Fifteen people were injured after a cable car in San Francisco came to an abrupt stop on Monday, throwing passengers around the carriage, authorities said.
The incident occurred at 3:07 p.m. on California Street between Leavenworth and Hyde, in the Nob Hill area of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
“Initial report was that the cable car made an abrupt stop causing its passengers to be tossed around inside the cable car,” it wrote in a Facebook statement.
Emergency services said passengers reported minor visual traumas, as well as bumps and bruises. Two suffered “minor trauma,” such as black eyes, San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Ken Smith told the San Francisco Standard.
Footage posted on X by the fire department shows the cable car stopped facing downhill along California Street, with a cracked window.
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The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) wrote on X that it is investigating the incident and that safety on public transit vehicles is a “top priority.”
The SFMTA said it is inspecting the track and that the car will be taken out of service, according to spokesperson Erica Kato, the San Francisco Standard reported.
The incident was not caused by a collision, authorities said, ABC 7 News reported, though investigators said it is unclear if an object made contact with the cable car or if the smashed glass was caused by a passenger hitting it.
Cable car collisions are rare in San Francisco, though they do occur from time to time.
In October 2023, seven people were injured after the gripman on the Powell-Hyde line car activated his emergency brake to avoid hitting a vehicle on the tracks. Six people were taken to hospital after being flung forward. In that incident, 16 passengers were on the cable car, officials reported, according to ABC 7 News.
In December 2022, a woman was hit by a cable car and suffered traumatic brain and spinal injuries. In 2024, she was awarded an $11-million settlement after claiming the crossing where she was hit was confusing and dangerous and that the cable car operator failed to stop the vehicle properly.
San Francisco’s cable car network is famous for its fleet of iconic trolleys dating back more than 150 years. The cars are the only cable-pulled, manually operated transit vehicles in regular service anywhere in the world, though not all original lines remain operational. The trolleys are popular with tourists and are maintained for their historical significance, according to the SFMTA.
Invented by Andrew Smith Hallidie in San Francisco, they have withstood both the test of time and nature, surviving the great San Francisco earthquake and fires of 1906 and have outlasted several political movements intent on removing them from city streets.
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