Riding into the Sunset (The L Taraval Returns)

Welcome back to the Sunset District, L Taraval! For several years, light rail service along the L Taraval line between the San Francisco Zoo and downtown was suspended while the SFMTA worked with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Public Works on a major track replacement and water and sewer project. That project is now done, and along with the infrastructure upgrades, we made many safety improvements along the line.

In this episode of Taken with Transportation, we spend time on Taraval Street talking to residents and merchants about what the return of the L Taraval means to them and for the neighborhood. We also speak with SFMTA Transit Priority Manager Michael Rhodes, L Taraval Improvement Project Manager Keanway Kyi, Muni Operator Tammi Bedford and San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio.

Transcript

MELISSA CULROSS, HOST: One of Muni’s most popular light rail lines is back in business after a multi-year improvement project.

ADRIAN: The L is like the lifeline for a lot of people in this community, and it was for me when I was growing up the city. So, it’s great to see it back. 

MELISSA: Welcome to Taken with Transportation, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Official podcast. I’m your host, Melissa Culross, and in September we welcomed L Taraval rail service back to the Sunset District and downtown San Francisco.

STATION ANNOUNCEMENT: Arriving Westbound, two-car L to San Francisco Zoo.

We begin at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick off the return of the L.

L TARAVAL RIBBON CUTTING SOUND: Everybody has to count, everybody… Five, four, three, two, one (cheering).

MELISSA: Light rail vehicles hadn’t run along the L line since 2019 when construction began on the L Taraval Improvement Project. Buses ran where the trains usually do, and people often would connect to another Muni Metro line at West Portal station to head to and from downtown. Here at the ribbon cutting on Taraval near McCoppin Square, we’re talking with Adrian, who lives in this neighborhood.

ADRIAN-1: I used to take the L to go downtown, to go to the Zoo. I was born and, and raised in San Francisco. So, you know, the L has always been a part of my life. 

MELISSA: So, what has it been like these past few years with having the bus substitutions. What’s that been like for you, personally?

ADRIAN: For me, I mean it’s… It wasn’t as bad as most people thought. At least for me it wasn’t. So, you know, we had to, like, you know, make some diversions. Uh, some bus stops had to be relocated. But, um, it wasn’t so bad for, for me after a while. I got used to it. 

MELISSA: After the ribbon is cut, we get on the L for the first return-to-service ride. That’s where we meet Cynthia and Joshua Kelly, who live near the San Francisco Zoo. They moved to the Sunset after the project began. 

CYNTHIA AND JOSHUA KELLY: We’ve lived here for three years, but we’ve never seen the train run before… We live right on the bus line. And so, it has been a little, um… We have had to get used to the extra sounds and stuff. But, you know, we know how important public transportation is for our city and for our climate goals. So, we’re excited to see the return and the end of construction is also very exciting for us (laughter).

MELISSA: As was the case for Adrian, taking the L replacement bus to West Portal and then transferring wasn’t difficult for Cynthia and Joshua when they would head toward downtown. But it wasn’t perfect.

CYNTHIA: It usually was pretty okay going there, but coming back, you’d get stuck waiting for the bus. And, like, so, a lot of times we would just end up taking an Uber back, you know, if you’re coming from downtown. But now with the train, there…we won’t have any transfers, so... I mean, the other cool thing is, like, our oldest kid will go to middle school next year, and they will take this train up to Hoover. So, it’s really nice ‘cause we don’t have to worry about, like, you know, walking a bunch of blocks by themselves and stuff like that. It’s just so easy. 

MELISSA: So how did we get here? Why did Taraval need all this work the first place? For that bit of that history, we turn to SFMTA Transit Priority Manager Michael Rhodes.

MICHAEL RHODES, SFMTA TRANSIT PRIORITY MANAGER: This is a corridor that had rail that had been, you know, the tracks on the trains that had been out there since the 1970s and was approaching 50 years of age, uh, at this point. It, it had to get replaced. We also knew that the sewer and water lines under Taraval Street were in even worse, more urgent need of repair. They were a hundred years or so of age, on average across the corridor. And to ensure that people have consistent water access and can flush the toilet and not have a problem, we knew it was time to replace those, as well, And if you don’t do that, you know, there are bad things that can happen when you don’t have sewer and water lines that are maintained. 

MELISSA: Even though we took the lead on the project, it actually was a joint effort between the SFMTA, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the city’s public works department. The PUC handled the infrastructure repairs below ground, while Public Works repaved the street after each segment of water, sewer and track work was complete.  Keanway Kyi is the SFMTA’s deputy director of construction management for Capital Programs and Construction. He managed the L Taraval improvement Project and says the three agencies really had to work together. 

KEANWAY KYI, L TARAVAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT MANAGER: From the get-go, you know, we set a clear framework for each agency. What we supposed to do. And we also hold regular meeting. That open communication is really important. I think that kinda help us collaborate in a way and also coordinate each other that help us schedule issue. And we share, uh, resources in a way that, you know, their strength, our strength, we kind of help out each other. 

MELISSA: Kyi tells us that on the SFMTA side alone, a lot of staffers were involved in the work, from planners to a variety of engineers to inspectors to safety officers. 

Now, the sewer and water pipes have been upgraded, the rail tracks replaced, and Taraval Street repaved from curb to curb. We also replaced the overhead wire system that powers the light rail vehicles. But the corridor needed more than that. Rhodes tell us Taraval is on our Vision Zero High Injury Network.

MICHAEL: It’s one of the streets where we have the most collisions. And we had a really clear pattern of what was happening. We saw a strong pattern of people stepping off the train into a lane of traffic because there were not safe boarding islands on the street at that time. And we had about five people every year getting hit, stepping off the train, hit by a car. Unfortunately, while cars are required to stop for trains when people are getting off the train if there’s not a boarding island, we found that about a quarter of vehicles don’t stop. We studied it very closely. We tried a lot of other methods like signage and enforcement. But we were finding that it just, there was nothing we could do short of putting safe infrastructure out there to ensure the safety of riders getting off the train.

MELISSA: So, we took the opportunity to make further transit and safety improvements as part of the L Taraval Project.

MICHAEL: The two big things we focused on were improving the reliability of the train through things like transit lanes, traffic signals that have signal priority, removing some of the most closely spaced stops on the train, as well as addressing that key Vision Zero safety issue so that people getting on and off the train have a safe place to board and alight.

MELISSA: We made sidewalk and crosswalk improvements to make intersections safer. And we built 22 new or extended boarding islands that allow people to get on and off the L without having to step immediately into the path of traffic. Those islands make a big difference, says Sunset resident, frequent Muni rider and mom Jan Chong.

JAN CHONG: I don’t know if anyone else has had the experience, the pleasure, really, of trying to wrestle a toddler and a baby in a stroller on the Muni straight off the street, uh, which is how it used to be over here on the L. That is its own fun experience. And if you have toddlers, you know they’re super excited about trains. They’re super excited to get off the train. When that stop comes, they just wanna run right off, and it’s always been kind of scary, to be honest. It’s been so nice to have the islands now. I mean, my kids are a lot older. So, they’re not darting off the train, I hope. But now, there’s some nice big islands. So, you can step off, and even me, myself, can just step off without having to crane my head out and be like, “Wait, is there a car coming? Is going to realize that it’s supposed to stop?”

MELISSA: Chong also has noticed another significant change.

JAN CHONG: I live, gosh, maybe, like 50 feet from the Muni track, which is a conscious choice. I bought, uh, my house here because I wanted that access to transportation. I rented for many, many years steps away from the N Judah. We used to play a game called “N Judah or Earthquake?” with my roommates whenever we were talking. Sometimes it was actually an earthquake. Being in our current place after the track improvements, it is just so much quieter. The first time we moved into our new house, my sister was living with us. She’d never lived near the Muni train, and she, the first day, was like, “What is that noise? What is going on? How do you live here?” My dog freaked out every time the train came by. But now with the new track improvements, we can barely hear it. It’s great. An unanticipated side effect, I will say. I was excited that the train was gonna reopen because I wanted to just be able to catch it from the end of the street. But now also not having to…not getting that morning alarm clock is also a big advantage.

MELISSA: We’ve talked to several Muni riders in this episode, but what’s it like sitting in the driver’s seat of an L Taraval light rail vehicle now that all this work is done? We climb on board a parked LRV to discuss that with Muni operator Tammi Bedford, who has been with the agency since 2007. Bedford worked on the L Taraval before the improvement project and now is back on the line. She says that elevated accessibility platforms…or lifts, as she calls them…on the boarding islands also are making a difference.

TAMMI BEDFORD, MUNI OPERATOR: You see more people come out. Yesterday I got a, a, a lift with five carriages. I’m saying I’ve nev--…never, never seen that on a Taraval. And it was nice because they had their children with them. They were all going to the Zoo. I was able to chit chat with them, you know, and it was just great. I think the experience that the people are having for the Taraval is just phenomenal. The shops out there, they look vibrant. It just seems like everybody is together. And I think they love it. 

MELISSA: Bedford tells us the overall vibe on the line has shifted. Before the pandemic, the L had the second highest ridership among Muni Metro lines, just after the N Judah. Now, things are a little more mellow as people are coming back to the L. And that has allowed Bedford to feel more connected to the neighborhood she’s serving.

TAMMI: To me, you get to meet the real folks of the L Taraval. I seen a guy, he’s a Navy Federal Reserve, I guess. But, ah, you could tell he’s retired. And, um, he catches it daily. Sometimes you gotta ask yourself, “Where are they coming from?” But they wanna get out. They want the experience. Usually, you just got people going…getting up, going to work, the hustle and bustle, and that’s it. Now, you don’t. You get to see the gems. You get to see the guy that say, “Thank you because you waited for me.” One guy today… These are the gems that are coming out. And so, we got to treasure them.

MELISSA: Make no mistake, the work required for a project of this magnitude is going to affect the neighborhood. Transit Priority Manager Michael Rhodes.

MICHAEL: It’s unavoidable that there’s gonna be some disruption when you’re shutting down your rail lines; you’re digging up the street to put new sewer and water lines in; you’re repaving the whole street from curb to curb. Some disruption is inevitable. But we did everything we could to minimize that through ensuring that lanes stay open, at least, in both directions at all times, even if it’s slow. We also thought about how we kind of phased it or sequenced it. Is it better to have really intense construction everywhere for a shorter period, or does that kind of overwhelm folks, and is it better to spread it out and sequence it in a way where there might be a little bit lighter disruption, but it’s gonna last a little bit longer? We, we did end up a little more on that side of things, and, and that’s why it took a little bit longer. But it also meant that we didn’t have two major staging locations for huge, long stretches of rail that could be really disruptive for the neighborhood to have both of those at once. And a lot of that was based on feedback we got from merchants and residents, not only before the project but during the project that we were able to respond to and try to minimize the disruption of this once-in-a-generation or once-in-lifetime, uh, infrastructure project as much as we could. 

MELISSA: Supervisor Joel Engardio represents the Sunset District from 19th Avenue to the beach, and the work was already underway when he was elected two years ago.

JOEL ENGARDIO, SF SUPERVISOR: I took office in January of ’23, and the project hadn’t touched the middle part of Taraval yet. It had focused on the Outer Sunset and was focusing a bit on the parts on the other side of 19th Avenue. And it was about a year ago when the middle Sunset got hit. This is the most dense part of the businesses on the street. And when the jackhammering and the rubble and the... I mean it was Wild West times out here. And people were really freaking out, and it was impacting small business. But thankfully, that period didn’t last too long, and everyone kept saying, “Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’ll be done by the fall,” And no one believed it ‘cause it’s San Francisco. People thought, “Well, they say, ‘Fall,’ that means it’s gonna be another nine months beyond that.” But boy, they ended up right on time. When they said September, they meant it.

MELISSA: What about those small businesses Supervisor Engardio mentions? Well, as it happens, we’re sitting at a community parklet on Taraval as we chat … in the sunshine with a gorgeous view of the ocean, by the way. And we’re right outside the Rolling-Out Café, which is owned by Bruno Tse.

BRUNO TSE, ROLLING-OUT CAFÉ OWNER: We specialize in creative, Asian-European fusion pastries. The mochissant, or mochi-croissant, is one of our specialty. Essentially, it’s a French croissant involving croissant and mochi hybrid together. And our pork bun-kouign amann was named one of the best dishes in the Bay Area by SF Chronicle in 2021. So, we are known for our special pastries.

MELISSA: We ask Tse what the construction was like, and he tells us it was hard with the street conditions and limited parking. But he adds that neighborhood customers made an effort to keep coming in.

BRUNO: Very thankful to the local community, actually, for all of their support throughout this difficult time, and a lot of them want to shop local. There are people just walk round the corner and then to another corner and then to another corner to our shop. Obviously, there are some people, uh, not from this area. They would just, you know, drive by ‘cause they couldn’t find parking. :20

MELISSA: Albert Chow owns Great Wall Hardware on Taraval and is president of People of Parkside Sunset. That’s the Taraval neighborhood merchants’ association. He describes small businesses in this area and all over the city as the culture of San Francisco.

ALBERT CHOW, PEOPLE OF PARKSIDE SUNSET PRESIDENT: All our eggs are a lot of times in one basket, you know, in our businesses because we love it. We don’t love it because we make, maybe, a ton of money. We love it because it’s something we wanna do. We’re encouraged to come to work every day to make it better and in turn, make the city better. So, you gotta protect the small businesses. 

MELISSA: Chow says his association was advised of the project years ago and notes that some changes were made based on community input. But he adds that multi-year projects like this simply are too hard on a lot of small businesses. He says some neighborhood businesses closed during the L Taraval Improvement Project. But others survived, of course, and new businesses have opened here.

ALBERT: We’re kind of like known as dumpling row. We’ve also had a, uh, shave ice Hawaiian-style, uh, restaurant that opened up. We have a Korean restaurant that serves anything you can think of on a stick, which is really popular. We’ve had, uh, a bar open down here: Carl’s Beacon on 24th and Taraval. Another one called Lost and Found that’s just another half block down. We had two French restaurants open up on Taraval since the project was completed.

MELISSA: Now that the project is done and the L is back, we’re looking forward and wondering what the future holds for this area. So, we ask around, beginning with the SFMTA’s own Andrew McCarron. He’s our cable car carpentry supervisor and didn’t work on this project. But he is very interested in the results.

ANDREW MCCARRON, CABLE CAR CARPENTRY SUPERVISOR: I grew up in this neighborhood, and I remember back when I was going to, uh, elementary school in 1975, they tore up the tracks here to replace ‘em. But at that time, they didn’t do any of the infrastructure. So, this recent construction project was a huge undertaking. But I think, in the long run, this is going to be a huge positive thing for the neighborhood. And I think it’s gonna bring back the locals just, you know, walking down with their kids, gettin’ breakfast at the Taraval Café, Tennessee Grill. It should be awesome. 

MELISSA: Transit Priority Manager Michael Rhodes.

MICHAEL: I would say for anybody who’s not familiar with Taraval, this is a great time to hop on the train, spend an afternoon or a day or whatever just exploring all the shops. Because it’s really, you know, Taraval’s been through a lot, but it’s come out with really a shining example of the best that San Francisco transit has to offer…but also the best that, like, a small neighborhood, small business in a, uh, neighborhood setting in San Francisco has to offer, as well.

MELISSA: Project Manager Keanway Kyi. 

KEANWAY: Five years of my life was in this project, and, uh, it’s, you know, project manager is, uh, challenging. But at the same time, it’s rewarding. You know, when I see the train running, it’s give me a lot of pleasure. Hopefully this community will be happy and especially the business community. I know it, it was inconvenient to them, but we try our best. 

MELISSA: And finally, Supervisor Engardio, who calls the L Taraval a beacon of hope.

JOEL: We’ve always known the train is essential for the connecting west side and the rest of the city, but the beacon of hope is that for the future, there’s a lot happening out here in the neighborhoods. And this train will bring the renaissance to the Sunset. 

LIGHT RAIL VEHICLE ANNOUNCEMENT: L TARAVAL TO SF ZOO.

MELISSA: Thank you for joining us on Taken with Transportation. We’re a production of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and you can find the latest episodes at SFMTA.com-slash-Podcast, as well as Apple, Spotify, our YouTube channel or wherever you listen. I’m Melissa Culross. Be well and travel well.