While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, the vast majority of the millions of passengers who use the system every year are tourists[citation needed], and as a result, the wait to get on can often reach two hours or more.

[8][9] Hallidie solicited financial support in 1871 and 1872, and his primary backers were Henry L. Davis, Joseph Britton, and James Moffit.

The line started regular service on September 1, 1873, and its success led it to become the template for other cable car transit systems.

[9] A retrospective published in 1895 stated that a single car was run over the line at 4 am on the morning of August 1 with few witnesses to ensure the franchise would not expire.

[10]: 312  Eppelsheimer would later bring a suit against Hallidie and the Clay Street Hill RR in June 1877 over patents, but dismissed it voluntarily the following March.

[9] This company was controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad and would grow to become San Francisco's largest cable car operator.

The Ferries & Cliff House Railway was also responsible for the building of a car barn and powerhouse at Washington and Mason, and this site is still in use today.

[23] The building was complete with a 185-foot-tall (56 m) smokestack to vent away the heavy black smoke created by the Welsh anthracite coal that the company burned.

[23] The system was converted from coal to oil burning in 1901, and the lessened amount of smoke allowed the smokestack to be shortened to 60 feet (18 m).

[25] Consequently, during the 1984 reconstruction, each of the four cables (California, Hyde, Mason and Powell) was separately powered by its own 510 horsepower (380 kW) electric motor.

[9] In the 1920s and 1930s, these remaining lines came under pressure from the much-improved motor buses of the era, which could now climb steeper hills than the electric streetcar.

In response, a joint meeting of 27 women's civic groups, led by Friedel Klussmann, formed the Citizens' Committee to Save the Cable Cars.

Klussman led another campaign in 1948 to have the city acquire Cal Cable, but the referendum fell short of the required 2⁄3 majority, with 58% in favor of acquisition; a second referendum in 1949, requiring a simple majority, passed and the city began negotiations with Cal Cable.

The amendment to the city charter did not protect the newly acquired Cal Cable lines, and the city proceeded with plans to replace them with buses; in addition, businesses in Union Square and downtown began advancing plans to convert O'Farrell to automobile traffic, which would remove service through the Tenderloin district via the inner section of the O'Farrell Jones & Hyde line.

[27] Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who took charge of the effort, helped win federal funding for the bulk of the rebuilding job.

[27] The Historic Trolley Festival was launched the following June as an expected-to-be-temporary substitute tourist attraction during the long closure.

[28]: 9  The system reopened on June 21, 1984, in time to benefit from the publicity that accompanied San Francisco's hosting of that year's Democratic National Convention.

[29] The system was shut down in March 2020 to protect operators during the COVID-19 pandemic, as cable cars do not offer a compartment separating them from passengers (unlike Muni buses, which kept running).

[32] On September 9, a valve failure caused the fire suppression system in the carbarn to activate, shutting down electric power to the powerhouse.

Most complaints center around the high cost of operating a system that mostly serves tourists, and the large number of accidents involving the cable cars.

The cable car lines serve around seven million passengers per year, but the vast majority are tourists, rather than commuters.

[35] The area where the cable cars operate is well-served by a large number of buses and trolleybuses that often give residents better options for their trips.

The high fares led the San Francisco Chronicle to describe the cable cars in 2017 as a "cash cow" for Muni, yielding a yearly revenue of around $30 million.

Muni's management disputed this figure and pointed out that safe operation, rather than revenue collection, is the primary duty of conductors.

[35] In the three years ending 2013 the city paid some $8 million to settle four dozen cable car accident claims.

[13] Each cable is 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) in diameter, running at a constant speed of 9.5 miles per hour (15.3 km/h), and driven by a 510 horsepower (380 kW) electric motor located in the central power house (see below), via a set of self-adjusting sheaves.

[52] Both types of car ride on a pair of four-wheel trucks, to fit the track's 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge.

The preliminary round determines which contestants go on to the finals in Union Square, by a process of points awarded by a panel of judges.