Riding a San Francisco cable car: the complete guide

There are tourist attractions you do once and forget, and there are the ones that are somehow better than the postcards. San Francisco's cable cars are the second kind. We recently spent a day riding them, hanging off the running boards, listening to the cable hum under the street, and this guide is everything we wish we'd known before queuing up.

Watch the ride

Our cable car ride, filmed from the running board, the hills, the bell, and the grip operator working the lever like it's 1890. Watch first; the guide below turns it into your plan.

What you're actually riding

Under every cable car street runs a steel cable moving in an endless loop at exactly 9.5 mph, powered from a central powerhouse. The car itself has no engine: the gripman operates a giant lever that clamps onto the moving cable through a slot in the street, grab the cable and you go, release and brake and you stop. That "thunk and hum" you feel through the floor is Victorian engineering still doing its job since 1873, when Andrew Hallidie built the first line after reportedly watching horses struggle (and fall) on a wet cobblestone hill. At the system's peak, 23 lines ran across the city; three survived earthquakes, fires, and a 1947 attempt to scrap them entirely, defeated by a citizens' campaign led by Friedel Klussmann, to whom every rider since owes a bell ring.

The three lines, compared

• Powell Hyde: the scenic champion: crests Russian Hill, then drops toward the bay with Alcatraz framed dead ahead, ending near Ghirardelli Square and the Hyde Street Pier. The most spectacular, and the longest lines at the turnarounds.
• Powell Mason: the one in our photo and video: same thrilling Powell Street start past Union Square, then a run over Nob Hill's shoulder down to Fisherman's Wharf at Bay & Taylor. Nearly the views of the Hyde line, noticeably shorter queues.
• California Street: the local's line: straight up and over Nob Hill's grandest blocks (Grace Cathedral, the Fairmont), double ended cars, and often no line at all. Fewer bay views, purest cable car experience.

Beating the queue (the part that saves your morning)

The Powell & Market turnaround, where our photo was taken, is the famous boarding spot, and on a summer midday the wait can eat an hour. Four workarounds, field tested:

1. Go early or late. Before 9:30 a.m. the queue is minutes, not hours; evening rides add city lights for free.
2. Walk one or two stops up the line and board mid route, cars keep a few spaces for en route stops. You may stand, which is honestly the best way to ride anyway.
3. Choose the California line when Powell looks apocalyptic. No queue, all charm.
4. Ride round trip from the quiet end: board Powell Hyde at Hyde & Beach (the wharf end) mid morning before the return crowds build.

Where to stand

If conditions allow, stand on the running board: the outside step, holding the pole. It's the canonical cable car experience: wind, bell, hills falling away beneath your feet. Hold on properly (the operators are serious about this, with reason), keep your head inside the car's width around passing traffic, and let the grip crew's instructions overrule everything in this paragraph. Second best seat: the outward facing bench up front, close enough to watch the gripman work, a genuine craft that takes months to learn and burns through gloves weekly.

Complete the pilgrimage: the Cable Car Museum

Halfway along the Powell lines at Washington & Mason sits the Cable Car Museum: free, and secretly one of the best small museums in the city. It's the actual working powerhouse: from the mezzanine you watch the great wheels spinning every cable in the system in real time, beside the 1870s cars that survived everything. Fifteen minutes here turns the ride from a fun ride into time travel. (Details at cablecarmuseum.org.)