A streetcar named Embarcadero

You remember that rich uncle with the sailboat when you were a kid? The one that wore Top-Siders, drove a ragtop Mercedes, and always seemed to sneak a twenty into your palm when he shook your hand?

Yeah, me neither. Who are we kidding?

The America’s Cup folks, though, are coughing up some serious rich-uncle money to The City to make transit improvements along the Embarcadero before the racing begins in summer of 2013.

One of the first payoffs of our rich uncles coming to town should arrive this summer, when Muni fires up a new streetcar line, the E-Embarcadero.

An E line had been in the plan for the 2013 races all along, but the Golden Gate Xpress got SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose to spill the beans on an earlier-than-expected launch:

“We’re planning to start running later this year before the races in 2012 on the existing tracks we have in place and using our historic street cars.”

The new E will run from Caltrain to Fisherman’s Wharf, using a newly-acquired kitty of classic cars standing by to shuttle superyacht owners from their brand-new berths to Boulevard, Perry’s or Chaya.

It will stop at the same places the current T and F lines do along the Embarcadero, Rick Laubscher, president of the heroic Market Street Railway, commented on Muni Diaries.

European-style rental bikes and increased Muni service on several lines servicing the waterfront will join the E in 2013, along with a small city in itself of new, race-specific structures along the waterfront and Marina Green.

Jesse Garnier

Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.