Oh boy! The streetcar known as Boat Boi is among the vintage Muni streetcars that will be back in action for the summer months starting today, and there’s a real-time map where you can track which of your favorites are running, and where.

It’s the unofficial beginning of summer as Memorial Day weekend gets underway, and the trappings of the summer months return. One of those trappings that always catches the attention of history buffs and transit nerds is the famed fleet of vintage Muni streetcars. And this being Friday of Memorial Day weekend, those babies are back today.

The SF Municipal Transit Agency declared the old-time streetcars' return in a Friday tweet. “Muni Summer Vintage Streetcar Service starts today! 🥳,” the agency announced. “Extra service on the F Line with your cameos from your favorite cars like the Boat Tram, Melbourne, Milan & more.”

This also means the return to service of Market Street Railway’s live vintage streetcar map. That map will show which vintage trains are in service on a given day, and each of their current locations.

And yes, today’s fleet does include the cult-hit Boat Tram vessel popularly known as “Boat Boi.”(And if you don’t know, SFMTA actually has two of those trams.)

But the Boat Trams won’t be out every day, and the vintage streetcars will only run on weekends.

As Market Street Railway explained in a Wednesday blog post, “Every Friday and Saturday from May 23, one of the ‘Guest Star Streetcars’ — a Boat Tram, Melbourne Tram, Milan Tram or century-old Muni streetcar — will leave the Muni car house, Cameron Beach Yard, at 11:45 a.m. YOU CAN RIDE IT INTO SERVICE.”

The vintage street cars largely operate the normal F-Line route that’s mostly on Market Street, between Fisherman’s Wharf and the Castro. Though there is sometimes vintage train service on parts of the J-Church line too.

Another one to look out for is Streetcar No. 1, which really was Muni’s first streetcar from back in 1912. Streetcar No. 1 was taken out of service in 1951, though has occasionally been busted out again in the years since, and returned to seasonal service after a four-year restoration that was completed in 2010.

The vintage streets cars are scheduled to roll every weekend through October 13.

Related: Vintage 1956 Muni Bus Delighted Transit Nerds This Weekend at Duboce Park [SFist]

Image: @SFMTA_Muni via Twitter

Barely two years after the last seat redesign, the new Muni light-rail fleet is getting another redesign for its seats, with more double-seating and the butt dimples intact to comfort your ‘back door.’  

It was back in December 2021 when SFMTA rolled out the new seat designs for their newer light-rail train cars, a fleet technically known as LRV4s. Now, two years later, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) has redesigned the seat layout again, this time adding more double seats.

A couple of train cars with the new seat designs were already out in the wild when SFMTA announced the new design last Tuesday. (It didn’t get much attention that day, as the news was drowned out by a Clipper Card meltdown that happened the same morning.)

But for comparison's sake, the previous design is seen in the tweet below from December 2021.

“We introduced the addition of side-by-side seats facing the front or rear of the vehicle, also known as ‘transverse’ seats,” SFMTA said in their announcement last week. “This seating arrangement lets passengers choose whether they want to face forward or backwards, depending on the direction the train is headed.”

And now there are more of those transverse seats, as the row of single seats is now a row of double seats. “While all vehicles are being updated to include transverse seats, only our newer LRV4 vehicles have been equipped with double-transverse seating options, as this change required structural reinforcement to support the extra weight of two passengers,” the agency added.

And yes, the “butt dimples” (also known as “butt divots”) remain part of the design, as the seats without the dimples have been scrapped. “Your comfort and input are also important, and those older interiors are almost gone now,” SFMTA explained. “They’ve been replaced with updated seating featuring the return of the ‘butt-dimples' for a more comfortable ride.”

The overall price tag on this overhaul of the streetcar seats is $20 million per SFMTA, which may seem a little steep for an agency that was claiming “fiscal cliff” concerns just nine months ago. But SFMTA also says the redesign will “extend the manufacturer’s warranty on our new vehicles,” so that may pose some financial upside for them.

Related: ‘Butt Divots’ Are Coming Back, as Muni Is Rolling Out New, Redesigned Train Seats [SFist]

Image: SFMTA

A Muni bus, possibly a 38, just collided with an F-Line streetcar at the intersection of Kearny and Market Streets, causing damage to the streetcar and a possible derailment. The driver of the Muni bus failed to stop. It was a hit and run, basically. Muni on Muni. (Maybe Muni-on-Muni hit-runs are permissible?)

A tipster brings the news of the accident exclusively to SFist. The bus allegedly struck the streetcar on the front left side, and it was loud and visible and sent debris flying into the street. But, inexplicably, as if there weren't a hundred witnesses and passengers on both vehicles, the bus just kept going on its route.

The F car now sits stalled on the north side of Market Street, unable to move, and the passengers have been off-boarded. An F-line backup going outbound, obviously, has thus begun.

We'll update you as we learn more, and as we confirm details of this story.

Update: Erin Sherbert at SF Weekly spoke to the MTA and they say yes, it was an accident involving a 71 bus, but it is apparently Muni policy for a bus in that situation to keep moving in order to not hold up traffic.

Our eyewitness, meanwhile, described a fairly significant collision in which streetcar passengers were dramatically jolted, so it seems like a sort of bizarre policy that a bus driver who causes that sort of thing should just drive off? What if there were injuries?

Yesterday's crash, that is.

SFMTA director Nathaniel Ford expressed deep sadness and frustration over yesterday's F-Market Muni crash, which injured 6 people and follows July's Muni train crash in West Portal, saying in a statement, "This accident was intolerable and deeply frustrating, I know that the riding public is concerned about Muni safety, and so am I. Our ongoing work to improve Muni safety is clearly more urgent than ever."

Supervisor Bevan Dufty was confused, and rightfully so. He told KRON 4, "my understanding form being at the scene last night, you're supposed to have space between streetcars."

"This accident was avoidable," said Dufty tells SF Chronicle. "Muni procedures require a minimum of one block spacing between street cars. I can't imagine any excuse. We're past the point of talking about improving safety on Muni. Improvements need to be seen. It's totally unacceptable."

Check out more Muni crash images here and here.