A Trip Back in Time: Riding San Francisco’s Cable Cars

I love spending time in environmentally-friendly San Francisco, one of the world’s great cities. If you also like your city accessible and architecturally and culturally significant then San Francisco is a must. On my most recent stay in San Francisco I went a little upmarket and stayed in Nob Hill. Perched on top of one of the many lung-busting hills that characterise the city, “Snob Hill” is home to some of San Francisco’s grandest buildings. The 1906 earthquake and fires destroyed many a Nob Hill mansion but the rebuilding was still impressive, with the big four of San Francisco’s grand hotels The Stanford, The Hopkins (Intercontinental) The Huntington and The Fairmont dominating the area.

Anyone that has been to San Francisco knows that staying in Nob Hill can result in several hellish walks up streets like Powell or California to get home. The alternative is one of the city’s great tourist attractions – the famous San Francisco cable cars. It never ceases to amaze me how these old bell-ringing cars seem to give people so much joy, especially those passengers hanging off the side as the cable car moves slowly up the hill. I still haven’t worked out whether they are laughing at gasping pedestrians left behind in the cable car's wake or simply experiencing something they’ve only ever seen in old movies. Maybe a bit of both!

There are only three cable car routes left in San Francisco to get people up and over its biggest hills – the Powell Street/Hyde Street line (from Market Street to Fisherman’s Wharf, which is the most popular); the Powell Street/Mason Street Line (from Market Street to North Point near Fisherman’s Wharf) and the east-west California Line (along California Street between The Embarcadero financial district and the Van Ness district via Nob Hill). The crowds that form at the bottom of Powell Street near Market Street in the centre of San Francisco’s main retail precinct can snake back quite a long way – some days resembling the longest line for the most popular roller coaster ride at a fun park. If you get annoyed by waiting, I’d try out the California Street Line beginning at The Embarcadero – it doesn’t get you to Market Street or Fishermans Wharf but it does take you up through Nob Hill and past its magnificent buildings.

The Powell/Hyde and the Powell/Mason lines also take you past the engine room of the Cable Car system – the Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse museum. Not only is this a great place to learn how each car moves along the tracks, you also get to learn about the history of the cable car in San Francisco and the pressure the system once faced when all American cities were replacing street railways (cable cars and trams) with new low cost buses. And the best bit of all is that it is free to enter and roam around!

Many "youngsters" are surprised to learn how simple it is to operate a cable car system. You’ll notice on each car that there are "drivers" manoeuvring a giant lever – they pull down on the lever to get up the hill and let go slowly when going down the hills. That's basically it - there is no engine involved in powering the car. Although, as a bit of an "oldie" these days, I knew that the giant handle was gripping an underground cable , I wasn’t quite sure how the underground cables were being moved. You’ll find out how as soon as you enter the museum. The first thing you will see is nine giant revolving wheels of cables (the only power used on the whole system is the electrical energy required to revolve the wheels) - the same cable that leaves the museum and travels under the streets that the cable cars run on. The big wheels create enough tension on the cables for each car’s lever to grab on to so the car can be taken up and down the streets.

The Museum also shows you that the cable car system was quite extensive back in the day. Although the cable cars don’t get you everywhere anymore, the rest of San Francisco's public transport system certainly tries hard. There really is no need to drive a car in this beautiful looking city: you’ve got the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) that connects you to San Francisco’s southern parts (including a direct connection to SFO International Airport) and east across the Bay to Oakland and beautiful Berkeley and the MUNI, San Francisco’s bus and light rail system that seems to access nearly every main street in the region.

There is also a great cycleway path that runs right around the edge of the Bay between San Francisco’s two great bridges – the Golden Gate and the Oakland Bay bridges. It is not only one of the prettiest bike trails you’ll ride, it is also surprisingly flat, except if you want to actually ride over the Golden Gate – you have a bit of a steep hill to climb to get up to it. But the views from the crown of the Golden Gate Bridge back towards the City and beyond are breathtaking and well worth the heart pumping climb.

So, next time you are in San Francisco, make sure you take a ride on the cable car no matter how touristy you think it might be. Not only will you be supporting a transport system that generates next to no greenhouse gas emissions, you'll be taken for a ride back in time to the glory days of urban public transport.