Muni rolled out its first Breda trains when Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee” was the hottest song on the radio and “the Rachel” haircut was, unironically, in style.
The light rail trains, gray with winking signs on the front cab, and iconic worm logos on the side doors, were cutting-edge for their time. They arrived at San Francisco bus yards on Jan. 12, 1995, assembled partly in Italy but with final tinkering at Pier 80, a shipyard in Potrero Hill.
Now, these iconic trains are ready for retirement. Transit nerds and nostalgists can take one last ride in a Breda on Wednesday, Nov. 12, when the final vehicle returns to the J Church line.
“We will miss the Bredas, and they will always be part of San Francisco’s history,” said Julie Kirschbaum, head of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. “They were there for a lot of firsts.”…