L Taraval

The L Taraval is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Parkside District.

L Taraval
Two inbound L Taraval trains in 2017
Overview
Owner	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Locale	San Francisco, California
Termini	Wawona and 46th Avenue station (SF Zoo) West Portal station (ontinues as K Ingleside)
Stations	17
Service
Type	Light rail/Streetcar
System	Muni Metro
Operator(s)	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Daily ridership	28,816 (2013)[1]
History
Opened	April 12, 1919[2]
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead lines, 600 V DC
Route diagram Continues as to Balboa Park West Portal Ulloa and Forest Side Ulloa and 15th Avenue closed 2017 Taraval and 15th Avenue Taraval and 17th Avenue Taraval and 19th Avenue Taraval and 22nd Avenue / Taraval and 23rd Avenue Taraval and 26th Avenue Taraval and 28th Avenue closed 2017 Taraval and 30th Avenue Taraval and 32nd Avenue Taraval and 35th Avenue closed 2018 Taraval and Sunset Taraval and 40th Avenue Taraval and 42nd Avenue Taraval and 44th Avenue 46th Avenue and Taraval / Taraval and 46th Avenue 46th Avenue and Ulloa 46th Avenue and Vicente Wawona and 46th Avenue

Route description

The line begins at Wawona and 46th Avenue station (near the San Francisco Zoo), which is on a one-way loop on Vicente Street, 47th Avenue, Wawona Street, and 46th Avenue. It runs north on 46th Avenue to Taraval Street, then runs east on Taraval Street to 15th Avenue. The line then runs south one block on 15th Avenue, then east on Ulloa Street to West Portal station where it is through-routed with the K Ingleside line.

Most stops have no boarding islands; passengers board from the street.

Operation

The L Taraval operates 7 days a week, primarily with train service beginning at 5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays and running until 12:30 a.m. Daytime headways are between 6 and 9 minutes.[3]

Service is provided by overnight Owl buses during the hours that rail service is not running. The L Owl bus serves the full length of the route, as well as along The Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf. (The Embarcadero section was added on June 15, 2019 to provide Owl service along the F Market & Wharves route.)[4] On weekends, L Taraval Bus service runs from 5am until the start of rail service; it does not include the section on The Embarcadero. The bus lines largely follow the rail line, but use surface streets to parallel sections where the rail line has dedicated rights-of-way.[5]

History

The original end of the L Taraval line, before the 1937 extension south of Taraval Street, with tracks still in place as a short branch, not normally used. Trains are usually sent here to turn back early, and these are the only tracks left in San Francisco that are embedded in granite block.

Around 1907, the private United Railroads (URR) opened its Parkside Shuttle line, which split from the #17 line on 20th Avenue and ran along Taraval Street, 33rd Avenue, Vicente Street, and 35th Avenue.[6] This trackage, which saw irregular passenger service, formed a barrier to continued expansion of the city-owned Municipal Railway into the Parkside district. On November 25, 1918, the city and the private URR signed the "Parkside Agreements", which allowed Muni streetcars to use URR trackage on Taraval Street and on Ocean Avenue in exchange for a cash payment and shared maintenance costs.[7]^:74

Muni's L Taraval line opened as a shuttle from West Portal to 33rd Avenue (on rebuilt URR trackage west of 20th Avenue) on April 12, 1919. It was extended along Taraval to 48th Avenue at Ocean Beach on January 14, 1923; that October 15, the shuttle service was replaced with larger streetcars running through to the Ferry Building.[7]^:75 The URR discontinued their Parkside Shuttle in late 1927.[8] The L Taraval was subsequently extended south (turning off Taraval at 46th) to the San Francisco Zoo, the line's current outer terminus, on September 15, 1937.[9] Every other streetcar was routed to the new Transbay Terminal on January 15, 1939; they were rerouted back to the Ferry Building on January 1, 1941, but the Transbay Terminal became the inner terminal for all streetcars on June 6, 1948.[8]

The L was partially converted to modern light rail operation as part of the opening of the Muni Metro system in 1980.[9] While many streetcar lines were converted to buses after World War II, the L Taraval remained a streetcar line due to its use of the Twin Peaks Tunnel.

The L Taraval Rapid project was conceived to increase pedestrian safety and speed up trains. Nine stops will be eliminated, the roadway upon which the track is laid will be repainted as a transit-only lane, and concrete boarding islands will be installed at some stops.[10][11] Preliminary stop elimination occurred on February 25, 2017,[12] though some plans were amended due to community backlash.[13]

The line was temporarily replaced by buses from June 25 to August 24, 2018 due to the Twin Peaks Tunnel shutdown.[14] On March 30, 2020, Muni Metro service was replaced with buses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15] Rail service returned on August 22, with the routes reconfigured to improve reliability in the subway. K Ingleside and L Taraval service is interlined, running between Wawona and 46th Avenue station and Balboa Park station; no K or L service enters the subway.[3] At the same time, buses replaced service west of Sunset Boulevard to allow for construction.[3] The forced transfer at West Portal was criticized by disability advocates.[16] Rail service was re-replaced with buses on August 25 due to issues with malfunctioning overhead wire splices and the need to quarantine control center staff after a COVID-19 case.[17] K, L, and M rail service is not expected to return until mid-2021.[18]

Station and stop listing

Station/Stop	Neighborhood	Other Muni Metro Lines	Notes and connections
West Portal	West Portal		Continues as to Balboa Park
Ulloa and Forest Side	Parkside
Taraval and 15th Avenue
Taraval and 17th Avenue (inbound)
Taraval and 19th Avenue
Taraval and 22nd Avenue (inbound) Taraval and 23rd Avenue (outbound)			Merged from separate 22nd Avenue and 24th Avenue stops in 2017
Taraval and 26th Avenue
Taraval and 30th Avenue
Taraval and 32nd Avenue
Taraval and Sunset
Taraval and 40th Avenue
Taraval and 42nd Avenue
Taraval and 44th Avenue
46th Avenue and Taraval (inbound) Taraval and 46th Avenue (outbound)
46th Avenue and Ulloa
46th Avenue and Vicente
46th Avenue and Wawona			Serves San Francisco Zoo

References

1. "TEP Route Data & Proposed Changes". San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
2. Demery, Jr., Leroy W. (November 2011). "U.S. Urban Rail Transit Lines Opened From 1980" (PDF). publictransit.us. Archived from the original (pdf) on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
3. Maguire, Mariana (August 18, 2020). "Major Muni Service Expansion August 22" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
4. Barnett, Benjamin (June 10, 2019). "Hoot Hoot – Muni to Provide Additional Nighttime Service" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
5. "Permanent Muni Service Changes Starting Saturday, February 22, 2020" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. February 22, 2020.
6. Chevalier, August (1911). "The "Chevalier" Map of San Francisco" – via David Rumsey Map Collection.
7. Perles, Anthony (1981). The People's Railway: The History of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco. Interurban Press. ISBN 0916374424.
8. Stindt, Fred A. (October 1990). San Francisco's Century of Street Cars. p. 119, 192. ISBN 0961546514.
9. McKane, John; Perles, Anthony (1982). Inside Muni: The Properties and Operations of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco. Glendale, CA (US): Interurban Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-916374-49-1.
10. Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (20 September 2016). "SFMTA approves controversial L-Taraval changes in name of safety". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
11. Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (19 September 2016). "Major L-Taraval changes up for vote Tuesday". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
12. "Muni to launch next big shakeup Saturday, changing routes, stops, and more". SF Gate. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
13. Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (26 January 2018). "SFMTA no longer plans to remove 17th Avenue Safeway stop". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
14. "Twin Peaks Tunnel Improvements". San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. June 25, 2018. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018.
15. Fowler, Amy (March 26, 2020). "Starting March 30: New Muni Service Changes" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
16. Graf, Carly (August 18, 2020). "Muni 'improvements' could make things harder for seniors, disabled". San Francisco Examiner.
17. "Bus Substitution for All Rail Lines" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. August 25, 2020.
18. Maguire, Mariana (December 7, 2020). "Upcoming Muni Service Expansions Phase-in Rail Service, Add Bus Service" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

External links

Media related to L Taraval at Wikimedia Commons

• SFMTA - LK Taraval/Ingleside