I'm a member of Market Street Railway (https://www.streetcar.org/) which does a lot of advocacy to keep these street cars maintained. Many of these cars were either purchased long ago from other cities that would have otherwise scrapped them (most of the PCCs, the long sleek ones) and others are often either preserved MUNI originals or donated / purchased by Market Street Railway. Car 162 just came back into service and was purchased by Market Street Railway and worked on by volunteers (and MUNI) [1]

I obviously am I biased, and think this is very very cool. There are many intangibles here beyond the budget numbers; a bit of history, a bit of whimsy, a bit of color to what is often utilitarian (public transit). It certainly attracts tourists to the city (I was pretty surprised at the number of out of towners at MUNI heritage weekend).

But I do think it's important, not just for tourism but also as a legitimate connector along the Embarcadero corridor that otherwise has no public transit along it. Agree that a breakout of the cost of maintaining these things would be appreciated, not sure if that exists in clear terms, but I don't think it's massive. For example Car 162 was damaged in a collision in 2014, and took 12 years to fix and return to service. For many gripmen / MUNI restorationists working for the city, it's a side project.

And while I'm here, I'd be remiss if I didn't post an article about Maurice Klebolt, one of the biggest advocates for vintage transit in San Francisco. It describes how he acquired car 106 from the Soviet Union [2]

[1]: https://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/162-162-muni-1950s-live...

[2]: https://www.streetcar.org/remembering_a_trolley_titan/