"People would walk out their doors in Berkeley, Alameda, Oakland, hop on a streetcar that would take them to a ferry and be in downtown San Francisco in about 40 minutes. Remnants of these lines can be seen in many Bay Area streetscapes. But what happened to the streetcars? The history and disappearance of the Key System, which once served East Bay residents, has captured the imagination of many transit aficionados."
"Streetcars were essential to the growth of cities in the Bay Area and across the United States in the final years of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th. Electric railroads either streetcar networks connecting neighborhoods or interurban lines connecting towns and cities served all nine Bay Area counties in the early 20th century. The place where that electric streetcar legacy is most obvious is San Francisco, where several electric lines that operated in the 1920s Muni's J, K, L, M and N routes are still essential parts of the city's transportation system."
Streetcars crisscrossed the Bay Area around the turn of the 20th century and served as a primary mode of local and regional travel. Riders in Berkeley, Alameda, and Oakland could reach San Francisco via streetcar and ferry in about 40 minutes. The Key System provided East Bay service and ran across the Bay Bridge from 1939 to 1958. The system's disappearance involves disputed claims and a conspiracy theory about powerful corporations, as well as real-estate development strategies that influenced Berkeley and Oakland, the expansion of suburbs, and the rise of the automobile. Electric rail networks served all nine Bay Area counties, and San Francisco retains several historic Muni routes.
Read at www.berkeleyside.org
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