The sound of cable cars going up and down the roller coaster hills of San Francisco has not been heard since March 2020, when the city was closed by an on-site protection order at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Clickety-Clack will be back in the first week of August.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced Tuesday that the cable cars will come out of hibernation in August for testing and operator training, the city said, and will run on a near-normal schedule.
Drivers don’t have to pay in August and are encouraged to provide feedback on customer service and help operators get used to picking up and dropping off people.
“This is an attempt at a ‘mock service’ that will run and stop the lines on which cable cars are operating,” Eric Kato, a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation System, said in a statement. “This bogus service will be irregular and not follow a specific schedule.”
From September onwards, scheduled services will return to the typical tariffs.
Breed stated at a news conference Tuesday morning that Muni officials said the cable cars wouldn’t be operational until the fall, and she and Muni boss Jeffrey Tumlin came up with this creative solution to get people back in cars before summer End, according to CBS News.
“At the beginning of August, the cable cars will be available to all drivers free of charge for the whole of August,” said Breed, according to CBS. “So we’re bringing them back a little earlier, not as early as I would have liked, but early enough for you to catch them at the end of summer, right before you send your child back to school when they open this fall, and it should better open this fall. “
Masks will be required for cable cars, as the state and the district will continue to require face coverings in local public transport.
