Charlie Smallwood told me Muni management had studied operating buses in the Twin Peaks Tunnel but resolved it was too narrow. But the Sunset Tunnel was considered wide enough to bustitute.

My impression is that George Christopher publicly complained about the bustition of the B but privately went along with the program of Urban Removal. The carmens' union finally gave up on 2 man operation and Muni General Manager Charles Miller was able to secure PCC's from St. Louis using a lease-purchase deal which circumvented the requirements of the city charter.

Muni wanted to trash the J line too but the residents put up a protest and saved it. You have to ask why the B survived for 6 years after the loss of the bulk of the streetcar systems, both Muni and Market St. Ry. Perhaps as a sop to the union and out of tradition as the first Muni line and right in front of headquarters. Around 1954 some trackage was replaced on Geary so the argument it was in better shape does not seem so strong. I believe the loss of the Mission St. lines was actually more important and I remember Charlie mentioning that quite a bit. I did not grasp its significance at the time(mid-sixties) since the trolley buses were doing a pretty good job.

Speaking of which, if the B had been abandoned in 1950 it probably would have been converted to trolley coach. So in the imperfect world perhaps a less bad scenario.