There is a pretty decent color Muni map in the blue section of the Yellow pages phone book. (Or at least there used to be; my edition is a couple of years old.)

Muni has a customer service center at the intersection of Market and Van Ness which is likely to be less crowded than the Powell St. kiosk, if you happen to be in that area. Other locations/info: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfares/passports.htm

Oh, that's a great idea about Yellow pages!!

Last time we bought the passes and muni map ($3) at the airport in the baggage claim area (I bought it while DH was waiting for our luggage to come out) -- my first choice of where/when to get it if you are already there.

On our first visit we were in the city itself for 1 1/2 days and each got a one day pass and just paid cash for the 1/2 day. It was a couple of years ago and you could get the passes and map at the kiosk at Union Square or the turnaround at Powell and Market. There are other places listed but we weren't staying near any of them.

You said you have used the public transportation there before so are probably more familiar with the colors, etc. For us -- we had many different maps, but the easiest one to use was the muni one and well worth the three dollars. After using it for a week (actually had it down after a couple of days) we could probably follow any map, but at first it was extremely confusing with all the different colors, means of transportation etc.

Each time we've visited San Francisco, we've stayed in the Union Square area (mostly because of meetings in the area). We definitely save money with the pass, but even if it was slightly a bad deal, we'd buy it because of the money value of the convenience.

We do ride the cable cars more often with the pass. On our last visit, with our 9yo daughter, we were almost back to our hotel (walked to it) late one evening, and an almost-empty cablecar rattled by. We hopped on, and had a fantastic trip all the way to the end of the Powell line and back. Late at night, they can get going pretty fast (or they seem to be, at least). We never waited in line; if there was a cablecar nearby, and it wasn't full, we'd hop on. If we didn't see any, then we'd take the bus.