Cirrus in San Francisco 3 of 3 - Transit & Observation Decks

[Cirrus]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Part 3 - Transit & Observation Decks

Being a transit geek, I took lots of pictures of trains and buses.

BART:
I was disappointed to learn that contrary to rumor, my DC Metro farecard did not work in the BART system, nor vice versa.







The cable cars:
Ironically, this is the only type of train in SF that I did NOT ride while I was there.






Muni Metro:
I'm jealous of SF's surface transit. Metro beats BART, but above ground SF wins.











The F-Market historic streetcars were pretty cool.





Baltimore!




The majority of what I saw were not PCCs, which surprised me. There seem to be a ton of cars from Milan.









Caltrain:
Caltrain was pretty cool. I stayed in Palo Alto, so I rode it multiple times. Comparable to MARC's Penn line, but better than all the other MARC or VRE lines.

The station is awful on the outside.


Inside was OK.


Fun platforms








The bike car at the front of the train was totally cool. Girlfriend, who is a bike planner, was totally excited.





Trolley buses:
I didn't get to ride one, but love the idea of trolley buses. What a good middle-step between bus and streetcar. Are they smoother than fuel buses?










And finally normal fuel buses, which we all know and love.



Now, views from high up.

J Church took me up a hotel near Union Square. I think it was the Saint Francis.





The rest are from Coit Tower:



















What's this church? Can anyone ID?














Didn't go.


Oakland.


Berkeley.


Then it got dark. Alas, no tripod.







BONUS NUMBER ONE:

While on Telegraph Hill the famous flock of feral parrots flew up and spent some time on a tree near me. I wasn't set up for this kind of picture taking, but still: Cool!







BONUS NUMBER TWO:

One night we happened upon a giant pillow fight at the plaza where Market Street meets the Embarcadero.





Everywhere.

[M II A II R II K]

Nice variety of transit there, and cool aerials.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. I like the pictures of Oakland, Berkeley, and Alcatraz.

I heard that the city was really mad about paying to clean up after the pillow fight and passed some kind of law after that.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Part 3 - Transit & Observation Decks


The F-Market historic streetcars were pretty cool.

As I said, I grew up in DC and my grandma lived at 14th & Colorado where there was a streetcar terminus so I rode PCC cars in DC from there and on Georgia Ave. all the time as a very young child. Riding them in SF is always a little bit nostalgic.

The majority of what I saw were not PCCs, which surprised me. There seem to be a ton of cars from Milan.

SF bought a substantial number of them directly from Milan when that city modernized its fleet. They are very popular.

You might want to check out http://www.streetcar.org/mim/streetc...eet/index.html for the story on all the various streetcars in the SF fleet.

By the way, I am hoping SF will get and use some "stimulus" money to finally begin the "E line" service using the historic streetcars along the entire length of the Embarcadero (from CalTrain to Fishermens' Wharf).

The (CalTrain) station is awful on the outside.

You do know that this is the station to be replaced by the new downtown TransBay Terminal, right? (see the thread on that)

Trolley buses:
I didn't get to ride one, but love the idea of trolley buses. What a good middle-step between bus and streetcar. Are they smoother than fuel buses?

They are more powerful--I've had to get out (along with my fellow passengers) of diesel busses because they couldn't make it up a few SF hills fully loaded. The electric have no problem. Also, SF has its own hydro-electric dam in the Sierra Nevada--O'Shaughnessy Dam--so the electricity is about free (except we pay PG&E to transmit it to the city). Obviously, the electrics are also quieter in residential neighborhoods.

Now, views from high up.

J Church took me up a hotel near Union Square. I think it was the Saint Francis.

Yup.

What's this church? Can anyone ID?

St. Ignatius--on the campus at U. of SF (a Jesuit school)--the hill is called "Lone Mountain".


Source: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/OKXjf...R_CMGYf4LrAVTQ

[Cirrus]

Thanks. I do know about Transbay. What will happen to 4th/King when Transbay opens?

And I'm surprised Saint I's is just a regular parish church. It looks very pretty.

[Top Of The Park]

What a multi-mode system they have there.....so widely used and so convenient!

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Thanks. I do know about Transbay. What will happen to 4th/King when Transbay opens?

And I'm surprised Saint I's is just a regular parish church. It looks very pretty.

I'm not sure about 4th & King--whether they'll have an intermediate stop there or not. It's an important locus for local transportation (several LRV lines--N, T, eventually E) so it might make some sense for the local (not HSR) trains still to stop there.

St. Ignatius is sort of the "chapel" for the college. By the way, I just noticed the top of the towers and dome are a different color in your photo. I recall a couple of years ago they were covered with scaffolding for a long time. I guess they repainted (but I think they did a lot more than that).

[San Frangelino]

Nice thread with great pics, but you forgot one fun form of transit in the city i recommend you try on your next trip. A ferry ride across the bay over to oakland or sausalito. I took it from oakland's jack london square the last time i was up and its a good ride.

[blade_bltz]

Yikes, what were you doing town in Palo Alto? (my neck of the woods, for the time being). I would not say that Caltrain is cool, in any sense. Were you at least there during the week when the Bullet trains were running?

But great shots over all (all of the installments). I've been in the UK for the past few months and I'm ready to return to CA!

[Cirrus]

Friend lives in Palo Alto. Free place to stay.

What's wrong w/ Caltrain? It seems perfectly fine for that area. Especially the baby bullets (which I didn't ride, but I understand the concept).

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Friend lives in Palo Alto. Free place to stay.

What's wrong w/ Caltrain? It seems perfectly fine for that area. Especially the baby bullets (which I didn't ride, but I understand the concept).

There are plans to fully electrify it soon--then it will be a lot "cooler".

[ColDayMan]

Mmmmarvelous!

[jeremai]

I love all your transit pics. Did you get any grief for taking them?

[Cirrus]

None at all.

[koolkid]

I always wondered whether diesel buses ever had any problems going up those steep hills. I guess that's why the cable cars managed to survive all these years. San Fran sure is lucky to have various forms of transit. Great thread.

[Gordo]

The 4th & King station is planned to be undergrounded and still be used as a Caltrain stop (though not HSR), with most of the "parking lot" for trains remaining just to the west above ground (as is the case now).

As BT mentioned, the trolleybuses are much, much more powerful and quieter than diesel buses, and I do think that they are much smoother, though some people disagree (acceleration is much faster on the trolleybuses, so if you're not ready you can be thrown to the floor easier than in a diesel). I find myself often choosing a trolleybus line over a diesel line without thinking if the two are on parallel streets.

[OhioGuy]

Nice photos, Cirrus - all three threads were good to see.

[peanut gallery]

Nice shots, Cirrus. The big pillow fight was quite awhile ago. I walked through the festivities that night so we almost crossed paths.

[ltsmotorsport]

SF really is spoiled compared to a majority of the country regarding transit.

It seems like your parrot shots aren't up anymore.

[Cirrus]

Oops. Fixed.