SAN FRANCISCO—The Municipal Transportation Agency (MUNI) annually organizes a local tradition of bells chiming on cable cars on Saturday, October 24 in San Francisco.

The tradition of chiming the bells started in 1873, when operators of the cars wanted a safer, quicker way for pedestrians to travel over the San Francisco hills, like the famous Russian Hill.

The SFMTA tweeted on October 24, “We have a “ring-off” happening 🙂 First up is Leonard Oates. They are on-board Maybelle today (Car 26) until 3pm. @sfmta_muni @sf_cablecar @sfmtaphoto @sfmsr @munidiaries @capturetransit @techandtransit #sanfrancisco #sfcablecar @best_of_sanfrancisco.”

KTVU spoke to Val Lupiz, who said “I miss it tremendously.” Lupiz has worked as a gripman for the cable cars since 2000. “[Going back to work is exciting] a lot of fun. I can’t wait to go back.”

The cable cars and their chimes coming back are exciting to everyone else, too, said San Francisco Transportation historian Rick Laubscher to KTVU. “The cable cars are almost like the pulse of San Francisco. And the bells are almost like the music of San Francisco. And that is extremely important.”