Before there was BART, before there was AC Transit, there was the Key System, a series of train/bus routes in the east bay and SF. Of, GM bought them up and shut them down.
I am so amazed that the Key System had automatic trips to switch to the third rail operations on the bridge from their overhead wires. Its so incredibly rare, especially nowadays when all systems that have that kind of switch, executes it in stations manually
Those cars were built the same year trains made their first run across the Bay Bridge. They could of easily have been retrofitted. When the Key System closed in 1958 they were around 17-18 years old at best.
It's worth noting that the Key System cars that ran on the Bay Bridge were obsolete by the time they made their first trip, and with no air conditioning, were sweat boxes. It'd be nice to see trains back on the bridge today, but hopefully something advanced for the age in which they are re-installed. One of these cars can be seen at Rio Vista, in the museum there.
13 years later im gonna head over to check it out. Ive went to visit almost every relic still visible. I cant wait to see the beast that rode the rails.
The Key System was privately owned and in trouble, that's why it was sold. It's not like GM somehow came in by force and took it. A public agency could have been formed and bought it as well, but none was formed at that time.
The Key System would have been very successful if they switched the entire fleet to PCC streetcars and gave all streetcars dedicated lanes. They shouldn't have removed tracks from the Bay Bridge. Perhaps if the Key System and Muni were merged, with through-running service across the Bay Bridge, it would survive today.
They Key was always in financial straits and no longer maintained track east of the Bridge in its last years. These changes would be pretty unlikely given that both the CA Toll Authority and the East Bay cities were hostile to the Key. I do agree that a heavily redesigned and articulated PCC car would have been better.
