VIDEO: New 40’ Trolleys Hit San Francisco Streets!

They’re here! After successful testing and familiarizing our operators with the new features, 40’ New Flyer trolleys are now serving San Francisco. These new trolley buses, just like the nearly 300 currently in the fleet, are completely electric and make up the largest electric bus fleet in the nation. The first one went into service last week on the 3 Jackson line.

Our older ETI fleet of trolley buses debuted back in 2001, and needed replacement more than any other current fleet of Muni vehicles. They’re overdue to be retired, and finding replacement parts to maintain them can be a challenge since the manufacturer, Electric Transit, Inc. (ETI), has been out of business since 2004. Approximately 40 percent of Muni breakdowns occur on our ETI trolley buses, despite only making up 20 percent of our fleet. This simply isn’t reliable, and the older trolleys account for long and disruptive delays.

Saving the day (and your commute) is this brand new fleet. All of Muni’s new buses – hybrid-electric and electric trolley – are manufactured by New Flyer, which has a strong track record in the U.S. of providing reliable buses with state-of-the-art technology that streamlines maintenance. The new 40’ trolleys, which are rolling into service along lines such as the 3 Jackson, 1 California, and 5 Fulton, have an upgrade in battery power and an enhanced ability to travel “off wire” for greater distances. This is crucial in the event of a street disruption that blocks the trolleys from their overhead wires and normal routes. The ability to travel “off wire” for a longer period of time will be a big time-saver in the event of construction, a street blockage or power outage.

In our video tour, we tagged along with two line operator trainers who tested (and thoroughly enjoyed) the new 40’ trolley’s features. Cruising along the Great Highway (not a normal Muni route!) on a sunny day was a breeze with the enhanced battery. Operators were able to easily re-attach trolley poles to the wires by pressing a button right from their seat.

Muni’s Trolley Bus Routes: 1 California, 2 Sutter, 3 Jackson, 5 Fulton / 5R Fulton Rapid, 6 Haight/Parnassus*, 14 Mission, 21 Hayes, 22 Fillmore, 24 Divisadero, 30 Stockton, 31 Balboa, 33 Ashbury, 41 Union, 45 Union-Stockton, 49 Van Ness/Mission*

*Currently served by hybrid-electric buses due to construction.

Be sure to check out our video tour of the new 60’ trolleys that are already on the streets on our Youtube page. We also toured the new 40’ trolleys when they arrived to undergo testing.