Muni Presidio Division

Muni's Presidio Division at 949 Presidio Avenue has faced the same question for half a century: expand it, or move it. A 1975 regional transit study proposed six new or rebuilt divisions at a capital cost of $17.3 million, with Presidio to get improved trolley-coach accommodation and modernised Muni general offices; the same study notes that the central radio control room here housed the railway's main supervisory control facilities. In 1978 the Public Utilities Commission heard that Muni staff had opted to enlarge Presidio for both bus maintenance and office space instead of acquiring the U.S. Steel property — and then that a third alternative had emerged within days, involving underground facilities leased back from the federal government at the beach. The Budget Analyst's 1996 management audit of Muni put the question flatly: should the Presidio Division trolley facility be expanded at 949 Presidio, or relocated to free the site for revenue-generating development? Meanwhile the yard kept working. The commission approved a $22,019 modification to the division's heating and ventilation contract in 1988 and put shop-door rehabilitation out to bid; in 2001 an assembly room was converted, at $614,000, into an electronics shop for testing the new ETI trolley buses; and recent permits cover bus lifts, roll-up doors and an accessible restroom.