San Francisco's cable cars: Hand-crafted---to rip off tourists

Yes, a lot of craftsmanship---even artistry---goes into maintaining the city's cable cars. 

It's a shame that all that talent in the end is used for a project dedicated to ripping off tourists. Unless you're old, a child, or disabled, the cable car fare is $7.00, and, as I found out a few years ago, you can't get a transfer on a cable car! 

I only learned that when friend from out of town and I wanted to take a cable car from the foot of California Street to Powell Street, where we hoped to transfer to another cable car to Union Square. After we each paid our $7.00, we learned that we couldn't get a transfer! That trip would have cost us each $14 for a trip of less than a mile.

Cable cars are used almost exclusively by tourists, and it's evidently deemed acceptable for the City That Knows How to rip off tourists. After all, they can't vote in our elections, so the policy has no downside politically.

When the city isn't ripping off tourists, it preys on everyone who drives in the city, as parking meters and parking tickets are a major source of revenue.