T Third Street

Current alignment — conjoined operation with K Ingleside

Following service changes on June 30, 2007, the T Third Street and the K Ingleside lines were spliced together in the Market Street Subway tunnel, resulting in a route from Balboa Park, through downtown, to Bayshore and Sunnydale. At West Portal Station, inbound K trains heading through downtown to Third Street change their signs to the T line; at Embarcadero Station, T trains heading through downtown and outbound to the Ingleside neighborhood change signs to the K line. Each train displays its ultimate destination. This system will continue in place until the Central Subway is operational.

Leaving the Market Street Subway at Ferry Portal heading south, the T Third follows The Embarcadero south of Market Street, then veers onto King Street in front of AT&T Park until it reaches the Caltrain station terminal. This portion of the Muni Metro rail line between the Embarcadero portal and the Caltrain terminal was built in 1998 and is utilized by an extension of the N Judah, which shares track with the T to the Caltrain terminal at 4th and King. From there the T turns south on Fourth Street, crossing the bridge over Mission Creek before joining Third Street for the majority of the route's length. It passes through Mission Bay where the UCSF Mission Bay branch is located, then continues on south through the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods. Once both economically impoverished parts of the City, they have slowly experienced rehabilitation and rebuilding mainly helped by the new T line. At the intersection of Third and Jamestown Avenue, the T continues to run in both directions as it crosses U.S. Highway 101 (James Lick Freeway), although only Third Street is open to auto traffic northbound; likewise, southbound auto traffic is splintered to a southbound on ramp to Highway 101 and merges with San Bruno Avenue. From there the T follows Bayshore Boulevard (changed over from Third) for two more stations until it reaches its terminus at Sunnydale Station. A section of track follows one more block until stopped short at the Daly City limits.

All stations along this line feature high platforms, eliminating the need for the raising and lowering of entrance and exit steps characteristic of other Muni Metro lines. Stations south of Fourth and King feature short platforms that accommodate only two-car trains.

The T Third also uses the Muni Metro terminology in which an inbound train goes from West Portal to Embarcadero. This also means that an outbound T Third train runs from Sunnydale and out to the western neighborhoods via downtown. This is the reverse of other lines, as those lines have their outer termini on the southwest and west sides of the city, and those trains enter the subway from the west going inbound toward downtown.

Future route

T-Third has been built in phases. The first phase extended rail service south to Sunnydale Station. The second phase, currently under construction, is also known as the Central Subway project, and will reroute T-Third north of the 4th and King Station. The future alignment once the second phase is complete will neither share right-of-way with, nor share identities with the K Ingleside, avoiding both King Street and the congested Market Street subway. The southern segment from Sunnydale to 4th and King Street will remain as-is, operating on street-level median tracks. After 4th and King, the line will proceed to a new 4th and Brannan Station, and the line will then burrow to subsurface level at Bryant Street Portal, near where 4th passes under Interstate 80. Underground, the line will continue under Fourth Street, to Yerba Buena/Moscone Station, and then, after crossing Market Street, will turn slightly to continue under Stockton Street, continuing to Union Square/Market Station before terminating at Chinatown Station.

A proposed third phase would build an extension beyond Chinatown, including new stations at Washington Square in North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf. In preparation, the tunnels were bored past Chinatown Station, and the tunnel boring machines were extracted from the intersection of Powell and Columbus, near Washington Square Park.

A conceptual fourth phase has been advanced by SFMTA and transit advocates to further extend the line west of Fisherman's Wharf to the Presidio. However, since the Central Subway station platforms will be about 250 feet (76 m) long, enough to accommodate two-car trains, unlike the upper deck Market Street subway platforms which can accommodate four-car LRV trains, the projected ridership increase with a fourth phase Presidio extension would require the stations currently under construction to be rebuilt to three- or four-car trains.

Former route

Initially upon opening, the T Third was operated from Castro Station to Bayshore and Sunnydale. In the aftermath of the Muni Meltdown of 2007, the T Third was suspended from operating as a distinct line, in favor of being through-routed with the K Ingleside.

Operation

The T Third operates seven days a week, beginning at 5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays, operating until 1 a.m. Headways on the route range from 1 to 30 minutes during the day, and from 12 to 90 minutes at night. Late night service is provided by the 91 Owl diesel bus line on Third Street, and by the N-Owl diesel bus line on King Street, The Embarcadero and most of Market Street. There is also a T-Owl diesel bus line that runs from Market Street and Van Ness Avenue to Bayshore Boulevard and Sunnydale. This line only operates on weekend mornings, between the times owl service stops and the underground subway stations open.

Station and stop listing

outbound to inbound