Can you hop on and off cable cars in San Francisco?

You may have heard that you can hop off and on cable cars as many times as you like once you purchase a ticket. This isn't exactly true, though there is a way to use cable cars as a hop-on/hop-off tour experience. So, how much does it cost to take a cable car ride in San Francisco?



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Powell Hyde Cable Car Powell Hyde starts at the Powell and Market cable car turnaround near Union Square and ends at Fisherman's Wharf. The route is 2.1 miles long and takes about 20 minutes.

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Two of San Francisco's three cable car lines connect the Union Square area downtown with Fisherman's Wharf. The Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines share the most-photographed cable car turntable, where Powell meets Market Street.

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Cable cars are often misidentified as 'trolleys', but that term refers specifically to the trolley pole used by streetcars to get power from an overhead wire (hence streetcars are often called trolleys, correctly). Cable cars use no overhead wire, and have no trolley poles.

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California Line (Red) It's the least busy of the three. It's also full of thrills as it climbs the steep hill from California and Market to the top of Nob Hill, then runs back downhill to Van Ness.

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Powell/Hyde Line: Union Square, Lombard Street to Fisherman's Wharf. The Powell/Hyde line is one of two cable cars in San Francisco that run from Union Square to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.

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The cable car routes are the Powell-Hyde line, the Powell-Mason line and the California line. Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines stop at the museum.

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You can reach the Ferry Building by several ferry lines, all San Francisco BART lines, many MUNI lines, the F Market Streetcar, and the California Street Cable Car line.

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Basic Rules of the Ride Tickets/Receipts are not valid as transfers and are NOT round trip. You can get on the Cable Car at any stop along the way where you see the Cable Car stop pole. The Conductors will stop at each stop pole to let people on and off.

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Cable cars include chair, cabin and gondola lifts. A fundamental difference here is that you can keep your skis or snowboard on while in the chair lift, but they have to be unstrapped while in the cabin lift. However, there is more to differentiate: Cable cars, for example, operate either in pendulum or orbital mode.

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