I'm sure we've all heard of the cable cars - so I'll start with them. And the truth is - they are a load of fun! There are 3 routes, 2 starting at Market and going over the hills to the Bay, and these are the really touristy ones. The other - the California Cable Car - runs in a straight line alone California to Van Ness. Interestingly on this line, a lots of business people seemed to get on for a few blocks only - costs $2, probably cheaper than getting a cab. All the other ends of the Cable Car lines are "visitor" places - the area around Van Ness station is more of a local community - including a laundrette called the lost sock - so THAT'S where they all go! But they take you to all the main areas of the City, and, more excitingly, over the hills that make this such a thrilling place to be. Where else would sane (one assumes) people hang on to the outside of a moving vehicle as it went up and down very steep hills, with cars and trucks (and other Cable Cars) going past on both sides - pure craziness!!!! BUT - a fun way of getting round town - if you don't mind queuing, and are not in a great hurry - in other words - if you look on the journey as an end in itself.

Then there are the streetcars - these tend to be run on the less hilly parts- and this little incident is typical of our experience there. We were waiting at Market for a streetcar to Pier 39, when a car pulled up and asked if we knew the way to the zoo - us!!! - so they asked the next people in the queue - but they were tourists too!! Got into conversation with these 2 ladies, and it turns out they were from Ohio, down for a long weekend. Then an older Chinese lady joined in the conversation, and warned us against pickpockets on the Streetcar - a sort of "it wasn't like this in my day" sort of conversation. Then another guy joined in with "it's not as bad as New York". Turned out he had been in San Francisco for 7 years - used the Streetcars all the time - but he still managed to miss his stop because he was talking to us!

There are also busses - one morning we were off to the Golden Gate Bridge, and got the bus at around 9.45 - obviously a very busy time as the busses going into China Town were really busy. In fact we witnessed bus rage occurred at our stop - Bus Driver "move down or get off." "Listen, Lady, you can't stand there, move down, or get off the bus." "OK I'm taking the bus out of service unless this lady gets off the bus"! But the busses connected, and we got to our destination with out further incident.

Then Finally, there is the BART. Now I'd like to think this was named after a Simpson's character, but actually it's the Bay Area Rapid Transport system. We used it just the once to get to Berkley - but it was a real treat to travel - smooth, quiet, carpeted - and fast and efficient too - worth going just for the experience!

In the week we were there, we used all the transport systems - we got a "muni passport" that let us use them all for 7 days, and put it to good use. It is one of the few Cities that I can honesty say that it's a pleasure to use public transport in - and coming from a Londoner, that's high praise indeed!