The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. [2] It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. The line provides rail access to Golden Gate Park. [3] It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system, serving an average of 41,439 weekday passengers in 2013. [4] It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines, beginning operation in 1928, [5] and was partially converted to modern light-rail operation with the opening of the Muni Metro system in 1980. While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the N Judah remained a streetcar line due to its use of the Sunset Tunnel.
The line runs from the Caltrain depot in the Mission Bay district to Ocean Beach and the Great Highway in the Sunset District. From the Caltrain depot at Fourth and King Streets, it runs along King Street and the Embarcadero, passing by Oracle Park. It then enters the Market Street subway, which it shares with the five other Muni Metro lines. It exits the tunnel at Church Street and, after a brief stretch along Duboce Avenue to Duboce Park, enters the older Sunset Tunnel. This tunnel serves to avoid a hill and contains no underground stations. From the western end of the tunnel, the route goes along Carl Street, past UCSF-Parnassus Campus, on Irving Street, until it turns onto 9th Avenue for one block and reaches Judah Street, which the N runs on for the rest of its route. On Judah between 9th Avenue and 19th Avenue the N runs on a right-of-way that is slightly raised above the surrounding street. There is a loop in the intersection at Judah, La Playa and Great Highway that the N uses to turn around.
As with all Muni lines, service begins around 5 a.m. on weekdays, 6 a.m. on Saturdays, and 8 a.m. on Sundays and holidays. Daytime headways are 10 minutes on weekdays and 12 minutes on weekends. [6] [7] The line largely uses two-car (150-foot (46 m)) trains.
Service is provided by overnight Owl buses on the N Owl route during the hours that rail service is not running. On weekends, the N Judah Bus service runs from 5 am until the start of rail service. The bus lines largely follow the rail line, but use surface streets to parallel sections where the rail line has dedicated rights-of-way. [8]
On January 10, 1998, Muni opened the Muni Metro Extension to 4th and King/Caltrain. It was originally served by a temporary shuttle service, the E Embarcadero, which ran between Embarcadero station and 4th and King/Caltrain. [9] [10] On August 22, 1998, the E Embarcadero line was eliminated and the N Judah line was extended in its place. [9] [11]
A variety of service changes took place with the introduction of full service on the T Third Street line on April 7, 2007. The N Judah was cut back to Embarcadero station; the surface section on the Embarcadero was served only by the T Third Street line, plus the J Church line at peak hours. [12] The changes were unpopular with the public; they caused severe delays in the Market Street subway and forced N Judah riders to transfer to reach the Caltrain station when they previously did not. On June 30, 2007, Muni reversed several of the changes; the J Church and N Judah were restored to their previous configuration. [13] On December 5, 2009, the N Judah was cut to Embarcadero on weekends as part of widespread service reductions. [14] Weekend service was re-extended on October 15, 2011. [15]
After concerns from riders of constant overcrowding of the trains on the N Judah line, Muni debuted an express bus route called the NX Judah Express on June 13, 2011. [16] Starting off as a pilot program, the NX (stylized as Nx) was intended to relieve overcrowding during rush hours every ten minutes. It follows the western end of the N Judah route from Ocean Beach to 19th Avenue, then operates nonstop from there to the Financial District where it stops at Bush and Montgomery Streets.
In September 2016, Muni began running a pair of one-car shuttles between Embarcadero station and Carl and Hillway during morning rush hour to reduce crowding on the inner section of the line. [17] A study after one month showed the shuttles had increased capacity on the inner part of the line by 18% and reduced the number of passengers unable to board overcrowded trains by 63%. [18] In March 2018, the SFMTA board voted to shorten rush-hour headways from 7 minutes to 4 minutes, but to only use one-car trains on weekends. The changes were to take effect in the summer. [19]
On March 30, 2020, Muni Metro service was replaced with buses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [20]
Light-rail service returned in August 2020, with the routes reconfigured to improve reliability in the subway. N Judah service was not substantially changed, except for stops at 5th Avenue / 6th Avenue replacing former stops at 4th Avenue and 7th Avenue. [21] [22] Light-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. [23]
N Judah light-rail service resumed on May 15, 2021. [24]
Plans, according to the SFMTA Rail Capacity Strategy, include a new subway tunnel that connects the Market Street subway to 9th Avenue. Additionally, the N Judah line will be rebuilt to run three-car trains. Further plans include a non-revenue L Taraval to N Judah connector, which may run on 46th Avenue. [25]
Station/Stop | Neighborhood | Muni Metro lines | Notes and connections |
---|---|---|---|
4th and King | Mission Bay |
| |
2nd and King |
| ||
Brannan | South Beach | Embarcadero | |
Folsom | |||
Embarcadero | Financial District |
| |
Montgomery | |||
Powell | Mid-Market, Civic Center, Tenderloin | (at Union Square/Market St) | |
Civic Center |
| ||
Van Ness |
| ||
Duboce and Church | Duboce Triangle | Muni: 22 | |
Duboce and Noe | East end of the Sunset Tunnel. | ||
Carl and Cole | Cole Valley | ||
Carl and Stanyan | |||
Carl and Hillway | |||
UCSF Parnassus | Sunset District |
| |
Irving and 5th Avenue (eastbound) Irving and 6th Avenue (westbound) | |||
Irving and 8th Avenue (eastbound) 9th Avenue and Irving (westbound) | Muni: 44 | ||
Judah and 9th Avenue | Muni: 6, 43, 44, 66 | ||
Judah and 12th Avenue | |||
Judah and Funston | |||
Judah and 15th Avenue (eastbound) Judah and 16th Avenue (westbound) | |||
Judah and 19th Avenue | Muni: 28, 28R | ||
Judah and 22nd Avenue (eastbound) Judah and 23rd Avenue (westbound) | |||
Judah and 25th Avenue | |||
Judah and 28th Avenue | |||
Judah and 31st Avenue | |||
Judah and 34th Avenue | |||
Judah and Sunset | Muni: 29 | ||
Judah and 40th Avenue | |||
Judah and 43rd Avenue | |||
Judah and 46th Avenue | Muni: 18 | ||
Judah and La Playa | Outbound terminus located at Ocean Beach. |
The San Francisco Municipal Railway ( MEW-nee; SF Muni or Muni), is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of bus routes, the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable car lines, and two historic streetcar lines. Previously an independent agency, the San Francisco Municipal Railway merged with two other agencies in 1999 to become the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). In 2018, Muni served 46.7 square miles (121 km2) with an operating budget of about $1.2 billion. Muni is the seventh-highest-ridership transit system in the United States, with 142,168,200 rides in 2023, and the second-highest in California after the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Muni Metro is a semi-metro system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni's light rail lines saw an average of 91,000 boardings per day as of the second quarter of 2024 and a total of 24,324,600 boardings in 2023, making it the sixth-busiest light rail system in the United States.
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The K Ingleside is a light rail line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. It mainly serves the West Portal and Ingleside neighborhoods. The line opened on February 3, 1918, and was the first line to use the Twin Peaks Tunnel.
The J Church is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line runs between Embarcadero station and Balboa Park station through Noe Valley. Opened on August 11, 1917, it is the oldest and has the lowest ridership of all of the Muni Metro lines.
The S Shuttle is a light rail service on the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The service began in 2001 as the S Castro Shuttle, an effort to reduce crowding at Castro station. It was briefly discontinued in 2007 when the T Third Street line was opened. Service was extended to St. Francis Circle station in 2013, but cut back to West Portal station in 2016. From 2020-2024, the shuttle ran as a full-time service as part of a reconfiguration of Muni Metro service.
The Third Street Light Rail Project was the construction project that expanded the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, linking downtown San Francisco to the historically underserved southeastern neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley along the eastern side of the city. Construction was finished in late 2006, non-revenue weekend service began on January 13, 2007, and full service began on April 7, 2007. The new service, as the T Third Street Metro line, replaced the 15 Third bus line, which ran south from the Caltrain Depot at 4th and King streets, along Third Street and Bayshore Boulevard to the southeastern neighborhoods.
The Market Street subway is a two-level subway tunnel that carries Muni Metro and BART trains under Market Street in San Francisco, California. It runs under the length of Market Street between Embarcadero station and Castro station. The upper level is used by Muni Metro lines and the lower level is used by BART lines. BART does not run through the whole subway; it turns south and runs under Mission Street southwest of Civic Center/UN Plaza station. The northeastern end of the BART level is connected to the Transbay Tube. On the Muni Metro level, the southwestern end of the Market Street subway connects to the much-older Twin Peaks Tunnel, and the northeastern end connects to surface tracks along the Embarcadero.
The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco from Sunnydale to Chinatown, traveling in the median of Third Street for most of its length before entering the Central Subway as it approaches downtown. The line serves 22 stations, all of which are accessible. Most of the surface portion of the line runs in dedicated median lanes, though two portions operate in mixed traffic.
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San Francisco 4th and King Street station, also known as the Caltrain Depot, is a train station in the SoMa district of San Francisco, California. It is presently the northern terminus of the Caltrain commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley. It is also the eastern terminus of the N Judah and E Embarcadero, as well as a stop along the T Third Street of the Muni network. The station is additionally the projected terminus for the first phase of the California High-Speed Rail project and a station once Phase 2 is completed.
The Embarcadero and Folsom station is a Muni Metro light rail station located in the median of The Embarcadero between Folsom Street and Harrison Street in the Rincon Hill area of San Francisco, California. Muni Metro trains use a high-level island platform, while historic streetcars use a pair of side platforms at the southeast end of the station next to the Harrison Street grade crossing.
Brannan and The Embarcadero station is a Muni Metro light rail station located in the median of The Embarcadero south of Brannan Street in the South Beach area of San Francisco, California. Muni Metro trains use a high-level island platform, while historic streetcars use a pair of side platforms at the south end of the station.
2nd and King station is a Muni Metro light rail station located in the median of King Street near Second Street in the China Basin neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It is adjacent to Oracle Park. Muni Metro trains use a high-level island platform, while historic streetcars use a pair of side platforms just to the south.
Duboce and Church is a light rail stop on the Muni Metro J Church and N Judah lines, located in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Just east of the station, the two lines enter the Market Street subway. The stop originally opened with the 22 Fillmore line in 1895. The station has complex layout with two side platforms in the middle of Duboce Avenue for the N Judah, one side platform in the middle of Church Street for northbound J Church trains entering the Market Street subway, and two mini-high platforms at the subway portal which provides access to both lines for people with disabilities.
Judah and 19th Avenue station is a light rail stop on the Muni Metro N Judah line, located in the Sunset District neighborhood of San Francisco, California where Judah Street crosses 19th Avenue. The station opened with the N Judah line on October 21, 1928. The station has two short side platforms in the middle of Judah Street where passengers board or depart from trains. The station also has mini-high platforms providing access to people with disabilities.
Judah and 28th Avenue is a light rail stop on the Muni Metro N Judah line, located in the Sunset District neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The stop opened with the N Judah line on October 21, 1928. The station has two side platforms in the middle of Judah Street where passengers board or depart from trains. The station also has mini-high platforms providing access to people with disabilities.
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