thread: 110 years ago today, something very good happened: san francisco voters passed ballot props to make sf the first city in the country to have a publicly-operated transit system, breaking the monopoly of our privately run transit company. here’s the story of how we got muni 
it’s 1909 and ~all transit in sf is run by united railroads (left). people hate this company. service is awful, equipment obsolete. their labor relations are bad, leading to employee strikes.
it was so bad, sf workers once threatened to destroy a streetcar. (right)
it was so bad, sf workers once threatened to destroy a streetcar. (right)
the there’s patrick calhoun, pres. of united railroads. he sucked. refused workers an 8 hour workday or decent wages. when they striked, he hired strike-breakers and sent out scab workers with guns.
he was also indicted for bribing supervisors for rights to build overhead wires.
he was also indicted for bribing supervisors for rights to build overhead wires.
anyway, people were fed up with united railroads and were ready for change. sf had tried props to make public transit before, but they failed. they tried again. these two props went on the 1909 ballot, to create streetcar lines on geary (one to the park, and one to the beach)
the plan had some foes: one was the sf chronicle. leading up to the election, the chronicle published entire pages telling people not to vote for for public transit. they called it a “toy railroad” and said property owners didn’t want it.
there are rumors that the chronicle was paid to do this. there’s no definite proof, but multiple people – a phone company president, and the head of the chronicle himself – testified that the chronicle had a pay-for-coverage operation.
on the other side, the sf call – which would decades later be bought by the examiner – had positive coverage of the potential geary streetcar, painting it as “santa’s best gift” to the city.
on dec 30 1909, the election was held. san franciscans passed two props creating publicly run transit lines on geary st.
the next day, the call featured an illustration of the mayor driving a trolley over patrick calhoun and pages of the sf chronicle.
the next day, the call featured an illustration of the mayor driving a trolley over patrick calhoun and pages of the sf chronicle.
three years later, construction was completed and muni had its first day, with the A and B lines beginning service. huge crowds showed up to celebrate.
they called it “the people’s railroad.”
today, the B geary line is the 38 geary bus.
they called it “the people’s railroad.”
today, the B geary line is the 38 geary bus.
