With five different modes of transport, the San Francisco Municipal Railway runs one of the most diverse fleets of vehicles in the United States. Roughly 550 diesel-electric hybrid buses, 300 electric trolleybuses, 250 modern light rail vehicles, 50 historic streetcars and 40 cable cars see active duty.
Muni's cable cars are the oldest and largest such system remaining in service in the world and its fleet of electric trolleybuses is the largest in the United States. In 2020, Muni completed the process of replacing its motor coach fleet – the first of which was procured in 1915 – with diesel-electric hybrid buses.
Fleet overview This chart is a summary of the vehicles currently operated by Muni. All buses are accessible at all stops. All streetcars are accessible; however, some surface stops on the E and F lines, and many Muni Metro surface stops, are not accessible. Cable cars are not accessible.
Make/model Fleet series Division/Yard Image Notes ENC E-Z Rider II 8531–8560 2021 Woods New Flyer Xcelsior XDE40 8601–8662, 8701–8750 2013 Woods, Kirkland 8751–8780 2017 8800–8969 2016–2019 New Flyer Xcelsior XDE60 6500–6554 2015 Flynn, Islais Creek 6560–6697 2015–2018 6700–6730 2015–2016 New Flyer Xcelsior XT40 5701–5885 2017–2019 Presidio, Potrero New Flyer Xcelsior XT60 7201–7293 2015–2018 Potrero New Flyer Xcelsior XE405001–5003 2021 Woods Test busBYD K9 5004–5006 2021 Woods Test busProterra ZX5 5007–5009 2021 Woods Test busNova Bus LFSe+ 5010–5012 2022 Woods Test bus Siemens S200 LRV4 2001–2249 2016– Green, Muni Metro East PCC 1006–1011, 1015, 1040, 1050–1053, 1055–1063, 1070–1080 1946–1952 Cameron Beach See historic streetcar section for detailed information Peter Witt 1807, 1811, 1814, 1815, 1818, 1834, 1856, 1859, 1888, 1893, 1895 1928 Cameron Beach Various high-floor historic streetcars C-1, 1, 130, 151, 162, 189, 228, 233, 351, 496, 578-J, 578, 737, 798, 913, 916, 952 1895–1954 Cameron Beach See historic trams section for detailed information Various high-floor cable cars Powell: 1-28, California: 49-60 1873– Cable Car
Facilities
Division Opened No. of vehiclesVehicle typeImageNotes Presidio 1912 132 40-foot trolleybuses The first yard built for Muni, originally used for the Geary streetcar lines Potrero 1914 146 40-foot and trolleybuses Opened for streetcars in 1914 and equipped for trolleybuse in 1941. Closed in February 2026 for complete rebuilding, forecast to take around four years. Woods 1975 284 30-foot and hybrid buses Flynn 1989 119 60-foot hybrid buses Named for H. Welton Flynn, the first chairman of the SFMTA Board of Directors. Kirkland 1950 88 40-foot hybrid buses Green 1977 140 LRVs Located at Balboa Park station. Named for Curtis E. Green, a former general manager. Cameron Beach 1901 60 Historic streetcars Known as Geneva Division until 2011, when it was named after Cameron Beach, a SFMTA board member. Muni Metro East 2008 100 LRVs Cable Car 1887 40 Cable cars Includes the San Francisco Cable Car Museum Pharr 1982 Historic streetcars Formerly known as Mint Yard. Small outdoor yard used for restoration work and to temporarily store Muni Metro trains. Named for David Pharr, a self-taught volunteer with Market Street Railway. Marin 1998 Muni motor coach acceptance yard, track shop and cable car/historic street car storage facility. Islais Creek 2013 105 60-foot hybrid buses Originally an open storage yard, it was replaced with an enclosed building in 2017. The $127 million facility, intended to replace the aging Kirkland Yard, has attracted local criticism for not including promised community amenities.
Bus fleet , Muni operates a fleet of roughly 550 diesel-electric hybrid buses and 300 electric trolleybuses, consisting nearly entirely of New Flyer Xcelsior coaches which have a high degree of parts commonality. The only non-Xcelsior coaches are the battery-electric test buses and the "community route" buses which were built by ENC as New Flyer does not offer a short Xcelsior coach.
Diesel-electric hybrid buses Muni's active diesel fleet contains coaches ranging from thirty to sixty feet in length. All of Muni's current buses are diesel-electric hybrid buses, fueled with renewable diesel fuel made from bio-feedstock sources, including fats, oils and greases. The diesel-electric hybrid technology has proven very capable of climbing San Francisco's steep hills.
Before 2007, Muni had an all-Diesel fleet that had been purchased from three manufacturers, NABI, Neoplan and Orion, all of whom no longer sell buses in the U.S. (NABI merged into New Flyer, Neoplan left the North American market, and Daimler shutdown Orion), making repairs challenging. After purchasing its first hybrid buses in 2007, the agency embarked on a nearly 15 year project to replace the entire fleet. The new fleet has averaged more miles between road calls – in which a mechanic services a transit vehicle on the street – than the prior diesel coaches.
Electric trolleybuses
Muni's fleet of electric trolleybuses (ETBs) is the largest in the nationMurray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia, p. 79. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. . and serves many parts of the city. ETBs were very popular in the United States in the middle of the 20th century. Today, San Francisco is one of only four cities in the United States with an operational ETB fleet, but they play a major role in the Muni system, in part because of the city's many steep hills. Although their overhead wires are sometimes considered unsightly, ETBs are able to climb grades much steeper than conventional, non-cable streetcars and are quieter (particularly when climbing hills) and cleaner than diesel- or hybrid buses. The steepest grade on the Muni trolleybus system, 22.8% in the block of Noe Street between Cesar Chavez Street and 26th Street on route 24-Divisadero, is the steepest grade on any existing trolleybus line in the world,Box, Roland (May–June 1989). "San Francisco Looks Ahead". Trolleybus Magazine No. 165, pp. 50–56. National Trolleybus Association (UK).Trolleybus Magazine No. 195 (May–June 1994), p. 83. and several other sections of Muni ETB routes are among the world's steepest.Trolleybus Magazine No. 259 (January–February 2005), p. 23. Muni has operated trolleybuses since 1941 and the mode has been present in San Francisco since 1935—initially a line built and operated by the Market Street Railway and later taken over by Muni. Conversion of some existing diesel bus lines has been proposed.
In 1992, Muni tested its first 60-ft articulated trolleybus, the New Flyer E60, which was the first in the trolleybus fleet to have a wheelchair lift. The E60s were used on high-ridership trolleybus routes and started service in 1993.
Muni's active ETB fleet consists of articulated coaches from New Flyer (XT60), as well as standard 40 ft coaches from New Flyer (XT40). Historically, Muni ran ETBs from Brill, the St. Louis Car Company, Twin Coach, Marmon-Herrington, Flyer (E800 and E60) and Electric Transit, Inc. (ETI) (Skoda/AAI 14TrSF and 15TrSF).
Battery-electric test buses
In 2018, the SFMTA Board voted to purchase all-electric buses exclusively beginning in 2025, with the last non-electric buses retired by 2035. Muni previously had not bought battery-electric buses (BEBs) because they were not proven on steep hills and on high-ridership routes. In November 2019, Muni executed contracts with New Flyer (for $4.5 million), BYD Auto ($3.5 million), and Proterra ($5.3 million) to procure three BEBs from each vendor as a pilot program to evaluate their performance and test future bus features. Each contract has an option for up to three more BEBs. A fourth contract with Nova Bus ($4.8 million), the only major bus manufacturer excluded from the first round of contracts, was issued in April 2021. The buses in the pilot program will be charged at Woods using newly-installed chargers. Under the pilot program plan, the buses will operate on the 9 San Bruno, 22 Fillmore, 29 Sunset, and 44 O'Shaughnessy routes. The first battery-electric bus entered service in February 2022.
Under the Zero-Emission Bus Rollout Plan published in February 2021, 54 articulated buses will be the first production BEBs for Muni and that first purchase is planned for 2027. The last diesel-electric hybrid buses will leave service by 2037. By 2040, the Muni bus fleet is anticipated to be composed entirely of BEBs: 30 (30-foot) + 497 (40-foot) + 462 (60-foot) for 989 buses in total. No on-route charging is planned; BEBs will use depot chargers at six of Muni's yards. Eventually, it is planned to upgrade these yards with SAE J3105 (inverted pantograph) chargers over several years: Kirkland (77 chargers, 2024–27), Potrero (206 chargers, 2024–27), Flynn (109 chargers, 2025–28), Presidio (217 chargers, 2028–31), Islais Creek (149 chargers, 2030–33), and Woods (177 chargers, 2034–37).
The ZEB Rollout Plan was updated in July 2022. Under the revised ZEB Rollout Plan, the existing fleet of trolleybuses would be replaced one-for-one starting in 2031; the existing fleet of hybrid diesel-electric buses would be gradually replaced starting in 2026 with battery-electric buses until the planned retirement of the last diesel hybrids in 2037. In 2038, it is anticipated the mix of buses will be entirely BEBs (30× 32-foot, 403× 40-foot, and 297× 60-foot articulated) and trolleybuses (185× 40-foot and 93× 60-foot artic). The yard upgrades were re-sequenced and accelerated: Kirkland (91 chargers, 2022–25), Potrero (216, 2024–27), Islais Creek (117, 2024–30), Presidio (227, 2027–31), Flynn (107, 2029–34), and Woods (250, 2030–35). The total cost of the project is $1.8 billion, divided between new buses ($1.4 B) and charging infrastructure ($0.4 B), excluding the cost of labor and other potential infrastructure upgrades.
Cable car fleet
Around the turn of the twentieth century, there were numerous cable car lines providing service to many sections of the city. Some of those cable cars are built by Muni themselves. Currently only three lines and forty cars remain.
Light rail vehicle fleet
Contemporary light rail vehicles
The Muni Metro has run multiple types of light rail vehicles. Originally, 131 Boeing-Vertol cars, which Muni designated LRV1, were used. However, these proved to be extremely troublesome and were phased out of service beginning in 1997. The Boeing cars were replaced by 151 Italian-built Breda LRV2 and LRV3 models. Initially, the Breda vehicles were hailed as more reliable and easier to service than their predecessors. However, deferred maintenance and design defects have taken their toll on them.
Muni has expanded its fleet with new Siemens light rail vehicles; the 151 Bredas will be replaced one-for-one starting in 2021. The first phase of 68 Siemens S200 LRV4s (for fleet expansion: 24 Central Subway + 40 Option 1 + 4 Phase W) were delivered between 2017 and 2019, ahead of the scheduled opening of the Central Subway. SFMTA's initial contract with Siemens called for a maximum of 260 cars to be delivered: 175 in the base order (151 of which are to replace the Bredas, and 24 for fleet expansion to accommodate anticipated ridership via the Central Subway), 40 as Option 1, and 45 as Option 2. Four more Siemens LRV4s were ordered in June 2017 for Phase W, which anticipates expanded service to Chase Center, using the Mission Bay Transportation Improvement Fund. Option 1 (+40) was exercised in 2015 and Option 2 was partially exercised (+30) in 2021,draft (PDF) increasing the total on order to 249. However, the 2021 order was cancelled in 2025, reducing the total back to 219.
The first LRV4 went into revenue service on November 17, 2017. By August 2025, 172 cars had entered service.
Inactive/retired light rail vehicles