SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[BTinSF]

More streetcars rolling out means new line possible
By: WILL REISMAN
Examiner Staff Writer
06/14/09 10:18 PM PDT

Muni’s streetcar fleet includes historic trolleys made in San Francisco and Philadelphia that are painted to look like they were made in cities around the nation. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner)

There should soon be more streetcars hitting tracks in The City — and also carrying passengers to a new
destination.

As a way to help adapt to the growing number of passengers on its historic streetcars, Muni is expected to add 16 newly rehabilitated vehicles to its fleet.

The number of passengers on the F-Market/Wharves line has doubled since 2000, from 10,000 to 20,000 daily boardings. And with plans to add a second streetcar line, the Municipal Transportation Agency is likely to receive approval Tuesday from its board of directors for an $18 million project to rehabilitate some of the streetcars that have already been purchased.

The addition to the F line will increase Muni’s historic streetcar fleet from 24 to 40 that are regularly used for service, according to transit agency documents. The $18 million project is expected to be awarded to Pennsylvania-based Brookville Equipment Corp., which will fix up the streetcars during a five-year period.

With the additional streetcars, Muni would have enough vehicles to run the E-Embarcadero line, a proposed route that would take passengers from the Caltrain station at Fourth and King streets to Fisherman’s Wharf, according to transit agency spokeswoman Kristen Holland.

Of the streetcars set to be restored, 11 were purchased in 2004 from a New Jersey transit organization. The work includes exterior and interior painting, accessibility improvements and electrical advances that will allow for the use of Translink cards, according to the transit agency.

Funding for the project has already been secured from local and federal sources, transit agency documents said.

Source: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/48038137.html