San Francisco Welcomes Three New Cable Cars

Three shiny new cable cars were officially inducted onto city streets Saturday as holiday shoppers and tourists crammed on the cars to be among the first to ride.

The Powell Street cable car, No. 13, was packed as it cruised through Union Square at the trusty hands of senior gripman Steve Dickson.

“It has a nice feel to it,” said Dickson, a 25-year veteran of cable cars. He noted that the car had a higher ceiling and larger windows than some of the older models.

“This was really built for the modern man, the man of the ‘90s,” said Dickson, adding that gripmen more than 6 feet tall, such as himself, have to bend down to see out the front windows in older cars.

“It feels pretty comfortable,” he said as he yanked on the controls, rang the bell and announced tourist spots to riders.

No. 13 and two other cable cars hit the tracks Saturday after a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at Union Square.

The cable cars cruised into the shopping district, which was decorated with an archway of balloons and huge nutcracker toy soldiers, while policemen on horses that wore foam reindeer antlers kept pedestrian and vehicle traffic moving smoothly.

San Francisco Municipal Railway added two cable cars to the Powell Street line and a third on the California Street line, which has not had a new cable car since 1914. The California Street cable car is one of 11 double-ended cars in a fleet of 36.

Ron Garnica, the lead carpenter on No. 13, took a ride to see his finished product in action.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” Garnica said, adding that a team of carpenters, painters and metal workers took a year and a half to build the car.

Officials said the historic cars carry about 11 million passengers a year and bring in about $10.5 million annually. Each costs about $195,000 and is built to last 65 to 100 years.

“They look really good. I like the green one,” said Christine Paxton, who made a special trip to the city with her fiance and his two children to ride the cable cars.