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The Key System Railway (or Key System Interurban) was a light-rail system that served the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from the 1900s until its removal in the late 1950s. It was the eastern counterpart to the San Francisco Municipal Railway or “Muni” streetcar system. The Key System's original service area is now predominantly covered by BART and AC Transit diesel buses. Today, the vast majority of East Bay residents do not realize an extensive light rail system once existed in their communities.

History

The system was a consolidation of several smaller streetcar lines assembled in the early 1900s by Frank “Borax” Smith, an entrepreneur who made a fortune in his namesake mineral. At its height during the 1940s the Key System had over 66 miles of track that connected the communities of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro to San Francisco. On a map the routes looked roughly like an old-fashioned key, with three “handle loops” that covered the East Bay cities and a “shaft” that extended westward toward San Francisco; thus the anecdotal source of the system’s name.

System Details

The initial connection across the Bay to San Francisco was through a causeway that extended from Emeryville westward 16,000 feet (4,900 meters) to a ferry terminal near Treasure Island. The Key System operated a system of ferries that made the final short connection to San Francisco. After its completion in 1936, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge had a dual track on its lower deck that directly connected the Key System to the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco's downtown.

The later rolling stock consisted of self propelled articulated cars in pairs sharing a common central truck and with central passenger entries in each car. Several of these pairs were connected to make up a train. Power pickup was via pantograph from overhead catenary wires. The cars had an enclosed operator's cab in the right front, with passenger seats extending to the very front of the vehicle, a favorite seat for many children, with dramatic views of the tracks ahead. The exterior color of the cars was mostly orange with pale green at the window level and a white upper body and roof. Interior upholstery was woven reed seat covers and the flooring was linoleum.

Dismantlement

The system was purchased and dismantled in 1958 after a General Motors subsidiary purchased the system (see General Motors streetcar conspiracy). State planners anxious to embrace California’s postwar love for the automobile also pushed to have the track across the Bay Bridge and street right-of-ways removed to increase highway and street capacity. AC Transit purchased the system's remaining assets. The rolling stock was sold and shipped off for operation in a major South American city.

Signs of the system still remain. The elevated loop at San Francisco's Transbay Transit Terminal still exists, and with some modifications to the original design, is currently used by AC Transit buses to drop off passengers and return to the East Bay as the Key System once did. This will be further modified when the Transbay Terminal is replaced with a new structure scheduled for completion in 2012. In several East Bay communities, the old right of way was converted into "Key Route" street.