San Francisco’s world-renowned cable car system celebrated 150 years of service last summer. In 2024, members of Local 6 are marking their own milestone: For 80 years, the local’s electrical transit mechanics have maintained and repaired the system’s instantly recognizable wood-and-steel vehicles.
“Our members keep the world’s best-known moving landmarks running 365 days a year,” said Local 6 Business Manager John Doherty.
About 20 Local 6 electrical transit mechanics staff the Cable Car Barn for the San Francisco Municipal Railway system, or Muni, which has operated the cable cars since 1944.
With the heightened interest in clean, all-electric transportation alternatives, Doherty proudly noted that Local 6 members’ work on cable cars, streetcars, light rail vehicles and trolley buses shows that “IBEW members have been at the forefront of zero-emission transit for over a century.”