J Church

This article is about the San Francisco railway line. For the band, see J Church (band).

J Church
250px Looking south along the private right-of-way near 20th Street
Overview
Type	Light rail/Streetcar
System	Muni Metro
Locale	San Francisco, California
Termini	Embarcadero Station Balboa Park Station
Stations	25
Daily ridership	14,787 (2013)
Operation
Opened	1917
Owner	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Operator(s)	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Character	At grade & Underground
Rolling stock	151 Breda light rail vehicles (high floor) F Market historic streetcars (pull-out and pull-in runs only)
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Electrification	Overhead lines, 600 V DC
Route diagram Legend x20px x20px Embarcadero F  California Street Montgomery Central Subway 2019 Powell Powell-Hyde Powell-Mason Civic Center Van Ness US 101 Market Street Subway Duboce Portal Market Street Railway closed 1980 Duboce & Church x20px x20px Church & 14th St. F  Church & 16th St.  F  pull-outs pull-ins Church & 18th St. File:BSicon uCSTR-Rag.svg Dolores Park Right Of Way/20th St Liberty 21st St. Church & 22nd St. Church & 24th St. Church & Clipper Church & 27th St. Church & 29th/Day St. Church & 30th 30th St. & Dolores San Jose & Randall San Jose & Bosworth I-280 San Jose & Santa Rosa San Jose & Santa Ynez San Jose & Ocean File:BSicon uKHSTACCe.svg Balboa Park Station San Jose & Geneva

The J Church is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown. It began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in 1917, and was partially converted to modern light-rail operation in 1981, as part of the creation of the Muni Metro system in the late 1970s. While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the J Church remained a streetcar line due to the private right-of-way it uses to avoid the steepest grades on Church Street, between 18th Street and 22nd Street. Buses cannot negotiate the grades, and the right-of-way is too narrow to accommodate anything wider than the streetcar tracks.

Route description

The line runs from Embarcadero Station in the Financial District to Balboa Park Station and the Balboa Park neighborhood near City College of San Francisco. The downtown portion of the line uses the Market Street Subway, along with four other Muni Metro lines (K/T, L, M and N lines). The J exits the tunnel at Duboce Avenue along with the N Judah and turns onto Church Street. Between 18th and 20th Street, the line cuts through Dolores Park on a private right-of-way. After crossing 20th Street, it cuts across the blocks east of Church, around a steep hill and returns to Church Street at 22nd Street in Noe Valley. The J then follows Church to 30th Street, then to San Jose Avenue and Geneva. Between Randall and Cotter Streets, there is a right-of-way in the middle of San Jose Avenue. At the end of the line, the J loops around the Metro yard at San Jose and Geneva, alongside Balboa Park Station.

The J Church line stops at large stations for the downtown section of the route and at smaller stops on the rest of the line. Most of the smaller stops are designated by a sign on the sidewalk, while a few have concrete "islands" in the middle of the street next to the tracks that provide access for wheelchairs.

While most other lines in the rail system can be run in two-car configurations, the J line is almost always run with a single car in order to accommodate the stops in the right-of-way, which are not long enough to have two light rail cars with open doors simultaneously.

Operation

The J Church begins service at 5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays and continues until 12:15 a.m. every night. Headways range from 7 to 15 minutes during the day, and 15 to 20 minutes at night. There is no late night service along the entire J line. Some of the route is covered by the L-Owl and N-Owl service provided by diesel buses run on Market Street between Church Street and Steuart Street. Owl service on the 24 Divisadero line runs near the portion of the J line north of 30th Street, and 14 Mission owl service runs near the portion of the line south of 30th.

Extension to Balboa Park Station

The outer end of the line was originally at Church and 30th Streets, where streetcars used a wye to turn around. In 1991, the tracks were extended to the Balboa Park BART station and the Metro Center (Muni light-rail maintenance and operations base), giving J-line cars a much shorter connection to the caryard than previously. However, the 2.3-mile (3.7 km) new section was initially used only by light rail cars starting or ending their runs; all-day J-line service was not extended along the new tracks until March 1992. This extension of the J-line to the Metro Center now also provides vintage F Market cars a connection to the adjacent Geneva Yard, where they are stored when not in service. Occasionally J-Church streetcars use the wye at 30th and Church as a terminus during rush hours, or during irregular operations.

Station and stop listing

inbound to outbound

Station	Neighborhood	Other Muni Metro lines	Notes
Embarcadero	Financial District		Inbound terminus Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART; within walking distance of E Embarcadero Serves Ferry Building
Montgomery Street	Financial District		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Powell Street	Financial District		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Civic Center/UN Plaza	Civic Center		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Van Ness	Civic Center and Tenderloin		Connects to F Market & Wharves
Duboce and Church (inbound only)	Duboce Triangle		No stops at this station outbound Meets N Judah via a separate platform
Church and 14th (outbound) Church and Market (inbound)	Duboce Triangle	*	*Connects with K, L, M, T and S at the Church Street Station in the Market Street Subway Connects with F Market & Wharves streetcar
Church and 16th Street	Castro		Connects with 22-Fillmore
Church and 18th Street	Castro		Connects with 33-Ashbury
20th Street	Mission District		Located on its own right-of-way in Dolores Park
Liberty	Mission District		Right-of-way
21st Street	Noe Valley		Right-of-way
Church and 22nd Street	Noe Valley
Church and 24th Street	Noe Valley		Connects with 48-Quintara
Church and Clipper	Noe Valley
Church and 27th Street	Noe Valley
Church and 29th Street (inbound) Church and Day (outbound)	Noe Valley
Church and 30th Street (inbound only)	Noe Valley		Connects with 24-Divisadero
30th Street and Dolores	Bernal Heights		Connects with 24-Divisadero
San Jose and Randall	Bernal Heights		Connects with 14-Mission, 49-Van Ness
San Jose and Bosworth (or San Jose/Glen Park)	Glen Park		Located across the street from the Glen Park BART station.
San Jose and Santa Rosa	Mission Terrace
San Jose and Santa Ynez	Mission Terrace
San Jose and Ocean	Mission Terrace
San Jose and Santa Rosa	Mission Terrace
Balboa Park	Mission Terrace	*	Outbound terminus Connects with BART via Muni Metro's mezzanine level *Utilizes turn around shared with K Ingleside; within walking distance of M Ocean View

External links

• Muni Metro and San Francisco rail map (195KB PDF)
• J-Church route information from the SF Muni Map Project