San Francisco Transbay Terminal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Francisco Transbay Terminal, or simply Transbay Terminal, is a transportation complex in San Francisco, California located roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north-south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east-west by Beale Street and Second Street. Currently, it serves long-distance buses and transbay buses from San Francisco north to Marin County, east to the East Bay, and south to San Mateo County. Its largest tenants, in addition to San Francisco's own Muni, are Golden Gate Transit, AC Transit, SamTrans, and Greyhound Bus Lines.
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[edit] Bridge Railway
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. The Key trains ran until April of 1958 after which the tracks were removed and replaced by pavement for use primarily by the buses of the publicly owned successor of the Key System, AC Transit.
[edit] Transbay Terminal Replacement Project
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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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and the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain) have proposed a plan to replace the current underutilized and outdated building with an entirely new and more functional building at roughly the same location.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 Townsend Streets to the new Transbay Terminal. If and 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.
Many observers have noted that, with the Transbay Terminal replacement project, the new terminal could potentially become the Grand Central Terminal of the West Coast. As of 2005, this project has published its final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and is in the process of designing and securing the required funds. The new Transbay Terminal building, Phase I of the project, is currently scheduled to start construction in 2008 and open in 2014[1]. Phase II of the project, the rail extension, is planned to begin in 2012 and open to rail service in 2019.
Recently, the new Transbay Terminal has been tentatively named Transbay Transit Center.
Along with the new terminal, several towers, (probably residential, office, hotel, or other) have been proposed on sites around the new terminal, ranging from 300 to over 1,250 feet 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 significantly altered. The tallest of the Transbay towers was originally going to be between 650 and 850 ft., and then 925 ft. However, according to sfcityscape.com, city officials have decided to rezone the area adjacent to the new terminal, instead of having one 925 foot tower, two towers, about the same height as the Transamerica Pyramid and one tower over 1,000 ft. (possibly taller than the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles) will be built. The tallest tower will be connected directly to the new terminal. In addition, these towers will alter the city blocks surrounding the terminal, much like what's going on just to the southeast at Rincon Hill and right next to the current terminal.
