Epic idea: Bolivia expands urban cable car system

[Drifter]

By Reuters
La Paz, 28 Jul 2015
The silent, electrically-powered cable cars have built-in WiFi.

Bolivia already has the largest urban cable car system in the world. Now the booming country is tripling the size of the network and will soon have nine lines whizzing above the administrative capital of La Paz.

The Andean city of 1.8 million has long struggled with chaotic transport. Minibuses and taxis with handwritten signs in their windscreens pick up passengers randomly along winding, congested routes.
But in the last two years, aided by growing state revenues from natural gas and mining, president Evo Morales' government has built a cable car system it sees as the cornerstone of a modern transport network: a subway in the sky.
State company Mi Teleférico (My Cable Car) now operates three lines, including two linking La Paz with satellite city El Alto. It has started work on new routes that will grow the network from 10km to 30km.

"The first phase was focused on uniting two cities. The second is on creating a network," Cesar Dockweiler, Mi Teleferico's manager, said in an interview.

More here: http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?op...icle&id=145011&A=GAD&S=Reuters&O=E&E=3-165383

 

[AntennaMan]

I like this. Easier to build than an underground railway system, and probably a lot cheaper as well. This can really help in places like Sandton, Jhb CBD, Pta CBD, etc.

Maybe the Gautrain operator can look at this for increasing the catchment areas around the stations. These things won't get stuck in traffic like the busses do.

 

[GhostSixFour]

This would be awesome, to connect the Gautrain stations with outlying shopping malls or similar. Instead of buses.