SF Youth Free Cable Car Passes

One of the safest things for us to do, pandemic-wise, is stay outside, but you gotta get places right? For many of us that involves taking MUNI across town. For many of us that involves taking MUNI across town. Thankfully, with the windows and the roof-top emergency door all open, a bit of breeze blows through the bus, but is there an even safer way? If you’re traveling east to west downtown, there is: the California cable car line! You can sit on the outside benches of this—usually—uncrowded resource, enjoy the fresh air, and reach your destination in style. For adults with MUNI passes, it’s free. And! MUNI is free for all youth in town under the age of 18! But, for cable cars, there’s a catch you need to be aware of…

Cable cars aren’t automatically included in the free MUNI for all youth program. To ride cable cars for free, you’ll need a youth clipper card that says it’s OK. You can’t buy these at Clipper Card offices like the one at Embarcadero Station, (the kids and I tried). Even if you have a youth Clipper Card already, you’ll need an add-on for cable cars. So, what should you do?

Well, as is usually the case with megalithic bureaucracies, there’s a form. If you go to:

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6517917/SFMTA-Free-Muni-for-Youth-Cable-Car-Request

and fill out the form, your pass should be added to an existing youth Clipper Card pass in under three weeks if you have one, or a Clipper Card will be mailed to you within 5 weeks if you don’t. Yes, that’s right, it takes between three and five weeks, but it’s better than nothing.

Assuming you’ve received your pass, here’s an adventure you might enjoy. Starting around 8 or so in the morning, take the cable car from the terminus at California and Drumm at the top of the Embarcadero BART station to Sansome, (the first cars of BART trains also tend to be remarkably low density, but that’s a story for another time). Walk north along Sansome to Sacramento where you’ll see Morning Brew, home of delicious breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Grab a few sandwiches, then head across the street to enjoy your impromptu breakfast on the steps of the old Fed Reserve building.

Once you’re done eating, head back down to Market catch the cable car again, still headed west up the hill. Hop off on Jones walk along the ridge north to Union, then west to Hyde, and finally, north till you run out of road at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. (If you’re a parent hanging out with kids, you might want to drop in at the Buena Vista for a to-go Irish coffee on your way.) Enjoy the ships and the small beach there, then reverse the—now very steep—route up Hyde.

After you’ve conquered the hill lunch is probably in order, so when you cross back over Union, keep an eye out for Za Pizza on your right about a block down. The pizza is excellent, the people are super-nice, and they usually have open outdoor tables! If they don’t, there’s a small park tucked in between the buildings a bit further down the hill on Hyde, just before you get to Vallejo St. where you can eat pizza with the kids while you sip a beer.

If your tummies are full, excellent! Enjoy the rest of the walk downhill to California St. where you can hop the cable car back east to the Embarcadero BART station. If you still have a little room though, there’s ice cream! Head back up the hill to Union to grab an ice cream cone from the original Swensen’s.

Final note: There are a few other youth MUNI pass gotchas you should be aware of. If your youth pass was set up for auto-load and you use it, it will in fact reload a new pass at the start of each month. If you want to save your money, be sure to turn auto-load off until you need it again. If your youth pass wasn’t set up for auto-load, but there is money on it, don’t use it on buses, (you don't need to, all buses and light rail are free for kids even without the pass.) As of last year, MUNI buses will still deduct the fare of a single youth ride from the card if you tap it.

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