Cable Car Crash That Hurt 36 Laid to Inexperienced Operator

A “human error” by an inexperienced gripman, who nevertheless managed to warn his passengers of danger, caused Monday’s cable car crash that injured 36 people, federal investigators said Thursday.

Gerald Bolden, a rookie cable car operator, did not properly tighten the car’s grip on the underground cable that prevents the car from moving any faster than 9 1/2 m.p.h., the speed of the cable, investigators told the San Francisco Chronicle in a story published in today’s editions.

“It looks like he didn’t tighten his (grip lever) dies enough to make sure that when you grip the cable, the car won’t be traveling faster than the cable,” said Mark Garcia, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

The failure allowed car No. 13 to slip down Hyde Street, two blocks above Fisherman’s Wharf, and slam into a repair truck at a red light, sending about 40 tourists and other passengers flying into the intersection.

The dies are metal pieces that hold the cable and are tightened using a hand grip operated by the gripman.

Garcia recommended gripmen be given more training and that automobiles be banned from the tracks on the two-block stretch where the accident took place.

Garcia said several factors contributed to the accident, including rain-soaked tracks on the steep, 21-degree-grade hill; the cable car’s outmoded braking system, and the fact that cars and trucks also drive on the cable car tracks.

He praised the gripman, however, for yelling to passengers moments before the crash, “Hold on!”