See Them Now: Cable Car Photos
See the Routes: Cable Car Map
Take a Cable Car Tour of San Francisco
The Routes
The San Francisco cable cars run on three routes. Two of them start from the same place at Powell and Market, so be sure you check the sign on the end and get on the right one.- Powell-Hyde: (blue on the map). Goes from Market and Powell to Aquatic Park., past Union Square, the Cable Car Barn Museum, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Lombard (crookedest) Street, ends at Ghirardelli Square. Look for brown signs on the cars.
- Powell-Mason: (yellow on the map) Goes from Market and Powell to Bay and Taylor Streets, through North Beach and ends near Fisherman's Wharf. Look for yellow signs on the cars.
- California Street: (black on the map) Runs Drumm to Van Ness on California St., through the Financial District, Chinatown, Nob Hill. If you want to ride once just for the fun of it, this is the line to choose. Get off at the top of Nob Hill and you'll save your legs a steep climb.
Fares
Buy tickets for the San Francisco cable cars at the turnarounds or from the conductor as you board. You have to pay again every time you ride and there are no transfers. If you plan to make more than two rides a day, buy a Muni PASSPORT instead of paying every time you ride. It's good for unlimited San Francisco cable car rides, the Market Street F-Line streetcar and all the city-run buses.You can get tickets and PASSPORTS at the attended booths at the turnarounds at Powell and Market (near Union Square) or Hyde at Beach (just below Ghirardelli Square). You also get a 7-day MUNI passport when you buy a San Francisco CityPass, a good deal if you're also going to visit some of the attractions they bundle together.
If there's a long lines to get on, send one person to buy tickets while the rest of your group gets in line. If you plan to buy tickets from the conductor, it's best to have correct (or near-correct) change. As of early 2009, tickets were $3.00 each way (reduced to $1 for seniors over 65 years old and disabled persons, off-hours only). Children under 5 years old ride for free.
Getting On and Off
Don't despair when you get into a long line waiting to get on. The cable cars look like they don't hold very many people, but in fact they hold about sixty each when they're completely packed, so the lines go faster than you might expect.You can board cable cars at the turnarounds listed above or anywhere you see a brown-and-white Cable Car Stop sign like the one in the picture on this page. Signs that say "do not board" mean it and the cars won't stop there. If you are boarding from a stop, wait on the sidewalk and wave to alert the gripman to stop. Wait for the car to come to a complete stop and board from either side.
To get off the cable car, don't pull the rope (that's the bell rope, exclusively for the gripman's use). Just yell: "next stop, please," about a block before you want to get off. If you wait too long to ask, cable cars can't make sudden stops, and you may have to go to the next stop.
Hours
The cable cars run from about 6:00 a.m. to about 1:00 a.m.Accessibility
According to a friendly gripman who took time from eating his lunch to answer my question, people in wheelchairs ride the cable cars frequently. You just need someone along to help you get on and off.History of San Francisco Cable Cars
On August 2, 1873, the first person to ride a San Francisco cable car down Clay Street was Andrew Hallidie, its inventor. He got the idea after witnessing an accident. A horse-drawn carriage was going up a steep hill when the team faltered and the carriage rolled backward downhill, dragging the horses behind it.Hallidie's invention changed the way people in San Francisco lived, creating a vital link in the San Francisco transportation system and making it feasible for people to live on steep hills, which until then was impossible. The cable cars were an immediate success and by the 1890s, eight transit companies operated 600 cars on 21 routes covering over 50 miles.
Cable cars remained the primary mode of transportation until the 1906 earthquake, when most of system was destroyed. A municipal railway replaced most lines afterward. Today, they're the only vehicles of their kind still in operation and they are designated National Landmarks.
To learn more, visit the Cable Car Barn Museum, which is located at Mason and Washington and can be reached on the Powell-Mason or Powell-Hyde lines.
Review
We rate San Francisco's cable cars 5 stars out of 5. They're an icon of the city, tourist-filled but fun. Stand outside for the best ride. Others may disagree. You can see what other people just like you think about them, then bookmark this page and after you've been there, come back and tell us what you think.What do you think of San Francisco's cable cars as a tourist attraction???
- 5 = Awesome! It's a must-see sight that I recommend to everyone
- 4 = Great I really liked it, and I think you will, too
- 3 = Good Go if you have time, but it's not a big deal if you miss it
- 2 = OK Some people find it interesting, but I didn't
- 1 = So-So More fun than a night in jail, but you might enjoy a good nap more
- 0 = Yuck! Just say no to this flea-bitten hole of a tourist trap
