J Church

J Church
An inbound J Church train boarding passengers at San Jose Avenue and Ocean Avenue in March 2018
Overview
Owner	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Locale	San Francisco, California
Termini	Church and Duboce Balboa Park station
Stations	26
Service
Type	Light rail/streetcar
System	Muni Metro
Operator(s)	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Rolling stock	Breda LRV2/LRV3, Siemens LRV4
Daily ridership	15,500 (2019)[1]: 47
History
Opened	August 11, 1917 (1917-08-11)[2]
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead lines, 600 V DC
Route diagram Legend BART to Oakland Embarcadero California Street Montgomery Union Square/​Market Street Central Subway ( opening 2022 ) Powell Powell-Hyde Powell-Mason Civic Center Van Ness Market Street Subway Duboce Portal to surface tracks on Market Street (closed 1982) Church and Duboce Church and Market Church Church and 16th Street pull-ins & pull-outs Church and 18th Street Dolores Park Right Of Way/20th Street Right Of Way/Liberty Right Of Way/21st Street Church and 22nd Street Church and 24th Street Church and Clipper Church and 27th Street Church and 29th Street / Church and Day Church and 30th Street BART to Embarcadero 30th Street and Dolores San Jose and Randall Bernal Cut San Jose/​Glen Park I-280 San Jose and Santa Rosa San Jose and Santa Ynez San Jose and Ocean Balboa Park BART to San Mateo Key Muni lines BART lines This diagram: view talk

The J Church is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line runs between Church and Duboce and Balboa Park station through Noe Valley. Opened on August 11, 1917, it is the oldest of the currently running Muni Metro lines. The line has the lowest ridership of all of the Muni Metro lines.^{[1]: 21, 47}

Route description[]

J Church's private right-of-way over Dolores Heights in April 2005

The inbound terminal is at Church and Duboce, a surface stop adjacent to Church station. The line runs south on Church Street to 18th Street. Between 18th and 20th Street, the line cuts through Dolores Park in a private right-of-way featuring a 9% grade, the steepest section of the Muni Metro system.^[3] After crossing 20th Street, it cuts across the blocks east of Church, around a steep hill and returns to Church Street at 22nd Street in Noe Valley. The J then follows Church to 30th Street, then to San Jose Avenue and Geneva. Between Randall and Cotter Streets, there is a right-of-way in the middle of San Jose Avenue. At the end of the line, the J loops around the Metro yard at San Jose and Geneva, alongside Balboa Park station.

Operation[]

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the J Church begins service at 5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays and continues until 12:15 a.m. every night. Daytime headways are every 10 minutes, and 12 minutes on weekends.^[4]

Unlike the other Muni Metro lines, there is not a corresponding overnight Owl bus during the hours that rail service is not running.

On weekends, J Church Bus service runs from 5 a.m. until the start of rail service. The bus line largely follows the rail line, but it uses surface streets to parallel sections where the rail line has dedicated rights-of-way.^[5] Separate early-morning, the J Church Bus is not operated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

History[]

An outbound J Church PCC streetcar running through Dolores Park in February 1980

Track work on the J Church line was largely completed in 1916, and service from Church and 30th Street station to Market Street and Van Ness Avenue on August 11, 1917.^[6][2] Service was extended along Van Ness Avenue to Pine Street on August 29, 1917; this extension was discontinued on May 31, 1918, with service extended along Market Street to the Ferry Building the next day.^[7] The new Transbay Terminal became the inner terminus for every other streetcar on January 15, 1939, with all service routed there after January 1, 1941.^[7]

As part of the creation of the Muni Metro system, it was partially converted to modern light rail operation in 1981 – the last line to do so.^[8][9] While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the J Church avoided this due to the private right-of-way it uses to climb the steepest grades on Church Street, between 18th Street and 22nd Street.^[10]

Extension to Balboa Park[]

An outbound J Church car turns from 30th Street onto San Jose Avenue in 1993, two months after the start of all-day service on the extension south of 30th.

The outer end of the line was originally at Church and 30th Streets, where streetcars used a wye to turn around. Studies to extend the line from its southern terminus had been made in the 1920s^[6] and 1970's.^[11] In 1990–91, the tracks were extended to the Balboa Park BART station and the Metro Center (Muni light-rail maintenance and operations base), giving J-line cars a much shorter connection to the yard than previously. The extension opened on August 31, 1991, but the 2.3-mile (3.7 km) new section was initially used only by light rail cars starting or ending their runs;^[12] all-day J-line service was not extended along the new tracks until June 19, 1993.^[13][14]

This trackage was laid along the Bernal Cut, the former right-of-way of the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad.^[6]

This extension of the J-line to the Metro Center now also provides vintage F Market cars a connection to the adjacent Cameron Beach Yard, where they are stored when not in service. Occasionally J-Church streetcars use the siding at 30th and Church as a terminus during rush hours, or during irregular operations.

The 19th Avenue Platform & Trackway Improvement Project originally included pocket tracks to allow J Church trains to continue past Balboa Park with service to Stonestown. Due to community backlash, the compromise plan did not include the facilities necessary to run joint J-M service.^[8]

Later changes[]

An outbound train switching back towards Balboa Park Station from the Duboce terminal in December 2020

The line was temporarily through-routed with the surface section of the K Ingleside line from June 25 to August 24, 2018, due to the Twin Peaks Tunnel shutdown.^[15]

On March 30, 2020, Muni Metro service was replaced with buses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[16] Rail service returned on August 22, 2020, with the routes reconfigured to improve reliability in the subway. J Church service ran only on the surface.^[4] The J terminated at the inbound platform on Church Street at Market Street, requiring passengers to transfer between the J and subway trains.^[17] A mini-high platform was to be constructed on the inbound platform at Church and Duboce, and an outbound mini-high platform will be built on Church Street south of Market Street, which was to allow the J to be re-extended slightly to Duboce Street (with additional transfer to the N Judah) in October 2020.^[17] The forced transfer at Church station - which required J Church riders to cross two streets and use two elevators to transfer - was criticized by disability advocates and others.^[18]

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.^[19] J Church service on the surface-only Balboa Park–Church and Duboce routing resumed on December 19, 2020.^[20]

Future plans[]

In March 2014, Muni released details of the proposed implementation of their Transit Effectiveness Project (later rebranded MuniForward), which included a variety of changes for the J Church line intended to improve reliability and decrease travel times. The proposed changes included the removal of two stops (Liberty and Church and 30th Street), minor relocations of several other stops, construction of boarding islands and transit bulbs, and transit-only lanes on three blocks of Church Street, plus an increase in frequency from 9.5-minute headways to 8-minute headways during the morning peak.^[21]

Most of the changes will be included in the proposed J Church Rapid Project. However, one element – dedicated transit/taxi lanes and left turn restrictions on Church Street between Duboce Avenue and 16th Street – was chosen for implementation as a pilot project to test its effectiveness. The red-painted dedicated center lanes (for use also by the 22-Fillmore bus) and turn restrictions were added in March 2013. The project proved to reduce travel time and improve reliability on both rail and bus, while not significantly increasing travel time in private automobiles.^[22] Based on these positive results, the SFMTA Board made the changes permanent in June 2015.^[23]

In November 2019, the SFMTA announced the J Church Improvement Project, which will make preliminary changes to the line while funding is sought for the full Rapid project. Church and 30th Street stop will be closed, safety modifications made to several stops, signage added to all stops, and a traffic light added at Cesar Chavez Street. A pilot program was to use a surface turnback on The Embarcadero in an effort to reduce terminal delays at Embarcadero station.^[24]

With the completion of the proposed but unfunded M Ocean View subway, the J Church would be re-routed to connect with the M Ocean View at a new four-track subway station at SF State. The J line would enter a new portal on 19th Avenue near Monticello Street with a subway tunnel following approximately the current M line alignment between Monticello Street and Holloway Avenue along 19th Avenue.^[25][26]

Staff members of the SFMTA will study the possible use of historic street cars to provide a one-seat service on the J Church to Embarcadero using existing surface tracks on Market Street as an alternative to running the J Church in the subway tunnel.^[27]

Station and stop listing[]

Some stops have concrete boarding islands, while others require passengers to board from the street. Some stops have raised platforms for accessibility. While most other lines in the rail system can be run in two-car configurations, the J line is almost always run with a single car in order to accommodate the stops in the right-of-way, which are not long enough to have two light rail cars with open doors simultaneously.

Station/Stop	Neighborhood	Other Muni Metro lines:	Notes and major connections
Embarcadero	Financial District		Market & Wharves, BART, and serves the SF Ferry Terminal. ⛴ Muni: 1, 2, 6, 7X, 9, 9R, 12, 14, 14R, 14X, 21, 30X, 31, 41, 81X, 82X, L Bus (1AX, 1BX, 31AX, 31BX, 38AX, 38BX at the Davis and Pine terminal). (5, 5R, 7, 25, 38, 38R at Salesforce Transit Center). Other regional bus services: Golden Gate Transit PresidiGo SamTrans (Not servicing this stop until 2022 / Original inbound terminus).
Montgomery			Market & Wharves, BART Muni: 2, 3, 5, 5R, 6, 7, 7X, 8, 8AX, 8BX, 9, 9R, 10, 15, 21, 30, 31, 38, 38R, 45, 76X, 81X, 91 Owl, L Bus, Nx Other regional bus services: AC Transit Golden Gate Transit SamTrans More regional bus services at Salesforce Transit Center. (Not servicing this stop until 2022).
Powell	Civic Center Mid-Market Tenderloin		Market & Wharves, BART Muni: 5, 5R, 6, 7, 7X, 8, 8AX, 8BX, 9, 9R, 15, 21, 27, 30, 31,45, 81X, L Bus Other regional bus services: AC Transit SamTrans (Not servicing this stop until 2022).
Civic Center/UN Plaza			Market & Wharves, BART Muni: 5, 5R, 6, 7, 9, 9R, 19, 21, 83X, L Bus Other regional bus services: AC Transit Golden Gate Transit SamTrans (Not servicing this stop until 2022).
Van Ness			Market & Wharves Muni: 6, 7, 9, 9R, 47,49, 79X, 90 Owl, L Bus Other regional bus services: AC Transit SamTrans (Not servicing this stop until 2022).
Church and Duboce	Duboce Triangle		Judah uses a separate platform Muni: 22 (Current inbound terminus)
Church and Market			Market & Wharves Muni: 22, 37, L Bus (Surface stop located above Church station)
Church and 16th Street	Castro		Muni: 22
Church and 18th Street			Muni: 33
Right Of Way/20th Street	Mission District		(Located on Muni’s private right-of-way in Dolores Park)
Right Of Way/Liberty			(Located on Muni's private right-of-way)
Right Of Way/21st Street	Noe Valley		(Located on Muni's private right-of-way)
Church and 22nd Street
Church and 24th Street			Muni: 48
Church and Clipper
Church and 27th Street
Church and 29th Street (inbound) Church and Day (outbound)
Church and 30th Street (inbound)			Muni: 24
30th Street and Dolores	Bernal Heights		Muni: 24, 36
San Jose and Randall			Muni: 14, 49
San Jose/​Glen Park	Glen Park		BART (at Glen Park)
San Jose and Santa Rosa	Balboa Park
San Jose and Santa Ynez
San Jose and Ocean			Muni: 29, 49
Balboa Park			BART Muni: 8, 8BX, 28R, 29, 43, 49, 54, 88 Commute.org Brisbane-Crocker Park BART Shuttle Daly City Bayshore Shuttle Sierra Point BART Shuttle (Outbound terminus)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to J Church.

Route map:

• SFMTA – J Church