Safer cable cars return after 10-day rehabilitation hiatus

San Francisco’s iconic cable car bells are ringing once again Monday after a 10-day hiatus to allow for much needed maintenance work. 

Mechanics rehabilitated the gearbox that powers the system and propels cars up The City’s steep hills. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency completed the gearbox rehabilitation on the Powell-Hyde line, which required closure of all cable car lines beginning Sept. 13.

To the dismay of some tourists, the transit agency offered bus shuttles as an alternative during the system shutdown. According to the SFMTA, the 10-day period is necessary to complete the overhaul of a gearbox, including adequate time to test the system.

The Powell-Hyde line gearbox is the last to be completed as part of a $7 million project that set out to rehabilitate the four gearboxes operating in the Cable Car Barn and a spare gearbox kept in a storage facility, all of which have been in service since 1984, according to transit officials.  

Jerold Chinn

Jerold Chinn is the San Francisco Bureau Chief of SFBay. He covers transportation and City Hall. He has spent over a decade covering transportation in San Francisco. Jerold is a native in the city and frequently takes public transit everywhere he goes. Email tips to [email protected]