December 19, 2007
California Street Cable Cars Out Of Order Today
While crews repair a damaged cable, California Street cable cars will be down for the count today, but could return to service by early tomorrow. Sad, isn't it?
According to Muni spokesman Alan Siegel, "[t]he cable runs continuously (up and down the line), so we have to find the one section of the cable that's damaged ... we have to run (the cable) slowly until that section gets into the car barn." [via SFGate]
But fear not, California Street cable car riders. Those wacky kids over at the transit agency will run buses on the California Street line to help you get home. Speaking of which, do any SF residents actually still use the cable cars to get to and from work or school or wherever? As opposed to riding them for that wistful Rice-A-Roni feel?
Oh, and the other car lines are running just fine.
Image credit: jeremyrandall.org
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I have a handful of colleagues who do use the California cable car to get to and from work daily. I just use it to get up the hill for a nice dinner once on a blue moon.
I use it to get to-from BART for my way too many orthodontic appts at 450 Sutter.
The California cable car is a heck of a lot more comfy, friendly and noteworthy to ride than the sweaty, stinky, stuffed-full-of-people # 1 bus.
(My Christmas wish is that the city would extend the California cable car line down to Japan town, or give it some interesting end-point/terminal other than Van Ness and that fugly Holiday Inn).
I take the California cable car from my job at Sansome/California up to my favorite rotgut Tendernob dive for afterwork drinks all the time...I'm not jaded
... do any SF residents actually still use the cable cars to get to and from work or school or wherever?
Oh man, do we ever. It's not like we have a choice. If a cable car runs near your stop, Muni isn't going to double the route with a regular coach. The cable car is your bus, like it or not. And there's no real point in walking to a non-cable line because, by their nature, the cables run on terrain that's always been too steep to walk.
One huuuge advantage is the frequency (every 8 minutes). The disadvantage is having to wait with 100 other tourists just to get on at Powell Street. So it evens out, mostly.
But there's nothing on earth more jaded than the Monday morning cable car crowd. People snarl their lips if Rice-A-Roni is even mentioned. Everyone's going to work, seen the views a trillion times and no one wants to ride on the outside. It's the reverse of the normal experience. I love it. I imagine it's what it must have been like before they became landmarks.
Aren't they $5 a pop? I'd imagine that would cut down on gratuitous cable-car-riding...
Not if you have a fast-pass.
I ride them whenever I can to commute. I have a disabled pass, so it's real cheap!
EVERY time I ride, I am grateful for such a glorious commute, As those poor suckers driving and driving on freeways, this is a real dream commute.
I love San Francisco.
A Fast Pass actually gives you a better chance of getting aboard a loaded cable car. You wave the Fast Pass at the conductor and they'll often let you on after they've waved off tourists because they know you're using it for your commute.
I miss hopping on the Calif. St. cable car when I lived right at the end of the line. The drivers would ring their bells for me to say hello even when I wasn't riding. It wasn't part of my commute, but I rode pretty regularly to go do downtowny things. (When you've got worries all the noise and the hurries seem to help, I know...)
Malcove - the cable car line USED to run all the way out, at least to Presidio....... before the bus companies & tire companies paid everyone off to dismantle the cable car systems!
I take the California line to the Financial District from Polk and California all the time. My only complaint is their infrequency. For all their crowded conditions, the One California runs much more frequently.
the california line is useful if you live around there and want to go to the store..it stops at Cala Foods, etc. and once you get past the hotels it's pretty much locals.
It's really too bad how MUNI and the City tricked people into voting to 'save' the cable cars back in the 50s when in fact they were voting on a measure to kill most of them, and keep what little we have left as a touristy attraction. The Washington-Jackson line was actually profitable, as it was a commuter line, and was much better at climbing hills than buses of the era.
The stupidity of bureaucrats and politicians never ceases to amaze..
I read somewhere that the buses they run when the cable car is down are free. Can anyone corroborate that?
I live on the Cali line right near Powell, but never ride it (except for when the 580 collapsed) because I don't have a fastpass and I'm generally close enough to downtown as it is. I'm finally getting an office and moving out of the house on a daily basis so I'm excited to get my fast pass if only to thwart walking up the hill as much as possible.
The best part about living on the Cali line is watching the cable car try to make it up the hill to the Powell crossing during rush hour. As you know, if they have to stop, like when someone's Hummer is blocking the lane, they either have to coast back down to the bottom of the hill and try again or wait for a land equivalent of a tug boat to push it up over the crest. Fun stuff!
Not sure where I read or heard it, but there would be significant NIMBY opposition on the non cable-car portion of California street (west of Van Ness) should the city ever consider extending the line.
Gee, Mariconsoy, I have lots of orthodontist appointments at 450 Sutter, too...
I like riding the cable cars so much more than the buses. My regular bus ride-- surly driver who yells at the passengers. (I'd be surly too.) Cable car guys-- nice, because so many of their riders are tourists. I have a client on Russian Hill and I always take one of the Powell lines to get there. The trick to bypassing the line at tourist o'clock is to walk up to Union Square and get on there. Plus, if you ride with the tourists, the inside isn't crowded at all.
I like riding the cable cars so much more than the buses. My regular bus ride-- surly driver who yells at the passengers. (I'd be surly too.) Cable car guys-- nice, because so many of their riders are tourists. I have a client on Russian Hill and I always take one of the Powell lines to get there. The trick to bypassing the line at tourist o'clock is to walk up to Union Square and get on there. Plus, if you ride with the tourists, the inside isn't crowded at all.