San is three in Chinese :) sorry for the bad pun.
So what is the one thing that comes to mind when you think of San Fran? Not Rice-A-Roni, crazy people. This is a transit blog.
Cable cars!
Of course I rode the cable cars. Who goes to San Fransisco and doesn't ride the cable cars? On the other hand, I ran the cable cars.
Yup, you're reading the blog of a brakeman for MUNI. How awesome and ultimate transit nerdish am I?
Like a good foamer in training I hopped on the cable car every chance I could and filmed and photographed and harassed the brakemen. One brakeman was particularly nice and so we chatted the whole ride from Market to Hyde, talking about where we're from and what cities we liked and even how the transit systems are in those cities.
The next afternoon as I was leaving the cable car museum (blog to follow) I saw that same brakeman walking down to the cable car stop. So I yelled after him "Hey, Puerto Rico!" and he invited me to hop on the back of the next car with him as he was relieving that brakeman. When I hopped on he handed me the tickets and taught me which ones were for what and then proceeded to tell me about the bell and that one ring is to stop and two to go.
After a little while of playing conductor and ringing the bell I got cocky and asked if I could pull the brake. Puerto Rico said I couldn't, that it's hard to pull it. I bet him I could.
And he let me.
And I actually did it.
It is tough, it takes a lot of force and I actually had to give it two good tugs to pull the brake, but by golly, I have what it takes to be a brakeman on the cable cars! So if I need a backup plan for a career, I'm going to be the third female brakeman.
After that, they let me stay on the cable car when they turned it. As soon as I got off that ride I called One so I could totally smear it in his face how cool I am. I've now done something he never has.
I really am becoming a foamer.
cable car innards
