San Francisco Transbay Terminal

This article is about the former transit station in San Francisco, now demolished. For its replacement, see Transbay Transit Center.

A 2008 view of the facade of the now-demolished 1939 "Transbay Transit Terminal" which was designed by Timothy L. Pflueger

The San Francisco Transbay Terminal or The Transbay Terminal, was a transportation complex in San Francisco, California, United States, roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north–south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east–west by Beale Street and 2nd Street in the South of Market area of the city. It mainly served San Francisco's downtown and Financial District, as transportation from surrounding communities of the Bay Area terminated there such as: Golden Gate Transit buses from Marin County, AC Transit buses from the East Bay, and SamTrans buses from San Mateo County. Long-distance buses from beyond the Bay Area such as Greyhound and Amtrak also served the terminal. Several bus lines of the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni, had their turnarounds' there.

It closed on August 7, 2010, to make way for the construction of the replacement facility, the Transbay Transit Center, and associated towers. All long-distance and transbay bus operations were transferred to a Temporary Transbay Terminal at the nearby block bounded by Main, Folsom, Beale, and Howard Streets.

The new Transbay Transit Center broke ground on August 11, 2010. US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom attended the ceremony. The new transit center is scheduled to be completed in 2017.

Bridge Railway

The bus deck in 2010, formerly the track level of the train station.

The Transbay Terminal was built as the San Francisco terminus for the electric commuter trains of the Southern Pacific, the Key System and the Sacramento Northern railroads, which ran on the south side of the lower deck of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. The SP and Sacramento Northern trains ceased service across the Bay in 1941 only two years after the Terminal was completed. The Key trains ran until April 1958, after which the tracks were removed from the terminal and replaced with pavement for use primarily by the buses of the publicly owned successor of the Key System, AC Transit.

Agencies that serve the Temporary Transbay Terminal

Several agencies currently serve the Temporary Transbay Terminal, including:

• AC Transit (stops inside the terminal; Route 800 stops on Beale between Howard and Folsom Sts.)
  • Commute-only routes: Routes B, C, CB, E, FS, G, H, J, L, LA, LC, NX, NX1, NX2, NX3, NX4, NXC, OX, P, S, SB, V, W, and Z
  • Daily Transbay routes: Routes F, NL, and O
  • All-Nighter route: Route 800
• Golden Gate Transit (stops on Main between Howard and Folsom Sts.; most commute service bus routes still stop near old Transbay Terminal location)
  • Routes 10, 70, 80, 101, 101X
• Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach (stops inside terminal)
  • Routes 17 (Santa Barbara), 34 (Stockton), 99 (Emeryville/Oakland)
• Greyhound Bus Lines/BoltBus (stops inside terminal)
  • Innercity routes: 540 (Reno), 607 (Arcata), 615 (Los Angeles via I-5), 618 (Los Angeles via Santa Barbara), 630 (Los Angeles via Fresno)
  • BoltBus to Los Angeles
• Muni (stops on Howard, Beale, and Main Sts.)
  • Local routes: Routes 5, 7, 25, 38, 41*,
  • Limited stop routes: Routes 7R*, 30X*, 38R*, 80X*, 81X*, and 82X*
  • All-Nighter routes: Routes 25 and 38
• PresidiGo Shuttle (stops on Howard St.)
  • Downtown route
• SamTrans (stops on Main St.)
  • Commute-only route: Route KX
  • Daily routes: Routes 292
  • All-Nighter route: Route 397
• WestCAT (stops inside terminal)
  • Commute-only route: Lynx
• Other services:
  • Caltrans Bay Bridge Bike Shuttle (stops on Main St.)
  • Kaiser Shuttle to Kaiser San Francisco

Note: * - operates select days and times only

Environmental

On January 30, 1986, four underground storage fuel tanks were excavated and removed from the 150 First Street site. Each of these tanks had a capacity of 1,000 gallons (Earth Metrics, 1989). Eight soil samples showed the existence of total petroleum hydrocarbons in levels ranging from 20 to 9,000 parts per million. On February 3, 1986, the excavation was backfilled.

Transbay Terminal Replacement Project

The new terminal

The City and County of San Francisco, the Alameda – Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), and the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain) have proposed to replace the currently underutilized and outdated building with an entirely new and more functional building at roughly the same location. In addition to maintaining the current bus services, this proposed terminal would also include a tunnel that would extend the Caltrain commuter rail line from its current terminus at Fourth and King Streets to the new Transbay Terminal. When this project is completed, Caltrain riders would no longer need to transfer to Muni in order to reach the downtown financial district. Additionally, the heavy rail portion of the terminal would be designed to accommodate the planned High Speed Rail from Los Angeles via the Caltrain line.

BART has also expressed interest in being part of this plan by having their proposed "Second Transbay Tube" connect to the new terminal and Alameda.

The final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was published as of 2005, and construction began in August 2010 on Phase I, the new Transbay Terminal building. Phase II of the project, the rail extension is under construction and is scheduled to be open to rail service in 2019.

A look at the Transbay Transit Center construction site.

The new Transbay Terminal is named Transbay Transit Center.

New skyscrapers

Main article: San Francisco Transbay development

Along with the new terminal, thirteen towers have been proposed on sites around the new terminal, ranging from 300 feet (91 m) to 1,200 feet (366 m) tall. If built out to fund the construction of the new terminal, San Francisco will have a new tallest building and its skyline will be altered. 2,600 new homes (35 percent of which will be affordable), 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 m²) of new office and commercial space and 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²) of retail are planned as well . City officials have decided to consider rezoning the area around the new terminal, and will analyze the potential to raise existing height limits (550 ft. (170 m) max) upward, with the possibility of three towers exceeding 1,000 ft. (300 m) in height. On December 21, 2006, Renzo Piano proposed a five tower complex of one 600 foot (180 m) tower, two 900 foot (275 m) towers and two 1,200 foot (370 m) towers. Other towers are under construction nearby on Rincon Hill and at Millennium Tower (301 Mission Street).

Construction status

Temporary Transbay Terminal

The temporary Transbay Terminal has opened, on the block bounded by Main, Folsom, Beale, and Howard Streets. With its completion, the old Transbay Terminal was closed, and as of June 2011 its demolition was complete. The construction of the new terminal is currently ongoing with weekly updates provided by the TJPA.

The competition winner

As of September 20, 2007, the design proposed by César Pelli was chosen. This decision ends the eight month competition between various design firms around the world. PWP landscape Architecture, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Except Integrated Sustainability, and Hines design includes an elevated park, some sixty feet above the street, to hide the inner workings of the terminal. A single tower will also rise into the sky, changing the skyline of San Francisco.

See also

• California High-Speed Rail
• Ferry Building
• Key System
• List of tallest buildings in San Francisco
• San Francisco Transbay development
• Transbay Tube

Bibliography

• Earth Metrics Inc, ‘'Environmental Site Assessment, Assessors Block 3747, San Francisco'‘, File 7825W0.001, 25 April 1989

External links

• • Transbay Temporary Terminal website The "temporary" transbay terminal, expected to operate until at least 2017.
• Planning Department district planning project
• Site with information on Key System service to the transbay terminal
• New Transbay Transit Center
• Photo: Key System Train Inside Transbay Terminal
• Transit Unlimited - Transbay Terminal transit information
• Key System train on ramp to Bay Bridge, 1939, Dorothea Lange photo