The system now uses two independently operating cars that can each ascend or descend on demand, qualifying as a double inclined elevator,[1][2][3] retaining the term funicular in its title as a historical reference.

The system carries passengers between the base of Montmartre and its summit, accessing the nearby Sacré-Cœur basilica and paralleling the adjacent staircases of Rue Foyatier.

It has two cabins with sixty places each which travel on two separate, parallel tracks using the international standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in).

The technology of the Montmartre line differs from a funicular in that it uses independently operating cars more related to standard up-down elevators, each equipped with its own counterweight.

In the case of the Montmartre design, a system of onboard water bladders of 5 m3 (180 cu ft) could be filled or emptied to move the cars and to compensate for passenger load.

The funicular entered service on 12[8] or 13 July (sources vary), and its operation was ceded to the Decauville company with a contract lasting until 1931.

The tanks of one cabin were refilled at the upper station, allowing its descent under gravity with the combined weight of the passengers and water, enabling the other carriage to ascend.

The cabins held forty-eight passengers in four closed compartments arranged like a staircase; the two end platforms were reserved for the driver and brakeman.

When the contract expired, the Mayor of Paris and the Seine Department charged the Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne (STCRP) with running the service and modernising the infrastructure.

[12] Traction was provided by a winch driven by a 50 hp (37 kW) electric motor, allowing a cabin holding fifty people to make the journey in 70 seconds at a speed of 2 m/s (4.5 mph).

The line was opened in the presence of "poulbots" (Parisian illustrators) and Émile Kérembrun, the President of the République de Montmartre [fr], a philanthropic society.

An idea was proposed by the RATP and the Mairie de Paris, to lengthen the line with a tunnel to the Anvers métro station.

The machinery is located in the higher station; it is composed of two totally independent winches powered by 130 kW (170 hp) motors.

Operation is entirely automatic: The presence and number of passengers are detected by a system combining electronic balance scales mounted in the cabin floor, and radar in the stations.

[24] Given the interest in the technical solution provided by the funicular for public passenger transport over relatively short and extremely steep routes, studies have called for the RATP to build similar systems, notably at Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the renovation project of the Fort d'Issy quarter, and to link the Meudon-sur-Seine station on Paris Tramway Line 2 with the Gare de Bellevue, which would recreate the old Bellevue funicular at Meudon, demolished in 1934.

The funicular is an essential element in Paris life, and thus appears in many films and television series having Montmartre as a theme.

[26] In the first pilot episode of the police series Capitaine Casta, a chase takes place on the Rue Foyatier steps alongside the funicular, just like in the classic film Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974, Jacques Rivette); in the pilot, the character played by Jean-Pierre Castaldi runs up it to catch the crooks.

Similarly in the film Une affaire d'État (2009), Michel Fernandez (Thierry Frémont) flees by the stairs, chased by Nora Chahyd (Rachida Brakni) who takes the funicular.

[32] In October 2006, at the request of the website la Blogothèque for its "concerts à emporter" ("concerts to download"), the singer Cali made an appearance in one of the funicular's cabins surrounded by passengers, singing her song La Fin du monde pour dans 10 minutes ("The end of the world in ten minutes") from the album Menteur as it ascended.