Muni opens T-Third at last

LIMITED OPERATION of San Francisco’s T-Third light rail line began on January 13, with Muni Metro offering free rides on weekends and public holidays until April 7, when full revenue services are scheduled to start. T-Third services start from Castro Street station and run through the city centre using the existing Market Street subway and waterfront route to the Caltrain terminus at Fourth and King Streets. They then join new tracks for 8?7?km along a central reservation on Third Street to Bayview Boulevard in Visitacion Valley (RG 11.00 p698). Now expected to cost $667m, the Third Street line is almost $120m over budget and a year behind schedule following problems during construction. The line serves some of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods, but local officials are anticipating an economic revival, citing a four-fold increase in house prices since the project was launched.n