Duboce and Church station

Duboce and Church (Church and Duboce for the J Church line) is a light rail stop on the Muni Metro J Church and N Judah lines, located in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Just east of the station, the two lines enter the Market Street subway. The station originally opened with the 22 Fillmore line (now a trolleybus line) in 1895.

Duboce and Church
N Judah trains at Duboce and Church in 2018
Location	Duboce Avenue and Church Street San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37.76946°N 122.42912°W / 37.76946; -122.42912
Platforms	2 side platforms
Connections	Muni: 22, N Bus, N Owl
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	1895[1]
Rebuilt	October 21, 1928[2] c. 1972[3]
Services
Preceding station Muni Following station Duboce and Noe towards Ocean Beach N Judah Van Ness towards 4th and King
Former services (1972-1982) Preceding station Muni Following station Church and Market towards Phelan Loop K Ingleside Market and Dolores / Market and Buchanan towards East Bay Terminal Church and Market towards SF Zoo L Taraval Church and Market towards Broad and Plymouth M Ocean View
Location

History

The Market Street Railway opened its 22 Fillmore streetcar line in 1895; it jogged from Church Street to Fillmore Street on a short section of Duboce Avenue.[1] On October 21, 1928, the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) N Judah streetcar line opened. It ran on Duboce Avenue between Market Street and the Sunset Tunnel, and shared track and overhead wires with the 22 for one block.[2] Muni took over the ex-Market Street Railway system in September 1944. Muni converted a number of streetcar lines, including the 22, to trolleybus on July 31, 1948; it was rerouted via Hermann Street one block to the north to avoid conflicts between the overhead wires for trolleybuses and streetcars.[1]

A diverted M Ocean View streetcar outbound on Church at Duboce

Duboce Portal flanked by the Duboce Yard, seen in 1980...

...and in 2006 with accessible platforms

Beginning in the late 1960s, construction of the Market Street subway required diversions of Muni's five remaining streetcar lines, which ran on Market Street. The largest diversion routed K, L, and M cars from the Twin Peaks Tunnel onto new tracks on 17th Avenue, joining the J Church on Church Street, and continuing past Market Street on new tracks to join the N Judah tracks on Duboce.[3] An inbound concrete boarding platform was built on Church Street at Duboce Avenue; outbound cars stopped further south on Church Street at Market Street. (Boarding platforms were also built on Duboce Avenue for the N.) Streetcars on the J, K, L, and M lines were routed onto the diversion route on December 2, 1972, though only outbound cars used the diversion north of Market Street until 1973.[3] The new Duboce Portal was constructed on Duboce Avenue east of Church, parallel to the operating surface streetcar line.[2]

N Judah trains began using the new portal on weekdays on February 18, 1980 - the first Muni Metro service.[3] On December 17, 1980, the K, L, and M lines began Muni Metro service (and ceased using the diversion route) on weekdays. J Church trains began using the new portal on June 17, 1981. Finally, on September 19, 1982, weekend service was replaced by buses (and converted to Muni Metro trains on November 20), leaving only the inbound J Church stopping on Church at Duboce.[3] This station will be the northern terminus for the J Church service starting in August 2020, when Muni service is projected to return after the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

Accessible sections of high-level platforms were later built east of Church Street, near the entrance to the portal. These accessible platforms serve both lines; because the J Church stop at Market Street is not accessible, outbound J Church trains serve Duboce and Church if required by a passenger (but otherwise do not stop). Since the diversion in 1972, Duboce Avenue between Church Street and Market Street is not open to automobiles. A sidewalk and bike lanes run along the south side of the portal, and a 2-track Muni yard (the pre-1982 route to Market Street) sits on the north side. A Muni operator facility is located next to the yard. Under Muni stop naming conventions, the stop is known as Duboce and Church for the N Judah, and Church and Duboce for the J Church.

Failures of the interlocking between the J and N lines can cause significant cascading delays in the Market Street subway. Eight such failures occurred between 2017 and early 2019.[5] As part of August 2020 changes to Muni Metro, the J will become an all-surface line to avoid this issue. The J will initially terminate at the inbound platform on Church Street at Market Street, providing an accessible transfer between the J and subway trains.[6] A mini-high platform will be constructed on the inbound platform at Church and Duboce, and an outbound mini-high platform will be built on Church Street south of Market Street, allowing the J to be re-extended slightly to Duboce Street in October 2020.[6]

References

1. Stindt, Fred A. (October 1990). San Francisco's Century of Street Cars. p. 101. ISBN 0961546514.
2. Perles, Anthony (1981). The People's Railway: The History of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco. Interurban Press. pp. 96, 241. ISBN 0916374424.
3. Callwell, Robert (September 1999). "Transit in San Francisco: A Selected Chronology, 1850–1995" (PDF). San Francisco Municipal Railway. pp. 52, 57–61.
4. Maguire, Mariana (2020-06-18). "Big Changes Ahead when Muni Rail Returns in August". SFMTA. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
5. Swan, Rachel (February 25, 2019). "Muni puts bottleneck under microscope in effort to curb bus, rail delays". San Francisco Chronicle.
6. "J Church Transfer Improvements". San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

External links

• SFMTA - Duboce Ave & Church St inbound and outbound; Church St & Duboce Ave
• SF Bay Transit (unofficial) - Duboce Ave & Church St, Church St & Duboce Ave