San Francisco is paying tribute to the Red Rocket.

The non-profit arm of the city’s transportation agency has painted one of its historic streetcars red and embellished it with the TTC logo to honour Toronto’s dedication to the distinctive Presidents’ Conference Committee (PCC) streetcar.

“Toronto is one of the cities we honour because of its longstanding commitment to streetcars,” said Rick Laubscher, president of Market Street Railway, the non-profit arm of the San Francisco Municipal Railway that aims to preserve historic transit in San Francisco.

“The reason why Toronto was chosen is because it is iconic among transit fans in North America for having the continent’s most extensive streetcar system today, and one of the biggest ever,” said Laubscher.

“It would be impossible to start a program like this of honouring other cities without putting Toronto up there.”

The Red Rocket took its first ride along San Francisco’s exclusive F-line, which runs only heritage streetcars, last week. The streetcar is a permanent addition to the fleet.

PCC streetcars were designed in the 1930s to bring modern technology to transit vehicles. More than 30 cities in North America had PCC streetcars.

In Toronto, they were first used in regular service in 1938 and by 1954 Toronto had the largest fleet in North America. The last PCC was used in Toronto in the mid 1990s, and only two remain in Toronto for charter service.