Editing San Francisco Transbay Terminal (section)

==Bridge railway==
[[File:Transbayterminalbusdeck.png|thumb|300px|The bus deck in 2010, formerly the track level of the train station]]
The Transbay Terminal served as the San Francisco terminus for the electric commuter trains of the [[East Bay Electric Lines|Interurban Electric]] ([[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]]), the [[Key System]] and the [[Sacramento Northern]] ([[Western Pacific Railroad|Western Pacific]]) railroads, which ran on the south side of the lower deck of the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge|Bay Bridge]]. Bus services such as [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound]] and local Muni streetcar lines had stops at the main entrance.

===History===
The Terminal was designed by [[Timothy L. Pflueger]], [[Arthur Brown Jr.]], and John Donovan in the Art Moderne style.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/transformation-transbay/ |title=The Transformation of Transbay |author=Nyren, Ron |date=21 September 2015 |accessdate=25 March 2016 |website=Urbanland: The Magazine of the Urban Land Institute }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Plan-for-new-Transbay-Terminal-in-under-budget-3191956.php |title=Plan for new Transbay Terminal in, under budget |date=22 April 2010 |author=King, John |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=25 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/Transbay-Terminal-finally-going-terminal-3258146.php |title=Transbay Terminal finally going terminal |date=25 July 2010 |author=Nolte, Carl |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=25 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://sfplanninggis.org/docs/DPRForms/3720001.pdf |title=Primary Record |date=November 8, 2007 |first=Christopher |last=VerPlanck |publisher=California Department of Parks and Recreation}}</ref> Bids were taken for construction of the terminal in June 1937,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UToyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h-QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2914%2C4363194 |title=Bay Bridge Terminal Bids to be Opened |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=14 June 1937 |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> excavation began on July 29, 1937, and the first steel was erected on January 12, 1938.<ref name=CHPW3902 /> Structural concrete was complete by May 1938.<ref name=CHPW3805>{{cite journal |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1938_may.pdf |title=Building Bay Bridge Railroad |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=May 1938 |volume=16 |number=5 |pages=8–11 |journal=California Highways and Public Works |publisher=California Department of Highways and Public Works |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> The ''San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Electric Railway Terminal Building'' was formally dedicated on {{start date|1939|01|14|df=yes}}. State Director of [[California Department of Transportation|Public Works]] Frank W. Clark turned the facilities over to the State of California, as represented by [[Lieutenant Governor of California|Lieutenant Governor]] [[Ellis E. Patterson]], who turned over management of the facility to the three electric railroad companies.<ref name=CHPW3902>{{cite journal |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1939_feb.pdf |title=Bay Bridge Terminal Dedicated |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=February 1939 |volume=17 |number=2 |pages=6–9; 28 |journal=California Highways and Public Works |publisher=California Department of Highways and Public Works |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> State officials and guests rode electric trains to the opening ceremony.<ref name=CHPW3902 /><ref name=SJNews>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QZI0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=I6sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6057%2C1190177 |title=Bridge Crossed by First Train |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |agency=AP |date=14 January 1939 |newspaper=San Jose News |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref>

Construction of rail facilities (including laying tracks on the bridge and construction of the new San Francisco terminal) for the Bay Bridge had cost the state an estimated {{US$|15000000|1939|round=-5}}, and the state had invested an additional {{US$|3666129|1939|round=-5}} in rolling stock, which was leased to the railroad companies.<ref name=BG19410502 /> The terminal cost was estimated at {{US$|2300000|1939|round=-5}},<ref name=SJNews /> and it was expected to serve upwards of 60,000 passengers per day.<ref>{{cite news |title=Opening of Rail Traffic on Bay Bridge Feted Saturday |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=12 January 1939 |newspaper=Madera Tribune }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Huge-sculpture-to-rise-from-debris-of-transit-hub-2389466.php |title=Huge sculpture to rise from debris of transit hub |author=King, John |date=10 March 2011 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=25 March 2016 }}</ref>

===Train service===
[[Governor of California|Governor]] [[Frank Merriam]] piloted the first (ceremonial) electric train across the bridge on September 23, 1938,<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1938_oct.pdf |title=Governor Merriam Pilots First Train Across Bay Bridge |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=October 1938 |volume=16 |number=10 |pages=18–19 |journal=California Highways and Public Works |publisher=California Department of Highways and Public Works |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> although regular service did not commence until January 1939, after the terminal was complete. Trains were controlled with a custom electric switchboard, which was considerably simpler than the typical mechanical lever system then in use.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1938_sep.pdf |title=Bay Bridge Train Movements Controlled By Push Buttons |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=September 1938 |volume=16 |number=9 |pages=24–25 |journal=California Highways and Public Works |publisher=California Department of Highways and Public Works |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> A loop was built so trains could turn around and go back across the bridge. Even after rail service ended, the loop continued to be used by [[AC Transit]], [[Amtrak Thruway]] and [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound]] buses until the station closed. Surprisingly, a track was never made to connect to the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]]'s [[Third and Townsend Depot]] so trains could go further south. There were six tracks. Beginning on January 15, 1939, half of all [[Market Street Railway (transit operator)|Market Street Railway]] trains were rerouted to a loop in front of the building; all services were eventually rerouted here in 1941.<ref name=Chronology>{{Muni Chronology}}</ref>

By November 1940, the Interurban Electric Company was seeking permission to abandon East Bay service, prompting Director Clark to consider proposals for the state to assume operation of trains across the bridge.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AS4xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LuQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3821%2C1432375 |title=State Operation of Bay Trains Urged |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=18 November 1940 |agency=UP |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette |accessdate=24 March 2016 }}</ref> The SP and Sacramento Northern trains ceased service across the Bay in 1941 only two years after the Terminal was completed. Interurban stated they were forced to discontinue service, citing falling passenger counts, revenues, and a failed proposed consolidation with the Key System.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XloiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZqYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1684%2C4494152 |title=S.P. Would Abandon Train Lines to S.F. |author=Johnson, Hal |date=26 February 1940 |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette |accessdate=24 March 2016 |quote=President A.T. Mercier said: 'This action was made inevitable by circumstances beyond our control.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;'While patronage on this transbay commuter service has been declining and has been unremunerative [sic] for years, the losses have increased from the date of completion of the Bay Bridge in November, 1936. In 1920 there were 22,657,418 transbay passengers carried in this service, as compared with 9,937,466 in 1939, while the population of the East Bay cities and San Francisco increased more than 50 per cent in the same period. [...]<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;'Loss of business to vehicular travel over the bridge has been given impetus by progressive reduction of automobile tolls from 65 cents to 35 cents. Fur[ther] reduction in tolls is being considered, which would bring further increased losses to the Interurban. [...]<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;'Every possible solution of the problem looking to economies of operation or possibility of consolidation of the Interurban Electric with the Key System, has been considered. All of these efforts have failed, and we are, therefore, left with no alternative but to abandon our service at the earliest practicable date.' }}</ref> After Interurban was granted permission to discontinue service, Sacramento Northern also applied to discontinue service in 1941.<ref name=BG19410502>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SrE1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=0KMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1128%2C251104 |title=U.C. Man to Make Survey of Span Transport Lines |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2 May 1941 |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> Sacramento Northern carried only a minuscule fraction (less than 1%) of the total rail traffic over the Bay Bridge,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bU0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=m-QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5183%2C2512421 |title=Bay Bridge Traffic Declines in August |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |agency=UP |date=30 September 1940 |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette |accessdate=24 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=HTES19400325.2.85 |title=Commuters Do Get Around Quite a Lot |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |agency=UP |date=25 March 1940 |newspaper=Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar |accessdate=24 March 2016 }}</ref> which meant Sacramento Northern likely also operated at a loss. Trains carried 37.334 million passengers across the Bay Bridge at peak ridership in 1945, driven in part by gasoline rationing, but ridership declined precipitously, managing to move only 6.113 million passengers in 1957.<ref name=CHPW1960>{{cite journal |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1960_julaug.pdf |title=Bay Bridge: First Phases of Reconstruction For Added Capacity Completed |author=Raab, N.C. |date=July–August 1960 |volume=39 |number=7–8 |pages=35–42 |journal=California Highways and Public Works |publisher=Division of Highways, California Department of Public Works |accessdate=24 March 2016}}</ref> The Key System successfully petitioned the Public Utilities Commission to discontinue service across the Bay Bridge in 1955 due to falling revenues, after failing to discontinue service in an unsuccessful 1953 petition. The Oakland City Planning Commission reported that since 1945, all the petitions from the Key System had invariably asked for cuts to service and increased fares, which also contributed to declining ridership.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.15779/Z38K175 |title=BART and the Victoria Line: A Comparison of New Commuter Transport in California and London |author1=Griffith, John |author2=Holmes, Dallas |journal=California Law Review |volume=55 |number=3 |date=August 1967 |page=780 |quote=On July 24, 1953, a strike paralyzed Key System for seventy-six days. The California Public Utilities Commission refused to grant permission to Key System to abandon its train service on "A" and "B" transbay lines. [...] [In February 1954,] Key System applied to the Commission to cut services further. This was granted whereupon Key System announced that it contemplated still more curtailments and asked for tax relief of $188,000 per year. [...] In July [1954], Key System served public notice that it intended to abandon all transbay trains and substitute coaches within one or two years. [...] In October [1954], Key System was allowed by the Public Utilities Commission to curtail services on the East Bay motor coach lines and to increase fares [...] In January 1955, Key System applied to abandon all its rail services, and a rapid transit district was created in the East Bay to replace it.}}</ref> The last train crossed the bridge on {{end date|1958|04|20}}, less than twenty years after service was inaugurated in 1939, despite the vital role the trains played. There have been several attempts to restore rail service across the bridge (though not necessarily into the Transbay Terminal), but none have been successful.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

[[File:Ex-Kobe streetcar 578 turning into SF Transbay Terminal in 1987.jpg|thumb|left|During the 1987 [[San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival]], streetcar 578, formerly of [[Kobe, Japan]], turns into the Transbay Terminal loop in scheduled service on the F-Market line.]]

===Rebuilt for bus service===
During the next year, the Transbay Terminal was rebuilt into a bus depot.<ref name=CHPW1960 /> The tracks were removed and replaced with pavement<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1960_janfeb.pdf |title=Remodeling of S.F. Transit Terminal Continues |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=January–February 1960 |volume=39 |number=1–2 |page=59 |journal=California Highways and Public Works |publisher=Division of Highways, California Department of Public Works |accessdate=24 March 2016 |quote=The elevated track area from the San Francisco Anchorage which faces Beale Street in San Francisco, around the Terminal Loop, and through the building, has now been repaved and the 14 motor coach lines of the Key System Transit Lines are now operating out of the terminal, thus relieving the city streets of this traffic. [...] Included in this remodeling was the construction of a new stairway to the garage area below the street level, the installation of fluorescent lights in the main waiting room and on the mezzanine floor, the opening of various previously closed areas for freer movement of pedestrian traffic throughout the building, and the installing of a new stairway flanked on both sides by escalators, leading from the lobby to the mezzanine level.}}</ref> for use primarily by the buses of the publicly owned successor of the Key System, [[AC Transit]]. All lines were operating from the rebuilt terminal by July 12, 1959, and [[Greyhound Lines|Greyhound]] service was added on February 1, 1960.<ref name=CHPW1960 /> In 1971 Amtrak started running buses into the Transbay Terminal from the [[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]]'s [[16th Street Mission station|16th Street Station]]. Bus service thrived until late 1974, when [[Bay Area Rapid Transit|BART]]'s [[Transbay Tube]] opened. Many people preferred BART over AC Transit. The tube didn't run through the terminal, resulting in its decline. Homeless people noticed the dropping commuters and took the chance to inhabit it.

After formation of the [[Muni Metro]], streetcars were replaced with [[light rail]] vehicles and rerouted through the upper level of the [[Market Street subway]]. Rail service to the station was briefly revived by the [[F Market]] line, at first during [[San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival|historic streetcar festivals]], but for full service by 1995.<ref name=Chronology /> The line's extension to [[Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco|Fisherman's Wharf]] in March 2000 saw the end of rail traffic to the terminal.<ref name="chron-2000mar2">{{cite news |last=Epstein |first=Edward |title=New way to the wharf; Merchants hope F–Market line will draw locals to tourist attractions |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=March 2, 2000 |page=A20 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/New-Way-to-the-Wharf-Merchants-hope-F-Market-3304845.php |accessdate=August 17, 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225044800/https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/New-Way-to-the-Wharf-Merchants-hope-F-Market-3304845.php |archivedate=February 25, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The last F-line trip departed from the Transbay Terminal at 12:55&nbsp;a.m. on the night of March 3,<ref name="TAUT-2000Apr">{{cite magazine |title=Systems News |magazine=[[Tramways & Urban Transit]] |publisher=[[Ian Allan Publishing]]/[[Light Rail Transit Association]] |date=April 2000 |location=UK |pages=150–151|issn=1460-8324}}</ref> and the track was abandoned in August 2000, the final use being a "farewell" trip by 1916-built work car C1 on August 18,<ref name="TAUT-2000Nov">{{cite magazine |title=Systems News |magazine=[[Tramways & Urban Transit]] |publisher=[[Ian Allan Publishing]]/[[Light Rail Transit Association]] |date=November 2000 |location=UK |page=431|issn=1460-8324}}</ref> with work on removal of the track on Fremont Street beginning soon afterwards.<ref name="chron-2000aug15">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Roadwork to begin Friday on Fremont Street |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=August 15, 2000 |page=A26}}</ref>

The Transbay Terminal hosted a cocktail lounge, a diner, a newsstand, and a state police office until the 1990s, when the tenants were either evicted or unable to meet safety regulations.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Travel-into-the-Transbay-Terminal-s-past-3257302.php |title=Travel into the Transbay Terminal's past |author=Cabanatuan, Michael |date=30 July 2010 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=25 March 2016 }}</ref> Because the Terminal straddled First and Fremont streets, the large overpass structures and lobby spaces unofficially served to shelter numerous homeless people.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Mayor-urges-homeless-to-leave-Transbay-Terminal-3180218.php |title=Mayor urges homeless to leave Transbay Terminal |author=Coté, John |date=31 July 2010 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=25 March 2016}}</ref> Even after demolition commenced, several Transbay Terminal residents refused to move, preferring instead to sleep next to demolition debris.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Transbay-Terminal-hurdle-hard-core-homeless-2530124.php |title=Transbay Terminal hurdle: hard-core homeless |date=11 February 2011 |author=Fagan, Kevin |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=25 March 2016}}</ref>