The Cable Cars
There are those famous cars where we can stay « outside » holding on a helm, as we see in movies ! The most part of the cars doesn’t have sides, it is open. There is just a little room if people want to shelter from the wind or the rain. We took it with Romain, Justine and Lucien near Fisherman’s Wharf all the way to Union Square. You will see some pictures at the end of this article.
The first cable cars were created in 1873. Since then there are one of the way to move inside the city. There are three lines ; two which are joinoing Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf and another one along California Street. There are 51 stations along the lines. This Cable Cars company is the last one in the world which works everyday. It almost disappeared several times but now they are considered as a symbol of the City of San Francisco.
This is something really tourist, People who live in San Francisco generally prefer to use the other public transportations, because they are faster and cheaper than the Cable Cars. Indeed, a one way ticket is 5$ whereas the bus is only 2$. They are also horribly noisy.
The Cable Cars are pulled by a cable which is hidden in a rail under the road. When they want to move it, they have to hang it on the cable, and when they want to halt, they make it falls down the cable and use a brake to stop. Two people are necessary to handle them. At the end of the rails the gripman and the guide have to turn the Cable Car by themself on a rotating platform because there isn’t a gyratory where they can change the direction of the car (you will see a picture of that at the bottom of this article). The gripman is the person who « drives » the car and the guide is the person who collect the tickets and looks after the passengers when they want to get off. He helps too to check the back brake during the descents. The test to become a gripman is extremely difficult, only 30% of people who try succeed. There is only one woman in the gripman‘s team!
Here are some pictures :
The Cable Cars' network.
How it looks like...
This is the engine which allows the cable to pull the Cable Cars.
Inside the Cable Car with the Gripman.
The Cable Car in the descent.
The crossing of two rails.
An example of slope to climb!
How they have to turn it to change the direction.
Justine and Romain...
Romain!
Lucien and Vanina...
The Cable Car in front of our school (the blue building). (EF School will be our next article.)
The Cable Car with Alcatraz in the background.