The Key System (or Key Route) was a company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from the 1900s until 1960 when the system was sold to a newly formed public agency, AC Transit. The Key System consisted of local streetcar and bus lines operating solely in the East Bay and a network of several interurban streetcar and intercity bus lines connecting the cities and neighborhoods in the East Bay to San Francisco (before 1939 via a ferry terminal in the middle of the San Francisco Bay). The local streetcars were discontinued in 1948 and the interurban streetcars to San Francisco were discontinued in 1958. It was the eastern counterpart to the San Francisco Municipal Railway or “Muni” streetcar system. Much of Key System Railway was purchased in the late 1950s and subsequently dismantled by a General Motors Corporation subsidiary. Some ascribe this to a conspiracy to force the adoption of equipment and fuel produced by General Motors and several other corporations, others view the demise of Key Rail as an inevitability in the automobile era. This image was uploaded from the website http://donross. ... In the United States of America, transit describes local area common carrier passenger transportation configured to provide scheduled service on fixed routes on a non-reservation basis. ... View of downtown Oakland looking west across Lake Merritt. ... Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve Berkeley is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California, in the United States. ... The city of Emeryville highlighted within Alameda County Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California. ... The city of Piedmont highlighted within Alameda County Piedmont is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... San Leandro is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... Richmond is a city located in Contra Costa County, California, USA. It is north of El Cerrito and Albany in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. ... The city of Albany highlighted within Alameda County Albany is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... El Cerrito, California may refer to: El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California (The City of El Cerrito, California) El Cerrito, Riverside County, California (A small unincorporated area surrounded by Corona, California) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The East Bay, in the northern part of the U.S. state of California, lies on the east shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay, and includes Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. ... USGS Satellite photo of the San Francisco Bay Area. ... // Events and Trends Technology Lawrence Hargrave makes the first stable wing design for a heavier-than-air aircraft Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft Mass production of automobile Wide popularity of home phonograph Panama Canal is built by the United... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... AC Transit (in full, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is a regional bus agency serving parts of Alameda County and Contra Costa County in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... An interurban streetcar line or interurban, also called a radial railway in Canada, is a streetcar line running between urban areas. ... Nickname: The City by the Bay Motto: Official website: http://www. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Two forms of public transport operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni): on the left, a bus (the 38 Geary line) and, on the right, the F Market historic streetcar. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ...

The Oakland Terminal Railroad was formed in 1935 to handle to switching needs of Key System's freight customers. In 1943 the Oakland Terminal Railroad was jointly purchased by the Western Pacific and the Santa Fe Railway and is now known as the Oakland Terminal Railway (OTR). The Oakland Terminal Railway (AAR reporting mark OTR) is a switching railroad in West Oakland, California. ... The Western Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark WP) was a Class I railroad in the United States. ... The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AAR reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the largest railroads in the United States. ...

History

The system was a consolidation of several smaller streetcar lines assembled in the early 1900s by Francis Marion “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. Francis Marion Borax Smith (February 2, 1846 - August 27, 1931) was an American borax magnate and civic builder of Oakland, CA. Francis Marion Smith was born in Richmond, Wisconsin on February 2, 1846. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... Richmond is a city located in Contra Costa County, California, USA. It is north of El Cerrito and Albany in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. ... The city of Albany highlighted within Alameda County Albany is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve Berkeley is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California, in the United States. ... View of downtown Oakland looking west across Lake Merritt. ... San Leandro is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... Nickname: The City by the Bay Motto: Official website: http://www. ...

System details

The initial connection across the Bay to San Francisco was through a causeway that extended from Oakland, California 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. In 1939, a new dual track opened on the lower deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that directly connected the Key System to the then-new Transbay Terminal in San Francisco's downtown. View of downtown Oakland looking west across Lake Merritt. ... An aerial view of Treasure Island in the foreground, with its link to Yerba Buena Island in the background. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (37°49′5″N, 122°20′48″W; known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a toll bridge which spans the San Francisco Bay and links the Californian cities of Oakland and San Francisco in the United States. ... San Francisco Transbay Terminal or simply Transbay Terminal, is a transportation complex in San Francisco, California which is located roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north-south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east-west by Beale Street and Second Street. ...

The later rolling stock consisted of 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. The Z-shaped pantograph of the electrical pickup on German light railway. ... Linoleum floor - a cheaper variety printed to appear to be wood Linoleum is a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil (linoxyn) in combination with wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing. ...

Dismantlement

The Key System's famed interurban streetcar system was dismantled in 1958 after many years of effort by National City Lines, a General Motors subsidiary which had bought up the system in the late 1940s to petition the public utiliy board to abandon the last rail lines. Many sources allege that the National City Lines purchase of many transit systems across the United States was part of a conspiracy to increase urban dependence on the automobile (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 rights of way removed to increase highway and street capacity. The local governments in the East Bay attempted to purchase the Key System in the late 1950s to save the last rail lines to San Francisco however they were unable to buy the system and form AC Transit until 1960 when the system was all-bus. The last run for the Key System's rail system was on April 20, 1958 and shortly after the rolling stock was sold and shipped off for operation in a major South American city. Between 1936 and 1950, National City Lines (NCL), a holding company sponsored and funded by General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum, bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction (streetcar) systems in 45 cities (including New York, Philadelphia, St. ... General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ... The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to a contention that General Motors (GM), acting in conjunction with several other companies and through the National City Lines (NCL) holding company, illegally acquired many streetcar systems in various cities around the United States, dismantled and replaced them with buses for the express... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... AC Transit (in full, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is a regional bus agency serving parts of Alameda County and Contra Costa County in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. Two of the articulated trains that ran across the Bay Bridge survive today and operate in Rio Vista, California at the Western Railway Museum San Francisco Transbay Terminal, or simply Transbay Terminal, is a transportation complex in San Francisco, California located roughly in the center of the rectangle bounded north-south by Mission Street and Howard Street, and east-west by Beale Street and Second Street. ... AC Transit (in full, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is a regional bus agency serving parts of Alameda County and Contra Costa County in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... 2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rio Vista is a city located in Solano County, California. ... The Western Railway Museum is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Suisun, California. ...

This image was uploaded from the website http://www. ...

Transbay Rail Lines

• A - Downtown Oakland (was extended far into East Oakland to near the San Leandro border on the competing Southern Pacific interurban tracks when they shut down their operations in 1941)
• B - Trestle Glen
• C - Piedmont
• E - Claremont
• F - Berkeley / Adeline Street (was also extended on former Southern Pacific interurban tracks thru downtown Berkeley to Solano Avenue)
• G - Westbrae / Sacramento Street
• H - Monterey Avenue
• K - College Avenue (Connecting East Bay-only Shuttle)

• D was reserved for a proposed line into Montclair along the Sacramento Northern Interurban Railway
• The A,B,C,E and F lines were the last rail lines operating in the system's final years and shut down on April 20, 1958

East Oakland is a large southeastern portion of Oakland, California, and takes up the largest portion of the citys land area. ... San Leandro is a city located in Alameda County, California. ... The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark SP) was an American railroad. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Solano Avenue is a two mile (3. ... Montclair is a suburb in Oakland, California. ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External pictures

• "Key System #182 sitting in the car barn at the Western Railway Museum, Sept. 1990."
• A Key System car in Oakland, 1954.
• An excellent gallery of Key System images

External links

• The Key System presents: The March of Progress (1945 documentary)
  • Stills from the documentary
• Commercial DVD detailing the history of the system
• Oakland Berkeley & Eastern