The L-Taraval Is Back!

After five years of construction and delays, the Sunset-serving L-Taraval train is back on tracks. The MUNI route, running from the Embarcadero to the San Francisco Zoo, limped along as a shuttle bus during refurbishment. Without a train, Sunset residents were somewhat cut off from the rest of the city. The train officially returned to service Saturday, September 28th. 

Five years to replace two miles of track. It took less than 4.5 years to complete the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Meanwhile, SFMTA built new station islands and modified existing ones. New overhead wires connect trains to MUNI’s expansive electrical grid. The new islands make it so that passengers may board without stepping into the street, as was previously done. The Chronicle says this is MUNI’s first major rebuild in half a century.

It’s about damn time!

Restoration of the L-Taraval means no more time-consuming transfers, just a smooth ride from the Sunset to downtown and back. SFMTA promises L trains every 10 minutes during the week (12 on weekends). New and improved station platforms substantially reduce the risk of vehicles striking pedestrians. MUNI estimates that five such accidents occurred every year along the old L-Taraval route. Earlier figures from 2016 state that in the five years prior, forty-six people were hit by cars on Taraval. This time, trains have more right-of-way. 

Watch Mayor London Breed dedicate the L-Taraval in a reopening ceremony:

The unseen costs of an overdrawn project

Merchants along Taraval have suffered adverse impacts because of the five-year project. Some saw a sharp drop in revenue when the cumbersome project, which involved tearing up the entire street, restricted or cut off access to businesses. Taraval isn’t just a business corridor, either. It’s a residential area with apartments literally on top of storefronts. In early 2024, the San Francisco Standard collected opinions from residents and merchants alike. All agree they felt neglected by the city, calling the project “the nightmare on Taraval Street.” 

“I know the struggles of the Taraval merchants,” Mike Farrah told the Standard. Farrah is an aide to Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose district covers the construction zone. “It’s heartbreaking.”

While Mayor Breed celebrates the project’s completion, citizens on and near Taraval may finally feel a sense of ease. That is, when the revenue stream returns to “normal,” a subjective term in today’s post-lockdown world. The spectre of COVID looms large over businesses big and small. At least the machine-gun fire of jackhammers will no longer add insult to injury. 

What will MUNI look like in the future?

It’s a subject of hot debate. SFMTA abandoned plans for a subway extension, stalling the addition of more lines including the possibility of light rail along 19th Avenue. Their vision involved putting MUNI Metro entirely belowground. The pre-existing capacity for longer trains at previously built stations meets resistance at street-level, where collisions with lengthier trains would possibly increase. The now-dead plan contended that “running trains at the surface also results in a slower and more variable travel time. This limits the number of passengers per hour that can travel under Market Street to much less than what the subway was designed to accommodate.”

SFMTA knows they can do better. Perhaps the beleaguered process of retracking Taraval showed how much of a hassle a much larger project would present in today’s San Francisco. It’s not the 1930s anymore, and civic pride seems to be the last motivating factor in designing municipal improvements. Given how troubled the L-Taraval project was, more burdensome problems could be in store.