T Third Street

T Third Street
A T Third Street train crossing the Islais Creek Channel
Overview
Type	Light rail
System	Muni Metro
Locale	San Francisco, California
Termini	West Portal Station (inbound) Embarcadero Station (outbound; continues as K Ingleside) Sunnydale Station
Stations	30
Daily ridership	33,752 (2013; combined with K Ingleside)
Operation
Opened	April 7, 2007 (2007-04-07)
Owner	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Operator(s)	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Character	Predominantly in street median right-of-way; At grade & Underground
Rolling stock	151 Breda light rail vehicles (high floor)
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Electrification	Overhead lines, 600 V DC
Route diagram Legend Inbound: sign change from West Portal Forest Hill Twin Peaks Eureka closed Castro Church ← |  F ↕ Van Ness Civic Center Powell Montgomery Embarcadero F  Outbound: sign change to  E  Folsom I-80 (Bay Bridge) Brannan 2nd & King AT&T Park Central Subway 2019 Caltrain  E  4th & King 4th Street Bridge Mission Rock UCSF Mission Bay Mariposa 20th Street 23rd Street Metro East Yard Marin Street Islais Creek Evans Hudson/Innes Kirkwood / La Salle Oakdale/Palou Revere/Shafter Williams Carroll Gilman/Paul Le Conte US 101 Caltrain Arleta Sunnydale Bayshore Station proposed

The T Third Street is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California. It is the first new light rail line in San Francisco in more than half a century, and the first fully accessible line in the system. It is also the first true light rail line in the mostly streetcar Muni Metro system, as it operates mostly in a street median, rather than in mixed traffic.

Testing on the line took place in summer 2006, with limited service starting on January 13, 2007, and full service beginning on April 7, 2007. It runs along the newly constructed light-rail tracks on Third Street and Bayshore Boulevard in the Visitacion Valley, Bayview/Hunters Point, Dogpatch, and Mission Bay neighborhoods, connecting to the existing Muni Metro system along the southern Embarcadero and below Market Street, and replaced the 15 Third bus line.

In the future, the line may be extended to Caltrain's Bayshore Station (to which it was originally planned to run) and, in the other direction, to San Francisco's Chinatown via the Central Subway project.

Route Description

Current alignment — conjoined operation with K Ingleside

Following service changes on June 30, 2007, the T Third Street and the K Ingleside lines were spliced together in the Market Street Subway tunnel, resulting in a route from Balboa Park, through downtown, to Bayshore and Sunnydale. At West Portal Station, inbound K trains heading through downtown to Third Street change their signs to the T line; at Embarcadero Station, T trains heading through downtown and outbound to the Ingleside neighborhood change signs to the K line. Each train displays its ultimate destination. This system will continue in place until the Central Subway is operational.

Leaving the Market Street Subway at Ferry Portal heading south, the T Third follows The Embarcadero south of Market Street, then veers onto King Street in front of AT&T Park until it reaches the Caltrain station terminal. This portion of the Muni Metro rail line between the Embarcadero portal and the Caltrain terminal was built in 1998 and is utilized by an extension of the N Judah, which shares track with the T to the Caltrain terminal at 4th and King. From there the T turns south on Fourth Street, crossing the bridge over Mission Creek before joining Third Street for the majority of the route's length. It passes through Mission Bay where the UCSF Mission Bay branch is located, then continues on south through the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods. Once both economically impoverished parts of the City, they have slowly experienced rehabilitation and rebuilding mainly helped by the new T line. At the intersection of Third and Jamestown Avenue, the T continues to run in both directions as it crosses U.S. Highway 101 (James Lick Freeway), although only Third Street is open to auto traffic northbound; likewise, southbound auto traffic is splintered to a southbound on ramp to Highway 101 and merges with San Bruno Avenue. From there the T follows Bayshore Boulevard (changed over from Third) for two more stations until it reaches its terminus at Sunnydale Station. A section of track follows one more block until stopped short at the Daly City limits.

All stations along this line feature high platforms, eliminating the need for the raising and lowering of entrance and exit steps characteristic of other Muni Metro lines. Stations south of Fourth and King feature short platforms that accommodate only two-car trains.

The T Third also uses the Muni Metro terminology in which an inbound train goes from West Portal to Embarcadero. This also means that an outbound T Third train runs from Sunnydale and out to the western neighborhoods via downtown. This is the reverse of other lines, as those lines have their outer termini on the southwest and west sides of the city, and those trains enter the subway from the west going inbound toward downtown.

Future route

The future alignment will neither share right-of-way with, nor share identities with the K Ingleside, avoiding both King Street and the congested Market Street subway. The southern segment from Sunnydale to 4th and King Street will remain as-is, operating on street-level median tracks. The line will burrow to subsurface level at Bryant Street Portal, continue under Fourth Street, to Moscone/Yerba Buena Station, and then to Union Square/Market Station, before terminating at Chinatown Station. A future extension might include Washington Square Station in North Beach. Unlike the upper deck Market Street subway that can accommodate four-car LRV trains, the Central Subway station platforms will be about 250-foot (76 m) long to accommodate two-car trains.

Former route

Initially upon opening, the T Third was operated from Castro Station to Bayshore and Sunnydale. In the aftermath of the Muni Meltdown of 2007, the T Third was disallowed from operating as a distinct line, in favor of being spliced together with the K Ingleside.

T – Third Street Line (Initial Alignment)
Legend
Castro Church ← |  F ↕ Van Ness US 101 Civic Center Powell Montgomery Embarcadero F  Folsom I-80 (Bay Bridge) Brannan 2nd & King AT&T Park Caltrain 4th & King 4th Street Bridge Mission Rock UCSF Mission Bay Mariposa 20th Street 23rd Street Metro East Yard Marin Street Islais Creek Evans Hudson/Innes Kirkwood / La Salle Oakdale/Palou Revere/Shafter Williams Carroll Gilman/Paul Le Conte US 101 Caltrain Arleta Sunnydale

Operation

The T Third operates seven days a week, beginning at 5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays, operating until 1 a.m. Headways on the route range from 9 to 12 minutes during the day, and from 12 to 20 minutes at night. Late night service is provided by the 91 Owl diesel bus line on Third Street, and by the N-Owl diesel bus line on King Street, The Embarcadero and most of Market Street. There is also a T-Owl diesel bus line that runs from Market Street and Van Ness Avenue to Bayshore Boulevard and Sunnydale. This line only operates on weekend mornings, between the times owl service stops and the underground subway stations open.

Station and stop listing

outbound to inbound

Station	Neighborhood	Other Muni Metro lines	Notes
West Portal	West Portal		Sign change from K Ingleside inbound
Forest Hill	Forest Hill and Laguna Honda
Castro Street	Castro
Church Street	Duboce Triangle	*	*Connects with J Church on surface stop at 14th Street Connects with F Market & Wharves streetcar
Van Ness	Civic Center and Tenderloin		Connects to F Market & Wharves
Civic Center/UN Plaza	Civic Center		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Powell Street	Financial District		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Montgomery Street	Financial District		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Embarcadero	Financial District		Changes to K Ingleside outbound Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART; within walking distance of E Embarcadero Serves Ferry Building
Folsom	Financial District		Connects to E Embarcadero Serves The Embarcadero
Brannan	South Beach		Connects to E Embarcadero Serves The Embarcadero
2nd & King	Mission Bay		Connects to E Embarcadero Serves AT&T Park
4th & King	Mission Bay	*	Serves CalTrain; *Transfer made to E Embarcadero and N Judah via separate platform nearby
Mission Rock	Mission Bay
UCSF Mission Bay (or Gene Friend Way)	Mission Bay		Serves the UCSF Mission Bay Campus
Mariposa	Mission Bay
20th Street	Mission Bay
20th Street	Mission Bay
23rd Street	Bayview
Marin Street	Bayview
Evans	Bayview
Hudson/Innes	Bayview
Kirkwood/La Salle	Bayview
Oakdale/Palou (Opera House)	Bayview
Revere/Shafter	Bayview
Williams	Bayview
Carroll	Bayview
Gilman/Paul	Bayview		Bus connection to Candlestick Park
Le Conte	Bayview
Arleta	Visitacion Valley
Sunnydale	Visitacion Valley		Inbound terminus

External links

• Official project website
• Map of the line
• Official Map of the T Line in PDF