Upper Yard

At the Potrero trolley bus barn, we have two levels. Unlike the Presidio trolley barn (which has one level and a tricky pull-out from track one and a pull-out to Sutter) the Potrero barn has many lanes of challenging tracks. There is a horseshoe U-turn maneuver from tracks ten, eleven, and twelve that can lock up an articulated coach in the lower yard by the wash rack.

The upper yard has an S-curve maneuver from tracks thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-two to the street that also makes it difficult to prevent a lock-up or de-wiring. Not only is the far side curb clearance an issue with parked cars, but the traffic on 17th Street does not want to yield or be slowed by a pull-out coach. In the evening, the car parkers run the gauntlet of passing through the tire shop. Potrero has car parkers to speed parking and prevent blocking. This necessity becomes clear when many coaches pull in together in the evening after rush hour is over. The car parkers also insure coaches are left on park charge correctly and that accessories are turned off.

There was a brief time when the car parkers were eliminated, but this led to problems when coaches were found “dead” the next day, or the poles had not been reset from dewirements. Coaches were also parked in a lane different than the one assigned by the tower. The cost of lost time in the morning was greater than the cost of having operators park the cars as a team in the evening.

The group effort adds to an impersonal sense of goodwill at the day’s end, making Potrero a great place to work. I am usually either exhausted or happy (or both) to see the car parkers and the revenue coworker who takes the money out of the fare box. I made it! Another day done, another dollar earned, still in one piece, and hopefully, without a trip upstairs to fill out paperwork. The best feeling is to get on my bike or walk to the bus stop and go home.

Pulling in and parking on the upper yard requires a skill level that takes time to master. There are switches in the yard and in the street, and if some are not working, it makes for a bad afternoon. There is rush hour traffic to contend with on 17th Street and a gauntlet to run through the tire shop garage. Coming to rest on the upper yard tracks is the challenge of navigating around parked cars that aren’t supposed to be there. And the pressure of more buses coming home and backing up traffic on the street. Many thanks go to the traffic engineers who eliminated parking along 17th Street by our bus barn when 17th Street was recently repaved. This bike lane helps us get by in the morning and evening, and it helps the car parkers make their turn onto 17th!