Cable Cars with Hannah

Hannah came to visit last weekend for the long holiday weekend.  We managed to mark off a few things on my bucket list to-dos. Including riding a cable car!!! I don't know why I haven't done it before, probably because you had to stand in line, its always crowded and it costs $6.  Well, lucky us, if you wait until Sunday evening, there's generally no line! And while we were waiting, a nice gentleman gave us his day pass that he was no longer using. SCORE!! 

There are 3 lines in existence:

At Powell and Market streets, there is a cable car turntable which serves as the beginning stop for two lines, the Powell-Mason and Powell- Hyde lines. The Powell-Mason line begins at the Powell/ Market turntable, and the line runs from there up and over Nob Hill and down to Bay Street at Fisherman's Wharf. The Powell-Hyde line also begins at the Powell Market turntable and runs over Nob and Russian hills before ending at Aquatic Park near Ghiradelli Square. Both these lines end near Fisherman's Wharf, but at different areas, and the routes are significantly different. 

The California Street line runs East-West from the Financial District, through Chinatown, over Nob Hill and stops at Van Ness Avenue.

Hannah on the empty car

According to wikipedia, the San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system. An icon of San Francisco, the cable car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Of the twenty-three lines established between 1873 and 1890, three remain.  While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, the vast majority of their 7 million annual passengers are tourists. They are among the most significant tourist attractions in the city, along with Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Fisherman's Wharf. The cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In budget year 2012, sales of $6 Cable Car Souvenir Tickets totaled $4,125,386. $6 single rider tickets sold by the cable car conductors totaled $9,888,001.  Based on both tickets only, daily ridership of the cable car system is more than 6,400.