I never rode a yellow school bus. Didn’t need to. My elementary school sat on the same block as our house.

When busing kicked off in the ’70s, I got sent to a freedom school for a bit, then switched to Zion Lutheran in the Richmond. That meant I had to get across town. At age 11. On public transit.

Each morning, I waited at West Portal tunnel. A green-and-cream PCC streetcar would roll in, and I’d hop on. We’d roar through the tunnel toward Forest Hill. The drivers didn’t mess around. It felt like they were going 35 MPH, easy. Those old ‘40s streetcars would develop quite a bounce.

At Forest Hill, I’d switch to the 10 Monterey* bus to get to school. That was the routine.

High school flipped the direction. For Lowell, I took the M Ocean View to Eucalyptus. If the M bailed, the K Ingleside was backup, just a couple blocks farther.

Same deal for City College. The K to the Phelan Loop. Around that time is when the Boeings started showing up. The first of Muni’s new light rail fleet. Smoother, but not the same.

I still remember those PCCs. They don’t run on the K, L or M anymore, but when I get a chance to take one on the F line to Fisherman’s Wharf, it all comes back. That bounce. That particular smells. It brings back good memories.

*This route is now served by the 44 O’Shaughnessy