Historic 7-Haight — What Could Be
Photo by skew-t
Last week, we posted about a circa-1960s Muni bus up for auction, yours for the bargain-basement price of $12,000. You have a little less than a day to bid on that one. But, you ask, what will I do with my vintage Muni bus, other than have fabulous parties in it?
Tofu St. John on our Facebook Page had a popular suggestion:
I think a few should be restored and put into regular service for the retro appeal. Bring back the 7-Haight and only use old, restored buses.
Now there’s an idea.
We had some sad-face after our favorite elusive (read: not ridden that often, but nice when we did) lines got the axe in 2009. After soliciting Muni obituaries for them, we found a number of you felt the same way. A historic version of the 26-Valencia or the 4-Sutter at least makes for some fun afternoon daydreaming, however unlikely it seems in real life.
It’s a nice idea, but those old buses are hardly disabled-accessible…. for that matter, how does MUNI get around the ADA regulations on the F line?
Good point. Ye olde tymes had a pretty questionable relationship with ADA.
Re: the F line, disabled access is via a ramp placed level with the entrance to the cars. If a disabled person is standing/sitting up there, the car is supposed to stop and pick them up separately from the rest of the passengers.
I thought about the ADA issues too. A historic Haight 7 would be paralleled by both the 6 Parnassus to Masonic and the 71 for it’s entire route. Both those routes would be equally or even more frequent and both routes are ADA compliant. While the old buses are not ADA compliant, disabled riders would still have access to service on the route. I am not sure if that would meet ADA requirements though.
Okay, so do I get a snazzy, polyester retro uniform and do I get drive the first bus down Haight Street?
All the trolleys in regular service on the F are ADA accessible.
Whenever an F-line operator needs to load/unload a ADA passenger on/off the ramp, the operator has a metal board behind the seat & puts it over the front steps.