By ashleykaren
San Francisco MTA’s T-Third Line which is linking Chinatown-Rose Park Station from 4th & King in the new Central Subway put into operation on January 7. The line works Mondays to Fridays, 6 a.m. to midnight every 10 minutes and Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to midnight every 12 minutes.
The new Central Subway tunnel operates under the Market Street subway, which means the stations are deeper and have very long escalators – the longest in the United States west of the Mississippi. In addition, there are two glass elevators at each station from street level to concourse level and from concourse level to platform level for accessibility. The elevators are in the center of the concourse with their fare gates at Union Square/Market Street Station.
Lifeline and MuniMobile customers may use any of the wide fare gates at the Union Square/Market Street Station – at the Geary escalators, the Ellis escalators or the elevators in the center of the concourse. All three new Central Subway underground stations are provided with WiFi, and the cellular service will be equipped soon.
Construction on the Central Subway started in 2010. It is the first new subway to open in the city in 40 years. It contains three new underground stations and one above-ground station, where joins the Muni Metro T Third line.
Central Subway’s planning started in the late 1980s to deliver more transit on 3rd Street and Chinatown. After six years of construction, the first part of the T Third commenced on 3rd Street in 2007. It links Mission Bay, Bayview, Hunter’s Point and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods.
In 2013, work started to add 1.7 miles to the T Third, with four new stations in SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown. Tunnels over a mile long beneath the streets are 120 feet deep in some areas. The project is worth $1.9 billion, financed by the Federal Transit Administration, the State of California, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the City and County of San Francisco.
