SF’s “Muni Heritage Day” 2022: Rare Historic Bus & Trolley Rides

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Ride real transit ‘time machines’ around the city for free on June 4 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. with the return of the popular Muni Heritage Day. The rides originate at the San Francisco Railway Museum, 77 Steuart Street, across from the Ferry Building. Ride a dozen vintage vehicles in Muni’s unmatched collection, including streetcars built in 1895, 1912, 1929, 1934, and the 1940s. Don’t miss the streetcar that survived the 1906 earthquake, and the open-topped “boat tram” from England! Electric trolley buses and motor buses that served San Francisco from the 1930s to the 1970s; even two special cable cars  from lines that disappeared 70-80 years ago. Plus displays, kids’ games, a cable car bell for them to ring, and a memorabilia sale in the plaza. Come celebrate San Francisco’s transit history and ride some of the Muni vehicles your grandparents rode, or that you rode as a kid!

Muni Heritage Day
Saturday, June 4, 2022
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The annual Muni Heritage event is an opportunity to ride special vintage transit vehicles that are rarely seen on the streets of San Francisco. The festivities are located at the San Francisco Railway Museum at 77 Steuart Street, near the Ferry Building and Embarcadero Plaza.

Activities will include:

• Rides on unique historic streetcars, buses, and cable cars
• Exhibits and stationary vintage vehicles on the outdoor plaza outside of the San Francisco Railway Museum
• Free admission to the SF Railway Museum

Vintage Muni Vehicle Routes

Vintage streetcars:
from the San Francisco Railway Museum at 77 Steuart Street (F-line Steuart Street stop, across from the Ferry Building) to Pier 39. At the beginning and end of the event, some cars will operate along Market Street to Castro. These rides will be announced at the museum. Vintage streetcars will make all regular passenger stops en route.

Vintage buses:
will operate from the museum to Washington Square in North Beach and back via Columbus Avenue. Boarding at the ends of the line only.

Cable cars:

• Sacramento-Clay cable car 19 will operate on the California Street line, from Market to Van Ness. No. 19 – Sacramento & Clay Streets (1930s livery) – Market Street Railway
• O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde Street cable car 42 will operate on the surviving portion of its original route from Aquatic Park (Hyde & Beach Sts. to Washington Street, and then via the Powell-Mason line to Bay and Taylor Streets, allowing people at the Wharf to take an excursion and end up within five blocks of where they started. No. 42 – O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde Streets (1910s livery) – Market Street Railway

Ride Muni’s very first streetcar, built in 1912. Ride an even older streetcar that looks like a cable car, built in 1896. Ride two unique cable cars, from lines that disappeared in 1942 and 1954. Ride Muni’s brand-newest cable car, an incredible piece of the carpenter’s art. Ride vintage trams from Melbourne, the 88-year old open-top “boat tram” from England, a 1950s “EuroPCC”. And, for the first time since the pandemic started, a popular tram from Milan will operate. All on Muni’s own tracks.

Ride the trolley coaches you rode as a kid (if you grew up in the City.) Ride the 1956 Mack motor coach you may have taken to Candlestick, or the 1970 GM bus you took to school, or even the 1938 bus you may have climbed up to Coit Tower on.

All these, and even more vintage vehicles from Muni’s unmatched collection, will be carrying passengers one day only: Saturday, June 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The popular annual Muni Heritage event, co-sponsored by us with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) since 2012, is BACK after a 30-month pandemic hiatus.

Streetcar and vintage bus rides will operate from our San Francisco Railway Museum across from the Ferry Building at 77 Steuart Street (Steuart Street F-line stop; Embarcadero BART and Muni Metro station).  In the plaza next to our museum, you’ll find Muni’s motorized cable car, where kids are free to ring the bell and everyone’s invited to take selfies. There’ll be historical displays from several groups, and we’ll have a large memorabilia sale outside our museum. Special cable car rides will operate on the California Street cable line, whose terminal is two blocks from the museum, as well as on the Powell-Hyde line

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.