page_title: Trolleybuses in San Francisco
section_title: Return to New Flyer
hierarchical_section_title: Trolleybuses in San Francisco / Fleet / Return to New Flyer
caption_attribution_description: English: Trolleybuses at Cabrillo and La Playa loop in November 2018
context_page_description: The San Francisco trolleybus system forms part of the public transportation network serving San Francisco, in the state of California, United States. Opened on October 6, 1935, it presently comprises 15 lines, and is operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, commonly known as Muni, with around 300 trolleybuses. In San Francisco, these vehicles are also known as "trolley coaches", a term that was the most common name for trolleybuses in the United States in the middle decades of the 20th century.
  The Muni trolley bus system is complementary to the city-owned Muni bus services, Muni Metro and cable car system and the rail-bound regional Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit systems. In addition, it shares some of its overhead wires with the F Market & Wharves streetcar line.
  One of only five such systems currently operating in the U.S., the Muni trolley bus system is the second-largest such system in the Western Hemisphere, after that of Mexico City. The system includes the single steepest known grade on any existing trolley bus line in the world, and several other sections of Muni trolley bus routes are among the world's steepest.
context_section_description: In 2013, the SFMTA adopted plans for an eventual one-for-one replacement of the existing trolleybus fleet in a joint procurement with King County Metro and New Flyer over technical specifications and pricing. The first order to be placed under the 2013 agreement was the 2014 order to replace the 61 articulated trolleybuses remaining in the fleet (28 E60 and 33 15TrSF) with 60 New Flyer XT60 articulated low-floor trolleybuses, delivery of which began in 2015. These are the trolleybus system's first low-floor vehicles. Two prototypes (Nos. 7201 and 7202) arrived in March 2015 and May 2015, respectively, and entered service in May and September 2015. Delivery of the 58 production-series vehicles began in September 2015, and the series entered service between November 2015 and July 2016. 
  The last of the 33 ETI 15TrSF articulated trolleybuses were retired in April–May 2016. These changes left the fleet with 240 conventional 40-foot units built by ETI (model 14TrSF) and 60 articulated New Flyer XT60s. In July 2016, an order for an additional 33 New Flyer XT60 articulated buses was placed via a first contract amendment, intended as an expansion of the 60-foot articulated fleet. Delivery of the 33 additional XT60 coaches was completed by March 2018. According to internal testing in November 2015, the New Flyer XT60 articulated trolleybuses are limited to routes with grades of less than 10%.
  The second and final contract amendment under the 2013 agreement added an order for 185 two-axle, 40-foot New Flyer XT40 trolleybuses, which received final approval in June 2017. These vehicles will replace the remaining ETIs. Although Muni has options for an additional 55 XT40 trolleybuses (which would bring the total order to 240 40-foot XT40s as a one-for-one replacement of the ETI 14TrSF fleet), the option was not exercised because the first contract amendment in 2016 for 33 additional XT60 articulated trolleybuses provided sufficient system capacity. In the 2010 Fleet Management Plan, Muni anticipated the growth in ridership on routes served by trolleybuses would be accommodated by an increased proportion of articulated vehicles in the fleet. By September 7, 2019, the fleet of 40-foot ETI 14TrSF trolleybuses was withdrawn from service, which left the all-New Flyer fleet at 93 60-foot XT60s and 185 40-foot XT40s.
caption: New Flyer XT40 and XT60 at Cabrillo and La Playa loop (2018)
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