When you think about the city of San Francisco, one of the first things that comes to mind are its iconic cable cars. It’s impossible to imagine the city, one of America’s most scenic, without its unique clanging, grinding public transportation system.
The cable car system was the brainchild of Andrew S. Hallidie, a transplanted Englishman and engineer. One day in 1869, Hallidie was watching a horse-drawn streetcar attempt to climb one of San Francisco's steep streets.
The animals struggled, partially making it up the hill before slipping on the wet cobblestone road surface and being dragged by the heavy car back down to the bottom of the hill.
Hallidie thought there had to be a better way. He began developing a plan for an underground system of thick metal wires, which would continually circulate. Streetcars would be designed to clamp onto these cables, and thereby be able to be pulled forward, including up San Francisco’s steep hills.
Over the next four years, he worked on his designs for the project, and then lobbied for funds to built it. Despite considerable skepticism, Hallidie succeeded in gaining support and, on August 2, 1873, the first cable car made a run from the top of Clay Street, down Nob Hill's steep east side.
The test was so successful that within seven years, the city had installed eight lines with more than 112 miles of cable.
Fortunately, "Hallidie's Folly," as it was originally called, not only weathered the early criticism but also later attempts to remove the system in the name of modernization (the fate of nearly every other cable car system later built in America).
Today, three cable car lines operate in San Francisco—and will in perpetuity, under the provisions of a city charter amendment adopted by the residents in 1971. Additionally, the system was designated a national historic landmark in 1964 by the National Park Service.
The most popular routes are the two Powell Street lines, both of which can be picked up at the turntable at Powell and Market streets, in the heart of the shopping district.
The Powell-Mason branch takes riders through Union Plaza, over the top of Nob Hill, then down to a turntable on Mason Street, about two blocks from the center of Fisherman's Wharf.
The Powell-Hyde line is a tad more dramatic a ride, taking you from the same starting point, up to Nob Hill, then veering west through some steep terrain, over Russian Hill, before coasting to Victorian Park, at the northern end of Fisherman's Wharf.
The latter route is probably the busiest in the system, so be prepared to wait in line at both ends of the ride.
The third cable car line is the Van Ness-California route, which runs from the foot of California Street, near Market Street, in the financial district, then travels northwest, through Chinatown, to Van Ness Avenue at Nob Hill.
Riding on a cable car is not only a reasonably cheap thrill— it only costs $5 to ride each way, which is a bargain in a pricey city like San Francisco—but an essential part of playing tourist in the city.
Plus there is something magical about standing on the running boards of a cable car (for the full effect, the best place to stand is in the front, hanging onto an exterior pole), feeling the brisk ocean breeze against your face.
The steep, somewhat frightening inclines, sharp turns, diverse sights, broad buffet of sounds and exotic odors, including the metallic smell of the cable car brakes, are all part of the experience.
Additionally, San Francisco's brakemen, who are the guys manipulating the levers and brakes that control the cable car, are often showmen. Most have their own styles in the way they ring the car's bells and bark out the various stops along the way.
Of course, for those not quite ready to hang on the outside, dodging the occasional automobile, there are plenty of seats within the cable car.
A few other facts about the cable cars:
• Despite evidence seemingly to the contrary, cable cars do not travel any faster than nine-and-a-half miles per hour.
• Cable cars have three brakes, so they are difficult to dislodge from the underground cable.
• Some 7 to 9.7 million passengers travel on the cable cars each year.
• San Francisco’s cable cars operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
For those wanting to learn more about the cable car system, there are excellent exhibits and tours available at the Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse, which is the nerve center for the system. The museum is located at Washington and Mason Streets and is open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, Sunday (closed on Mondays). Admission is free.
For more information about San Francisco's cable car system, go to: https://www.cablecarmuseum.org/.
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