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Guide to the Key System Newspaper Clippings, 1941-1960, bulk 1941-1949
NS4175
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Key System newspaper clippings
Date (inclusive): 1941-1960,
Date (bulk): , bulk 1941-1949
Collection Number: NS4175
Creators :
Key System Transit Lines (Calif.)
Extent:
Number of containers: 30
Linear feet: 15
Repository:
Institute of Transportation Studies Library
Berkeley, California 94720-1720
Abstract: Newspaper clippings collected by the Key System from September 1941 to July 1960 covering San Francisco Bay Area transportation,
labor union, and urban planning issues, and Key System matters. Clippings are from various Bay Area newspapers including the
Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, the Argonaut, Richmond Independent, and others.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Library. Permission for publication is given on behalf of
the Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Key System Newspaper Clippings, NS4175, Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library, Institute of Transportation
Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Key System Transit Lines (Calif.)--History
Local transit--California--East Bay--History
Street-railroads--California--East Bay--History
Electric railroads--California--East Bay--History
Buses--California--East Bay--History
Clippings.
Donated to Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library in the early 1970s by the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, the successor
to the Key System Transit Lines.
No additions are expected.
Processed by Regina Kammer, Paul Hernandez, David Zlotnick in 2005.
In 1902, after having consolidated East Bay streetcar lines for almost a decade, Francis Marion "Borax" Smith formed the San
Francisco, Oakland & San Jose Railway. This company provided ferry service from San Francisco to a ferry pier in Berkeley,
then to points in the East Bay cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda via electric trains. The Berkeley ferry terminal
was at the end of a three-mile long wooden trestle extending into the San Francisco Bay. The corporate emblem was in the
shape of a key formed by the terminal, trestle, and the three East Bay cities, hence the system was called the "Key Route".
The first train began running on October 26, 1903. Smith continued to create additional streetcar routes chiefly dictated
by his real estate holdings in the East Bay.
In 1912, the Key Route was reorganized as the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways with two divisions: the Key Division,
which ran the transbay ferries and trains, and the Traction Division, which ran the streetcars. The whole organization was
also known as the Key System. In 1913, as a result of the collapse of a web of complicated financial dealings, San Francisco-Oakland
Terminal Railways was taken over by a committee of bankers representing the money lenders, and by 1923 it was sold to bondholders.
The company was reorganized as the Key System Transit Co. on January 1, 1924.
The Key Route began as a streetcar system but had incorporated buses on two feeder routes through Oakland's Montclair and
Mills College districts by May 1921. Bus service continued and was expanded under the Key System Transit Co. During the
1920s and 1930s, the Key System acquired independently-operated bus lines, chiefly in Oakland.
In 1930 and several times again until 1942, the company was reorganized. Key System Ltd. ran the transbay rail operation
in 1930, and was changed to Oakland Terminal Railroad Co. in 1935 as a freight company. Key Terminal Railway Ltd. ran the
ferries in 1930, and after a name change to Key System in 1935, it ran both the transbay rail and ferry services. East Bay
Motor Coach Lines Ltd. ran the bus system in 1930, but was taken over in 1934 by East Bay Street Railways Ltd. which had been
running the streetcars since 1930. The latter was renamed East Bay Transit Co. in 1936. On January 1, 1942, East Bay Transit
Co. was merged into Key System. In 1946, the company was renamed Key System Transit Lines under its new owner National City
Lines.
After the completion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the Key System provided transbay bus service (May 9, 1937) and
rail service (January 16, 1939). Ferry service was eliminated when rail service began in 1939.
During the 1930s, streetcars in the East Bay were gradually replaced by buses. On November 28, 1948, the last streetcar went
out of operation. By 1958, transbay rail service across the Bay Bridge across the Bay Bridge was replaced by buses.
During the late 1940s and the 1950s there were labor disputes between Key System and its employees. A strike was held during
most of 1953. Fare increases also caused relations with the public to deteriorate. These events helped fuel the movement
toward public ownership of the transit system.
In 1955, the California State Legislature passed an act authorizing the creation of the state's first Special Transit Service
District in the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. On November 6, 1956, East Bay citizens voted to establish
the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District. Initial funding for the District was provided in 1959 through a voter-approved
bond of $16.5 million. This money allowed AC Transit to acquire the Key System in 1960. AC Transit began its bus operations
on October 1, 1960.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection is comprised of newspaper clippings collected by the Key System from September 1941 to July 1960 covering San
Francisco Bay Area transportation, labor union, and urban planning issues, and Key System matters. Clippings are from various
Bay Area newspapers including the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, the Argonaut, Richmond Independent, and others.
The clippings are pasted onto pages of bound books (Sept. 1941-July 1946), binders (Aug. 1946; Oct. 1946; June 1-15, 1949;
July 16-Aug. 31, 1949; Jan. 1950; March 1-April 15, 1950; 1953), and manila file folders secured by brads or string (rest
of collection). Collection also includes one binder of press clippings from Richmond newspapers dated March 1945-July 1946.
Missing: Sept. 1946; June 16-30, 1948; Sept. 1-15, 1948; Oct. 1-15, 1948; Dec. 16-31, 1948; Jan. 1949; Oct. 1949; Nov. 16-30,
1949; May 1950; Sept.-Dec. 1950; March 1951-Aug. 1953; Dec. 1957-Dec. 1959.
Adhesive used to glue clippings to paper has deteriorated and some clippings have become loose or have completely separated
from paper.