San Francisco's beloved cable cars

As a part of the Cable Car Gearbox Rehab Project, Muni will run bus shuttles for the Powell-Hyde, Powell-Mason and California cable car lines starting Sept. 13, 2019 for about 10 days.

Release time : 2019-09-17 11:50:10

source : San Francisco Travel Association

person tends to the brakes, and rings the brass bell, the conductor collects fares and gives a hand with the brakes. It’s a team effort and the audience eats it up. And though it may not be a roller coaster ride, at a grade of 17 percent over Nob Hill and 21 percent along Hyde St., many people find themselves excitedly grasping whatever they can get a hold of, while the conductor shouts, “Heeeere we go!”

If there is one person to thank for this adventurous joy ride, it would have to be the inventor, Andrew S. Hallidie. This British native l rope manufacturer was inspired to create the cable cars in 1869, when he noticed the overworked horse cars. He was determined that there was a kinder and more efficient means of transportation, and four years later he proved it to the world. At 4:00 a.m. on August 2, 1873, while the rest of the city slept, a small crowd watched as “Hallidie’s Folly” made its maiden run down Nob Hill’s prestigious east side and made history. In fact, the run was so successful that eight companies operated a total of 22 lines in San Francisco.

Many other large cities throughout the country adopted the idea of the cable car as well, however by the mid-1940’s, San Francisco was the only city left with running cable car lines. When the city government tried to get rid of the lines, there was a successful public crusade organized by the “Citizens Committee to Save the Cable Cars” under the leadership of Friedel Klussmann.

Thanks to the efforts of Ms. Klussmann, the cable cars still serve as one of the best ways of sampling several distinct sections of this eclectic city for the millions of visitors who travel to San Francisco each year. Whether it be the heart of the shopping district at Powell and Market Streets or the incomparable pizzazz of Fisherman’s Wharf; the rush of the mid town route or the elegance of Victorian Park; exotic Chinatown or prestigious Nob Hill, the cable car