A remnant of post-war, systematic dismantling of urban rail systems, the majority of the Muni Metro system is a collection of streetcar lines that do not properly serve as the backbone of the City's transit system. While they do an adequate job of transporting passengers from various corners of the city into the downtown, the impacts of COVID-19 show that a resilient system needs to provide coverage throughout the city as a whole.

The convergence of so many lines locks maximum frequencies on individual lines, meaning that areas served by a single line can never be provided meaningful frequency, even if that area's demand for quality transit grows. While the subway can see headways as little as two minutes, comparable to the best transit lines around the world, dividing this by the 5 lines that the subway splits into results in a minimum headway of 10 minutes.

Instead of focusing service to downtown, each line can support a fully-legitimate commute, supporting the unique polycentrism of San Francisco. This new system will be an efficient system of high frequencies and transfers. Lines should stretch from one side of the city to the other as linearly as possible to best serve the City, and with minimal sharing of tracks between lines to avoid the problems that currently plague the Muni Metro.

When the interlined L-K was first introduced in 2020, staff was surprised by the number of westbound passengers remaining on the train as it passed through West Portal to reach other neighborhoods outside of downtown. This demonstrates the need for San Franciscans to seamlessly travel between all neighborhoods, and not just to and from downtown.

This plan specifically omits addressing the rail needs of the Geary Boulevard and 19th Avenue corridors, as it remains to be seen what will come of the Link 21 Program. Regardless of whether these vital corridors eventually get served by regional rail or additional Muni rail lines, this plan to create a strong rail system for the City would only be further enhanced by them.

The J would take over the existing M line tracks between Balboa Park (connection to the L line) and Parkmerced (connection to the M line). Northward, the J could be extended via Fillmore or Webster to reach Geary (connection to the 38/38R corridor) or beyond.

At Church Station, J line passengers can transfer to the M and N lines. As there have been many concerns and complaints during the short-J pilot project due to the low-quality transfers, careful consideration must be made to make the transfer a quality one. A new major capital project can create a new entrance to the Church underground station by extending the southern concourse east, with a new portal and elevator on Church Street facing the J/N platforms. In addition, the unit block of Church Street could be redesigned, with wide sidewalks and platforms, and large canopy structures to create a proper waiting area for passengers and to give the above-ground station an identity.

The new L line would make permanent the experimental L-K line from SF Zoo to Balboa Park, and then extend further through a reimagining of the Geneva-Harney BRT proposal. A new transit center should be constructed adjacent to Bayshore Station, where L passengers can transfer to Caltrain and the new T2 line.

Although the Muni Subway Expansion Project currently calls for going as far south as Parkmerced, a crucial connection can be made by extending the subway further to reach the Daly City BART station.

Repurposing assets from the 16th Street Muni Forward project, N trains would no longer enter the Market Street subway, but instead follow the existing 22-Fillmore bus route down Church and onto 16th Street. After serving UCSF Medical Center (connection to the T1 and T2 lines), N trains could use the newly-constructed Mission Bay track loop to make the return trip.

Transfers to the M and J would occur at Church Station (read about this transfer under the J line)

The new T-Short/Shuttle would be rebranded as the T1 to improve legibility, especially to tourists.

The last southbound stop for the T1 would be at UCSF Medical Center before using the newly-constructed Mission Bay track loop, where connections can be made to the N and T2 lines.

The T-Long/full-route would be rebranded as the T2 to improve legibility, especially to tourists. The southern end of the T2 line would be rerouted to serve a new transit center in Bayshore, where connections can be made to Caltrain and the extended L line.

Rail operations along Third Street have long been plagued by inadequate signal progression, and poor stop spacing. To speed up the T2, signal pre-emption, possibly with crossing gate arms, should be installed at most intersections (requiring the construction of pedestrian refuges, which would meander traffic and remove some parking), and stops should be evaluated for removal or consolidation.

Low-Floor Trams (J, L, and N lines)

While the LRV4 remains an adequate solution for now, the J, L, and N lines would optimally utilize modern, low-floor trams. Common in European cities, these trams are better suited for navigating city streets, and provide accessible loading without needing to construct a mini-high ramp at every stop.

High-Floor Trains (M, T1, and T2 lines)

Given that every stop along the subway and the T-Third lines are built for high-floor boarding, these lines are likely locked into using high-floor technology due to the costs of converting so many stops/stations. For the near-term, it would be acceptable to continue running LRV4s (4-car trains on the M line, and 2-car trains on the T1 and T2 lines).

Long-term, however, consideration should be made to procure high-floor-only vehicles, as the current LRV4 vehicles would become needlessly complicated given the need to serve low and high platforms, leading to many problems (complicated and slow doors, non-optimal layouts, extra costs and maintenance, etc.)

The M line ideally would utilize automated, light-metro technology to take advantage of the longer platform lengths, full segregation from traffic, and the need for very high frequencies. Alternatively, a common high-floor rolling stock can be obtained for the M, T1, and T2 lines, with multi-articulated cars allowing for a single unit to serve the full length of the T1 and T2 platforms, and the M line using 2-car trains the length of 4-car LRV4s.

Storage Capacity

A new rail line along 16th Street opens up opportunities for added rail vehicle storage as part of future redevelopment efforts of the Flynn and Potrero yards.