Planning staff of the SFMTA announced last week that three lines serving the Haight-Ashbury will have their names changed later this month. One will actually have its number changed, the other two will keep their numbers, but change their names.
The 71 will now be re-numbered the “7” the number used by the old “ 7 Haight,” discontinued in 2009. The old line started at Haight and Waller and ran to the Transbay terminal. The old 7 followed part of the line originally started in 1916 with the “17 Haight” which ran all the way to Ocean Beach. The new “7 Haight-Noriega “ will follow that historic route of running from downtown to Ocean Beach, using the entire length of Haight Street to do so.
The two additional changes will be of line names, not numbers: The 6 will now be called the “Haight/Parnassus” and the 33 will now be called the “Ashbury/ 18th.”
Two years ago, HANC led the fight to keep the 6 serving the Upper Haight (that is the “real” upper Haight above Waller Street and not the real estate speculator term now in use for the Haight-Ashbury). In that fight HANC members urged that the line name be changed to advertise the fact that it served the Haight-Ashbury. Score one for HANC