The San Francisco trolleybus system forms part of the public transportation network serving San Francisco, in the state of California, United States. Opened on October 6, 1935, it presently comprises 15 lines and is operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, commonly known as Muni (or the Muni), with around 300 trolleybuses. In San Francisco, these vehicles are also known as "trolley coaches", a term that was the most common name for trolleybuses in the United States in the middle decades of the 20th century. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
The Muni trolleybus system is complementary to the city-owned Muni bus services, Muni Metro and cable car system and the rail-bound regional Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit systems. In addition, it shares some of its overhead wires with the F Market & Wharves streetcar line.
One of only four such systems currently operating in the U.S., the Muni trolleybus system is the second-largest such system in the Western Hemisphere, after that of Mexico City. The system includes the single steepest known grade on any existing trolleybus line in the worldBox, Roland (May–June 1989). "San Francisco Looks Ahead". Trolleybus Magazine No. 165, pp. 50–56. National Trolleybus Association (UK).Trolleybus Magazine No. 261 (May–June 2005), p. 72.Trolleybus Magazine No. 313 (January–February 2014), p. 27. (22.8% in the block of Noe Street between Cesar Chavez Street and 26th Street on route 24 Divisadero), and several other sections of Muni trolleybus routes are among the world's steepest.Trolleybus Magazine No. 259 (January–February 2005), p. 23.
History
Long a hub of streetcar development, San Francisco already had much of the overhead wire infrastructure necessary to deploy trolleybus service on existing city streets. A city ordinance requiring streetcars to use two operators also served to encourage trolleybus deployment. In April 1934, Col. John H. Skeggs of the State Highway Department urged the conversion of the No. 33 Line streetcar to "trackless trolley", as some of the tracks would have to be taken up for the construction of the Bay Bridge. By early August of that year, the Market Street Railway Company (MSRy), successor to the URR, applied to the State Railroad Commission to operate the first trackless trolley system in California; permission was granted by August 30, and the first trolleybus service started on October 6, 1935, using 9 coaches built by Brill. The No. 33 Line had been originally established in 1892 by the San Francisco & San Mateo Railway Company as the 18th and Park or 18th Street Branch route. That route initially ran along 18th from Guerrero to Douglass before being extended to Frederick and Ashbury including a sharp hairpin turn on the lower slopes of Twin Peaks at Market and Clayton by May 1894. At the time of conversion, the No. 33 streetcar operated between Third & Harrison (Downtown) and Waller & Stanyan (Golden Gate Park), a round trip of . The current 33 Ashbury/18th Street trolleybus route still runs on a portion of that route. After riding the trackless trolley, the editor of the San Bernardino Sun published a rumor that all streetcar service would eventually be replaced with trolleybuses.
On September 7, 1941, Muni introduced its first trolleybus line to compete with MSRy, the R-Howard line, using vehicles built by the St. Louis Car Company. R-Howard was built on the original route of the sparsely ridden No. 35 streetcar line; MSRy's franchise to operate the No. 35 had expired at the end of the 1930s. The R-Howard line was introduced specifically so that Muni could undercut MSRy's prices on its parallel routes on Mission Street. The 35-Howard line originally ran from the Ferry Building along Howard, South Van Ness, and 24th to that street's intersection with Rhode Island. The routing for R-Howard followed a similar path from Howard & Beale along Howard and South Van Ness to South Van Ness & Army (now named Cesar Chavez). Although the overhead wires are still present along Howard, they are not used in revenue service. The present-day 14 Mission trolleybus route runs along Mission, parallel to the original R-Howard route on Howard. By 1944, the MSRy was in financial difficulties. Thus, at 5 am on September 29, 1944, Muni acquired its commercial competitor. Along with the routes and equipment, Muni adopted its competitor's more expensive seven-cent fare ($ adjusted for inflation). At the time, the R-Howard line used 9 trolleybuses over a route (round-trip).
The city attorney's office had ruled that using trolleybuses instead of streetcars was not abandonment of service; this opinion would eventually be overturned in 1959, but not before Muni followed national trends in replacing most of its streetcar rail lines with trolleybus service in the 1940s and 1950s. The E-Union line was the first to be replaced with trolleybus service, which combined the route with R-Howard as the E-Union-Howard. Trolleybus operation on the new E line commenced on June 9, 1947; it was redesignated in 1949 and survives as the 41 Union (during peak hours only; suspended since 2020). 8-Market was converted to trolleybus service in 1948. The deployment of new "trackless trolleys" was greatly expanded on July 3, 1949, when Muni rolled out trolleybus service to replace five former MSRy lines, including the 21-Hayes and 5-McAllister streetcar lines. In total, fourteen streetcar lines were converted to trolleybus service by 1951. With the closure of the B-Geary line on December 29, 1956, only five lines with dedicated rights-of-way (including those running through the Twin Peaks and Sunset tunnels) continued as rail-based streetcar lines. Those five lines ran 1940s-era PCC streetcars through the 1970s and were subsequently converted to the Muni Metro light rail system using Boeing-Vertol SLRVs.
In 1968, the city was on the verge of eliminating its trolleybus fleet and converting its bus network to diesel. In response, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission resolved to "optimize the use of the use of the City’s electrical facilities and electrical transit equipment thereby placing emphasis on electric-powered transit" to combat air pollution and noise pollution.
In 2019, the California Air Resources Board set a mandate known as the Innovative Clean Transit rule, which will require all public transit operators in the state to use zero-emissions buses, to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. Analysis has found that maintenance and expansion of the trolleybus network in San Francisco could be the fastest and cheapest way for Muni to comply with the mandate and decarbonize its fleet.
Grade While many municipalities further converted their trolleybus systems to diesel buses during the middle of the 20th century, San Francisco maintained trolleybuses due to their ability to climb the city's notably steep grades and because electricity was available at extremely low cost from the city-owned O'Shaughnessy Dam. Muni has stated that it is impossible for some lines to be replaced by regular buses. The system includes the single steepest known grade on any existing trolleybus line in the world, specifically 22.8% in the block of Noe Street between Cesar Chavez Street and 26th Street on route 24 Divisadero, and several other sections of Muni trolleybus routes are among the world's steepest.
On December 16, 1981, the 55-Sacramento line was converted from diesel motor coach service to trolleybus specifically to power the westward climb on Sacramento Street up Nob Hill, and just six weeks later, on January 27, 1982, the 1 California route was revised to include the newly electrified sections of route 55, with the latter then discontinued. Before dieselization, the line on Sacramento had been operated using cable cars. At the time, Muni was also facing a severe shortage of available diesel motor coaches due to age and deferred maintenance, which would lead to the conversion of the 45-Greenwich diesel bus service to the 45-Union-Van Ness trolleybus in 1982 as a temporary experiment later made permanent. A year after being lengthened, route 24 Divisadero was converted to trolleybus operation in 1983. In 1993, the last major electric conversion took place when route 31 Balboa was partially converted to trolleybus service. Full implementation was delayed until 1994, when accessible Flyer E60 trolleybuses became available. Coming full circle, at the end of 1995 the 8-Market trolleybus line was replaced by the F Market & Wharves streetcar line using refurbished PCCs. The overwhelming popularity of the new F line allowed Muni to reduce the frequency of and then discontinue the 8-Market, though the overhead wires remain in place.
Approximately of the daily riders on Muni are carried on trolleybuses; in 2010, that was 227,000 passenger boardings per weekday.
Lines Trolleybuses operate on the following Muni routes:
LineRegular routeDivisionModel usedNotes 1 California Drumm & Clay Sacramento/Clay California 32nd Av 33rd Av & GearyPresidioXT40Operates a shortened route between Drumm & Clay and Presidio Av & California to supplement the longer route from 7 am to 7 pm daily. 2 Sutter Ferry Plaza Market Sutter/Post Presidio Av California & Presidio AvPresidioXT40Formerly a motorbus route (signed as 2 Clement), while short turns on weekdays only were operated by trolleybuses. Trolleybuses have operated this route full-time since 2022. 3 Jackson (suspended) Market & Sansome Sutter/Post Fillmore Jackson Presidio Av California & Presidio AvPresidio (formerly)XT40 (formerly)Formerly the lowest ridership trolleybus route. Indefinitely suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 5 Fulton (evenings/weekends) SF Transit Center Market McAllister Fulton Ocean Beach Potrero XT60Operates with motorbuses on a shortened route on weekdays from 7:30 am-7:30 pm. Operated with trolleybuses on weekends and outside of motorbus hours on weekdays, including 24-hour Owl services (on a shortened route).5R Fulton Rapid (weekday daytimes)Only operates on weekdays 7:30 am-7:30 pm.6 Hayes/ParnassusCivic Center Market Hayes/Grove Masonic Frederick Parnassus 9th Av 14th Av & Quintara PresidioXT40Formerly the 6 Haight/Parnassus, operated via Haight Street instead of Hayes/Grove Streets prior to 2025. 14 MissionFerry Plaza Mission Daly CityPotreroXT60Operates 24-hour Owl services (on full route). 21 Hayes (suspended)Civic Center Market Hayes/Grove Stanyan/Shrader Fulton & ShraderPresidio (formerly)XT40 (formerly)Discontinued since 2025 due to budget deficit. Replaced with rerouted and renamed 6 Hayes/Parnassus. 22 FillmoreBay St & Fillmore Fillmore Church 16th St 3rd St UCSF Mission BayPotreroXT40Rerouted from Dogpatch to Mission Bay in 2021. Operates 24-hour Owl services (on full route). 24 DivisaderoJackson & Fillmore Jackson Divisadero Castro Noe 30th St Cortland Bayshore Industrial Palou 3rd St & PalouPresidioXT40Operates 24-hour Owl services (on a shortened route).30 StocktonCaltrain Depot 3rd St/4th St Kearny/Stockton Columbus North Point Chestnut Broderick/Divisadero Marina Mason The Presidio PotreroXT60 Does not serve the Presidio after 8 pm daily and before 6:30 am on weekends. Operates a shortened route (signed as 30S Stockton) between 4th St & Mission and Van Ness & North Point to supplement the longer route from 8 am to 5 pm daily.31 BalboaCyril Magnin & Market Turk/Eddy Balboa Cabrillo Ocean BeachPresidioXT40 Truncated to Cyril Magnin & Market in 2025 due to budget deficit. 33 Ashbury/18th StreetCherry & Sacramento California Arguello Fulton Stanyan Haight Ashbury Clayton 18th St Mission 16th St Potrero 25th St & PotreroPresidioXT40 The route is a direct descendant of the first trolleybus route in San Francisco. 41 Union (suspended)Howard & Main Main/Beale Drumm/Davis Sacramento/Clay Sansome/Montgomery Columbus Union Baker/Lyon Lyon & GreenwichPresidio (formerly)XT40