East Shore and Suburban Railway

The Eastshore and Suburban Railway (E&SR) was a formerly independent unit of the historic San Francisco Bay Area Key System which ran streetcar trains in Richmond, California, San Pablo, and El Cerrito. There were several lines with terminals at Point Richmond, North Richmond, the county line with Alameda County (a transfer point), what is now San Pablo, and Grand Canyon/East Richmond/Alvarado Park. Service to Oakland required a transfer to Oakland Traction Company trains at the County Line station and service to San Francisco required an additional transfer in Oakland. The systems were later consolidated into the Key System. Service began to be replaced by buses beginning on August 1, 1932, with the conversion of the East Richmond/23rd Street line to buses. Lines were converted to buses one at a time with the last remaining line being in November 1933.^[1][2] Fares were originally 5 cents and were raised to 7 cents ($1.65 in 2023) over time at the time of the last runs.^[3]

A ES&SR train passing through the "subway" under the Southern Pacific track on Macdonald Avenue in 1907.

References

1. "Bus Service To Richmond Will Start Tomorrow". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. November 6, 1933. p. 15. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.  
2. "Motor Bus Schedules In Richmond Protested". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. November 7, 1933. p. 16. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.  
3. (PDF). El Cerrito Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2007.

Further reading

• Hanson, Erle C. (1961). East Shore & Suburban Railway. Pacific Railroad Publications.

External links

• Photograph of E&SR streetcar