Cable Car System

Gripman's controls

Gripman

An interior view of the power house

Rear view of a single-ended cable car on Mason St.

Historic cable car tokens displayed at the San Francisco Cable Car Museum

A cable car on the Powell & Market turntable. See a video of a cable car turnaround.

Cable car brake blocks in three different states of usage, from new (bottom) to near end of life (top)

Cable Car No. 54 at California and Stockton

The grip that encloses the cable (here shown without cable, and closed jaws)

Cable Car System

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San Francisco California

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Cable Car System, San Francisco Overview

The San Francisco Cable Car System is a historic mode of transport which was established in the 19th century. Today, it serves as a major tourist attraction and a majority of it's users are tourists.

The city's cable car system is actually the last system in the world which is still operated manually. Today, there are only three routes remaining out of the original 23. It has mainly been preserved as a tourist attraction only and is mostly only used by tourists today. The three lines operating today are the Powel - Mason, Powel - Hyde and the California Street line. The Power - Hyde line is the most popular among tourists and the California Street line is the line still most used by commuters during the weekdays. The cable cars can be paid for by cash, or by the Muni pass or the CityPASS program.