Articulateds are absolutely essential on really busy lines like Muni #38, which was of course in a better times the B streetcar. Historically you can see the pattern in terms of payroll. The original Muni streetcars probably had about the same capacity as the replacement Mack buses but were 2 man. So you achieved savings there and the buses probably could snake around the worsening traffic and of course DPW wanted to make Geary-O'Farrell into a one-way couplet. All this against a backdrop of dropping postwar patronage.

With the return of passengers in the sixties and rising wages articulateds provided the needed extra capacity tho they were underpowered(the MAN's). Now Muni should try to get a dispensation from Jerry & Co. to try out 3 section articulated buses. And they ought to just go ahead and wire the route and forget about waiting for more battery power. The underground feeders are already there from the B and Geary carhouse(now Muni GHQ)is right in the middle of the line.

Clearly it should have remained a rail line - the patronage always justified it. Same for the Mission St. lines stupidly abandoned postwar. Charlie Smallwood particularly complained about that decision; it was not until years later I realized how right he was and Mission might be a more important trunk than either Market or Geary and those dolts just threw it away along with the San Mateo interburan. But I will hand it to the BART planners for once - they indeed recognized Mission St. as key.

Sorry to digress historically but those aerial fotos just brought back to mind what we lost.