MUNI Obituary: The 7-Haight November 30, 2009
Posted by californiabeat in San Francisco.Tags: 7 Haight, bus, Changes, December 5, Haight Street, MUNI, service, Streetcar
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(Editor’s Note: On Dec. 5, MUNI will implement a series of service changes that will significantly reduce and cut back bus, trolley coach and streetcar service on more than half of the system’s routes. Some of those changes include entire cancellations of routes. Some of those routes have been in service for generations. This week, the California Beat offers obituaries for those doomed transit routes that will be eliminated on Dec. 5. It’s a glimpse back at the legacy that the transit line left behind, and how it helped shaped San Francisco to what it looks like today.)
7-Haight
MUNI Trolley Coach Route
Start of Service: Feb. 17, 1916
End of Service: Dec. 4, 2009
The 7-Haight line existed — in various forms — as long as the San Francisco Municipal Railway has been around. It began service as a streetcar line for the competing privately-owned and operated transit company, the Market Street Railway, in 1916.
The original streetcar line was called the 17 Haight-Ocean, which brought passengers from the grand Ferry Building loop, down bustling Market Street, east on Haight Street, through Golden Gate Park and right towards Ocean Beach via a private streetcar right-of-way which criss-crossed the park.
Under MUNI’s operation in 1948, streetcar service on the route was scrapped, and the motor coaches which replaced the rail cars went only as far as Stanyan Street since they couldn’t operate through the park’s rail right-of-way.
A year later, trolley coaches were introduced on the line, which was now called the 7-Haight.
The routing would remain much the same for decades — moving hippies, hipsters and yuppies up and down Haight Street in the era of Summer Love to the time of Dot-Com booms and busts.
In the latest round of service cuts, MUNI slashed midday and weekend service on the 7-Haight, leaving it as a peak-hour only route Monday through Friday.
When the final bus pulls into the barn Friday evening, it’ll be the first time in 93 years that a transit vehicle on San Francisco’s Haight Street route hasn’t seen revenue service.
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Of course, there’s the 6, 33, and the 71…the 71 kinda mimics the original 7 route, except it operates on Noriega…
I’ve visited San Francisco a few times but unfortunately never got to ride the #7Haight ETB [I haven't ridden the #71 either]. In times of rising fuel costs I would not eliminate a route that uses electric trolley buses.That’s just the humble opinion of a Chicagoan where ETBs have been gone since 1973.
I have fond memories of (occasionally) cutting high school and coming to SF for a day on Haight Street. My friends and I would take the 7 from BART for a day of window shopping, trying to score some weed, and looking for someone to buy alcohol for us. Ahh, good times.
I can’t believe they’re getting rid of the 7 Haight. Every time I’m on it, it always seems packed…Ditto for the 71. The 6 turns left on Masonic heading west, so if you need to go all the way to Stanyan, you’ll now be forced to ride an even more crowded 71.
I have fond memories of the 7. Once you board, you usually know which bus you’re on and to which neighborhood it’s going to by the appearance of the passengers and, many times, by the music you may hear, also the smells. I’ve always thought it was one of the city’s most unique lines.
This is just like the establishment pigs to scrap an electric line in favor of a polluting diesel. Man, what a bummer trip.