April 27, 2023October 30, 2023 Rick Laubscher

Rebuilding the cable car system, 1982-84

Cable cars, a giant leap forward in urban transit technology when Andrew Hallidie invented them in 1873, dominated San Francisco streets until the earthquake and fire of 1906 decimated both cable machinery and the cars themselves. After that, cable cars were largely limited to steep hills while larger, faster electric streetcars carried the heavy loads on main routes. High operating costs gradually pared down the remaining cable car lines. In 1947, an attempt by a misguided mayor to junk the Powell Street cables was slapped down by a women-led civic coalition helmed by Friedel Klussmann, but even her heroic efforts seven years later could not avert the loss of half the remaining cable car trackage.

4 Comments

September 26, 2022March 7, 2023 Rick Laubscher

1947: Cable car war

September 26, 2022March 7, 2023 Rick Laubscher Cable Cars, History Spotlight, People Histories, Route Histories, SF Famous Cable Cars, SFMSR, Single-Ended Cable Cars 1947 San Francisco, cable car, Cable car war, Klussmann, Marc Benioff, Powell Street cable cars

In 1947, San Francisco almost lost its Powell cable cars forever. A women-led campaign overcame male-dominated government and business interests to save them. That is a great story in itself. But there’s more to it, including lessons for today and tomorrow.

1 Comment

August 1, 2022August 1, 2022 Rick Laubscher

Happy 149th Anniversary, Cable Cars!

August 1, 2022August 1, 2022 Rick Laubscher Cable Cars, History Spotlight, Posts with Photos, Route Histories, SF Famous Cable Cars, SFMSR, Single-Ended Cable Cars Andrew Hallidie, cable car 1873, cable car anniversary, Clay Street Cable Car, Clay Street Hill Railroad, first cable car

August 2, 1873 — In the wee small hours of a misty San Francisco night (they didn’t call the month “Fogust” back then, but it was), a new type of transit was about to be inaugurated. An endless wire rope clattered beneath Clay Street. An odd open vehicle sat on the rails at the top of the hill. Standing by was Andrew Smith Hallidie, a Scot who had experience using wire rope in the mining business, and was part of the team promoting this new technology, aimed at making horsecars obsolete.

1 Comment

July 12, 2022July 26, 2022 Rick Laubscher

Hayes Street: transit since 1860

July 12, 2022July 26, 2022 Rick Laubscher Features, History Spotlight, Route Histories, SFMSR 21-Hayes, Hayes Street, Hayes Valley, Muni 21-line, Muni restores routes, Muni routes

Muni’s 21-Hayes bus line returned to service on July 9, 2022 after a 27-month pandemic suspension. Early in the pandemic, Muni management hoped that the crisis might give them an opportunity to rationalize the network by permanently shutting down some of the parallel routes that dated back to the 19th century. The 21 was one of several lines, including the 2-Clement and 6-Parnassus, on that list.

5 Comments

July 10, 2022July 13, 2022 Rick Laubscher

Getting high on the 6-line

July 10, 2022July 13, 2022 Rick Laubscher Features, History Spotlight, Route Histories, SFMSR 6-Haight-Parnassus, 6-Masonic, 6-Parnassus, golden gate heights, Haight Street, Lines we love, Muni route cutbacks, San Francisco streetcars, San Francisco trolley bus

The 6-Haight-Parnassus trolley coach line returned to service July 9, 2022, after being shut down since the start of the Covid pandemic in Spring 2020. We recounted the history of this line in our exclusive member magazine, Inside Track, in 2019. We hope readers who enjoy this story will join us or donate, so we can keep telling stories like this.

7 Comments

July 8, 2022July 26, 2022 Rick Laubscher

The 2, truncated

July 8, 2022July 26, 2022 Rick Laubscher Features, History Spotlight, Muni News, Route Histories, SFMSR 2-Clement, 2-Sutter, Clement Street, Sutro Baths, Sutter Street

On Saturday, July 9, Muni restarted service on several routes with long histories that were shut down at the beginning of the Covid pandemic; routes that at least some in Muni hoped would not come back at all. SFMTA’s blog has the whole list of Muni routes resurrected on July 9. We focus here on one of those routes, the 2-line, with a long history and possibly cloudy future. (We’ve also covered two other resurrected historic routes: the 6-line and the 21-line in other posts.)

6 Comments

December 10, 2021December 12, 2021 Rick Laubscher

Forty frustrating years underground

December 10, 2021December 12, 2021 Rick Laubscher Features, History Features, History Spotlight, Posts with Photos, Route Histories, SFMSR J-line PCCs, K-Ingleside, L-Taraval, M-Ocean View, Muni Metro fail, Muni Metro meltdown, Muni Metro Subway, N-Juday, PCC streetcars

The idea of a transit subway under Market Street goes back to the first years of the 20th century, but it took more than 70 fitful years to become reality. That’s a complex and fascinating story we tell in this companion post, which explains the compromises that harmed Muni’s subway operation from the get-go.

11 Comments

October 13, 2020April 17, 2022 Rick Laubscher

What might have been: Geary

October 13, 2020April 17, 2022 Rick Laubscher Features, History Spotlight, Posts with Photos, Route Histories B-Geary, B-line, BART Geary, C-line, Geary Boulevard, Geary BRT, Geary Street, Geary streetcars, Muni Geary, Richmond District

Editors Note: An early version of this article appeared in a past issue of Inside Track, our member magazine with exclusive stories and inside information about Muni’s historic streetcars and cable cars. Click here to become a member and receive it.

No Comments

June 6, 2020November 2, 2022 Rick Laubscher

When politics & dirty tricks savaged our cable cars

June 6, 2020November 2, 2022 Rick Laubscher Cable Cars, History Features, History Spotlight, Route Histories 1954, cable cars, Laurel Heights, Nob Hill, O'Farrell Jones & Hyde line, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Tenderloin

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, May 16, 1954, several hundred San Franciscans gathered at California and Hyde Streets. They weren’t late-night shopping at Trader Joe’s, but rather were protesting what was then happening to the previous occupants of that property–cable cars.

3 Comments

April 11, 2019May 10, 2020 Rick Laubscher