.

The contemporary term for streetcars is light rail vehicles. Two words for that: "Bore" and "ing."

The F-line is a fairly new service, it started in 1983 as a festival for tourists seeking the city's cable cars--those lines were shut down for a two year rehabilitation project. The old F-line had been retired a year earlier when the BART subway line opened below Market Street.

But tourists and San Franciscans loved these festivals, and by 1995, the F-line was made a permanent part of San Francisco's mass transit service, carrying over 20,000 riders a day. Unlike the cable cars (which I hated riding on), many locals use the service.

Some old F-line cars were rebuilt for the reincarnation, a few new ones were purchased--but all were constructed in the vintage style, while some others were acquired from other cities. With that in mind, many of the cars have cool names, such as "A Streetcar Named Desire."

"Light Rail Car Named Desire" doesn't stir much emotion, does it?