Key System

Officially the **San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Consolidated Railway,** **Key System**, or **Key Route** was a privately-owned mass-transit provider in Oakland, California and surrounding area between 1903 and 1960. The service area included the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. The outer destinations resembled "loops" in the inside part of a key, while the Oakland-San Francisco route along the pier provided the shaft and teeth of a key. Due to this similarity, the service was called the **Key System.**

This operating franchise was owned by National City Lines, a bus and streetcar holding company between 1946 and 1960. During the National City Lines years, the system was known as **Key System Transit Lines**.

Key System Statistics as of 1/12/1948:

* Bridge Units: 88
* Street Cars: 137
* Motor Coaches: 425
* Daily mileage: 85,000

## History

* 1902 - Incorporated as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Railway
* October 26, 1903 - Started operations, using *San Francisco*
* January 14, 1939 - Start of transbay rail service via Bay Bridge (Bridge Railway)
* January 15, 1939 - End of commuter ferry service (SF Ferry Building - Key Pier, Oakland)
* September 29, 1940 - End Golden Gate International Exposition ferry service.
* April 20, 1958 - End of Rail operation
* September 30, 1960 - End of operation, succeeded by AC Transit

## Service

### Trans-Bay rail lines

From 1903 to 1939, service from Oakland to San Francisco was via a 3 mile long pier into the San Francisco Bay, then via ferry from the end of the pier to the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Note: Until the Bay Bridge railway began operation, Key commuter trains had no letter designation. They were named for the principal street or district they served.

* A – Downtown Oakland (was extended far into East Oakland to near the San Leandro border on the competing Southern Pacific Railroad interurban (see East Bay Electric Lines) tracks when they shut down their operations in 1941)
* B – Lakeshore and Trestle Glen (originally ran through a Key hotel, the Key Route Inn at Grand and Broadway in Oakland; the Inn burned down in the 1930s)
* C – Piedmont (Via 40th Street and Piedmont Avenue; alongside Pleasant Valley and Arroyo avenues; and between York Drive and Ricardo Avenue to terminus at Oakland Avenue)
* D was reserved for a proposed line into Montclair alongside the Sacramento Northern interurban railway
* E – Claremont (ran directly to the Claremont Hotel, terminating on a track between the two tennis courts; the tennis courts survive to this day)
* F – Berkeley / Adeline Street (was also extended on former Southern Pacific interurban tracks on Shattuck Avenue beyond Dwight Way and through the SP's Northbrae Tunnel, terminating at Solano Avenue and The Alameda)
* G – Westbrae Shuttle (actually, a streetcar shuttle providing a connection at University Avenue with the H transbay train)
* H – Monterey Avenue (originally, the Sacramento Street Line; the original line ran up Hopkins, but was switched to the SP's old tracks up Monterey after 1933)
* K – College Avenue (also a streetcar shuttle providing a connection at Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street with the F transbay train); this line ran extra cars and was heavily used on football game days as its terminus was only a few blocks away from UC's Memorial Stadium

The A, B, C, E and F lines were the last Key System rail lines. Train service ended on April 20, 1958, replaced by buses using the same letter designations. AC Transit preserved the letter-designated routes when it took over the Key System two years later, and are still in use; AC Transit's B, C, E, F, G and H lines follow roughly the corresponding Key routes and neighborhoods.

### Trans-Bay Motor Bus lines

* J - Richmond Housing. One trip per day in 1958
* K - Havenscourt/East Oakland
* L - Richmond
* N - East Oakland
* O - Santa Clara-Alameda
* R - Hayward
* S - Piedmont
* T - Treasure Island
* V - Montclair
* W - Encinal
* X - World's Fair Shuttle

Like the trans-bay rail lines, some Key System transbay motor coach lines exist in various forms in the present day under AC Transit, including the N (as present day NL) and O lines.

### Local Streetcar lines

Local streetcar service was replaced by busses.

* 1 - San Pablo & Asby Ave - Oakland 105th Ave & East 14th Street (1931-1948)
* 2 - San Pablo & Asby Ave - Downtown Oakland (1916-1948)
* 3 - Downtown Oakland - UC Campus via Grove St (1904-1948)
* 4 - Downtown Oakland - Berkeley via Shattuck (1904-1948)
* 5 - Downtown Oakland - Berkeley via Telegraph Ave (1904-1948)
* 6 - Downtown Oakland - Berkley Arlington Ave via College Ave (1906-1946)
* 7 - Arlington to Euclid Ave via Downtown Berkeley (1907-1948)
* 10 - Piedmont - Downtown Oakland - Hopkins (1912-1948)
* 11 - 38th Ave - Downtown Oakland - Linda & Piedmont (1910-1948)
* 12 - SP 16th St Depot - Downtown Oakland - Grand Ave (1912 - 1948)
* 14 - Fruitvale Ave & East 27th St - Downtown Oakland via E 21st St, E 18th St (1906-1948)
* 15 - 38th Ave - Downtown Oakland 13th St/8th St (1916-1946)
* 18 - Park Blvd - Downtown Oakland - Lakeshore (1904-1948)

### Local Motor Bus lines

As of 1958. Many of these lines survived into AC Transit operation, and a handful still run today (such as lines 51, 72)

* 7 - Arlington-Euclid Ave
* 11 - Oakland Avenue - Broadway
* 12 - Army Base-Grand Avenue-West 14th Street
* 14 - Brookdale-EmeryviIIe
* 15 - Berkeley-Grove Street-Observatory
* 15B - Market Street-Mountain Boulevard
* 15C - Market Street-Coolidge-Alcatraz
* 15D - Market Street-Davenport-Observatory
* 17 - Berkeley College
* 18 - Park Boulevard-Lakeshore Avenue
* 39 - Airport-Brookfield Village
* 40 - Telegraph Avenue - Foothill Blvd
* 41 - Foothill Boulevard Berkeley via Shattuck
* 42 - Alameda NAS -Piedmont
* 43 - Oakland-San Leandro via Foothill Blvd
* 44 - West Oakland
* 46 - Arthur-Olive street
* 51 - Berkeley-Alameda
* 53 - Fruitvale Avenue
* 54 - 35th-38th Avenues
* 55 - Dutton Avenue-Davis Street-Mulford Gardens
* 56 - Seminary Avenue-Oak Knoll
* 57 - MacArthur Boulevard to 40th & San Pablo
* 59 - Thornhill Drive-Broadway Montclair
* 60 - Southern Pacific Mole-Ferry Street
* 64 - San Jose Avenue
* 65 - Dwight Way
* 67 - Spruce Street-Colusa Avenue
* 68 - Barrett-Garvin Avenue-McBryde-Arlington
* 69 - 23rd and 6th Streets - Chesley Ave Richmond
* 72M - San Pablo Avenue-Macdonald
* 72P - San Pablo Avenue-Potrero
* 73A - Sixth St
* 74 - Ashby Avenue-6th Street
* 75 - Grizzly Peak Blvd Shuttle
* 76 - Terrace-Montclair
* 78A - Panhandle-Rheem-EI Sobrante
* 79 - Observatory-High Street-Bay Farm Island
* 80 - Oakland-San Leandro-Hayward- Castro Valley
* 81 - Oakland-San Leandro-San Lorenzo-Hayward
* 82 - Oakland-San Leandro-Hayward
* 83 - East 14th Street-Sobrante Park (150th Ave) Express
* 87 - Maxwell Park
* 88 - Berkeley to Market St & Sacramento
* 91 - Castro Valley-Seven Hills Line

## Facilities

* Office - 1106 Broadway, Oakland 7
* Telephone - OLympic 3-3535

### Rail Yards

* Yerba Buena Yard
* Bridge Yard
* Western Car House - 51st & Telegraph

### Bus Yards

* Division 2, Emeryville- 45th & San Pablo. Opened 12-2-38. Current site of AC Transit Division 2.
* Seminary Division - Seminary Ave and San Leandro St. Opened 9-1-48. Currenly used by AC Transit.
* Richmond Division - opened 9-1-48
* Western Car House - 51st & Telegraph, used before opening of D2

## Roster

### Ferry

Ferry commuter service was replaced by the Bay Bridge on 1/14/1939-1/15/1939. Ferries were then used for the Golden Gate International Exposition until 9/29/1940.

Early on, ferries were painted a bright yellow, and later orange.

### Rail

All rail service ended on April 20, 1958.

*This section is incomplete.*

### Motor Coach

Motor coach (bus) service was provided under many names, as follows:

* San Francisco - Oakland Terminal Railways: 1921 to 1924
* Key System Transit Company: 1924 to 1929
* East Bay Motor Coach: 1929 to 1933
* East Bay Street Railways: 1933 to 1936
* East Bay Transit Company: 1936 to 1942
* Key System: 1942 to 1946
* Key System Transit Lines: 1946 to 1960

## References

1. ↑ Western Railway Museum, http://www.wrm.org/about/railroad-history/key-system Key System]
2. ↑ Key Notes, Volume II Issue 2, https://www.facebook.com/bayareamodels/photos/a.601125691280441/601124521280558]
3. ↑ https://sfstreetcars.co/ Streetcars
4. ↑ Public Transit Plan, Summary 1958, https://www.actransit.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/public-transit-plan-summary-1958.pdf]
5. ↑  Ron Hook Notes
6. ↑ Trainorders, https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2995730]