Cash:
Tickets: can be purchased at turnarounds or from the conductor as you board.
Adult & Youth (ages 5-17): $3.00 each way.
Senior (ages 65+) & Disabled: $3.00 each way ($1.00 9pm-7am).
Passes:
Passports: are perfect for visitors to the city, and allow riding on streetcars, buses, and cable cars.
One Day: $9.00.
Three Days: $15.00.
Seven Days: $20.00.
FastPasses: allow monthly unlimited riding for cable cars, streetcars, buses, and BART (within SF).
Adult (ages 18-64): $45.00.
Youth (ages 5-17): $10.00.
Senior (ages 65+) and Disabled: $10.00.
Children 4 and under ride free. Check Muni's vendor page for locations where passes are sold. NOTE: Transfers from Muni buses and Metro Lines are not accepted on the cable cars. Fares may be subject to change without notice here.
No transfers/fare receipts accepted or issued
The conductors can make change for up to $20.
Limited edition souvenir cable car tickets are available at ticket booths
located at Powell and Market Streets and at Hyde and Beach Streets.
They're also available at the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau at 900 Market St.
(Hallidie Plaza, at Powell and Market Streets).
The Museum houses a collection of historic cable cars, photographs, mechanical displays and gift shop run by the Friends of the Cable Car Museum - a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of cable car history.
Cable Car Museum - 1201 Mason Street - San Francisco, CA 94108
Hours: 10 am - 6 pm April 1 thru September 30
10 am - 5 pm October 1 thru March 31
Open every day except New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Admission is Free.
Phone: (415) 474-1887
Access: Ramp and elevator for disabled visitors are located on the Washington Street side of building. Please contact museum staff for additional assistance.
San Francisco Cable Car Museum Ride a Cable Car. Video by Frederic Larson, SFGATE.com.
The current cable car network consists of three lines. Like other Muni routes, they have line numbers, but are generally referred to by name.
The Powell-Hyde (Line 60)[5] line runs north and steeply uphill from a terminal at Powell and Market Streets, before crossing the California Street line at the crest of the hill. Downhill from this crest it turns left and uphill again along Jackson Street (as this is one-way, cable cars in the opposite direction use the parallel Washington Street), to a crest at Hyde Street. Here it turns right and steeply downhill along Hyde Street to the Hyde and Beach terminal, which is adjacent to the waterfront at the San Francisco Maritime Museum. Man powered turntables turn the cable cars around at the two ends. This line is used greatly by tourists and often has long lines.
The Powell-Mason (Line 59) line shares the tracks of the Powell-Hyde line as far as Mason Street, where it crosses Washington and Jackson streets. Here the line turns right and downhill along Mason Street, briefly half left along Columbus Avenue, and then down Taylor Street to a terminal at Taylor and Bay. This terminus is near to, but two blocks back from, the waterfront at Fisherman's Wharf. There are man powered turntables at each end that turn the cars around. This line is also used greatly by tourists.
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system, and is an icon of San Francisco, California. The San Francisco cable cars are the only moving National Historic Landmarks.[2] The cable car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is better known. Cable cars operate on two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf,and a third route along California Street. While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, their small service area and premium fares for single rides make them more of a tourist attraction.
The very first successful cable-operated street railway was the Clay Street Hill Railroad, which opened on August 2, 1873. The promoter of the line was Andrew Smith Hallidie, and the engineer was William Eppelsheimer. The line involved the use of grip cars, which carried the grip that engaged with the cable, towing trailer cars. The design was the first to use grips.
The line started regular service on September 1, 1873, and it was such a success that it became the model for other cable car transit systems in San Francisco and elsewhere. It was a financial success, and Hallidie's patents were enforced on other cable car promoters, making him a rich man.
Accounts differ as to exactly how involved Hallidie was in the inception of the line, and to the exact date it first ran. See the article Clay Street Hill Railroad for more information on this subject.
The next cable car line to open was the Sutter Street Railway, which converted from horse operation in 1877. This line introduced the side grip, and lever operation, both designed by Asa Hovey. Subsequent experience showed that the bottom grip was preferable because of the relative ease of dropping and picking up the cable.
In 1878 Leland Stanford opened his California Street Cable Railroad (Cal Cable). This company's first line was on California Street and is the oldest cable car line still in operation. In 1880, the Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railway began operation. The Presidio & Ferries Railway followed two years later, and was the first cable company to include curves on its routes. The curves were let-go curves, where the car drops the cable and coasts around the curve on its own momentum.
In 1883 the Market Street Cable Railway opened its first line. This company was controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad and was to grow to become San Francisco's largest cable car operator. At its peak, it operated five lines all of which converged into Market Street to a common terminus at the Ferry Building; during rush hours a cable car left that terminus every 15 seconds.
In 1888, the Ferries and Cliff House Railway opened its initial two-line system. The Powell-Mason line is still operated on exactly the same route today; their other route was the Washington-Jackson line, stretches of which are used by today's Powell-Hyde line. The Ferries & Cliff House Railway was also responsible for the building of a carbarn and powerhouse at Washington and Mason, and this site is still in use today. In the same year, it also purchased the original Clay Street Hill Railway, which it incorporated into a new Sacramento-Clay line in 1892.
In 1889, the Omnibus Railroad & Cable Company became the last new cable car operator in San Francisco. The following year the California Street Cable Railroad opened two new lines, these being the last entirely new cable car lines built in the city. One of them was the O'Farrell, Jones and Hyde line, the Hyde section of which still remains in operation as part of today's Powell-Hyde line.
SF Photography by SFBAYIMAGES.com
San Francisco Cable Car Museum
