Mi Teleférico (, English: ''My Cable Car''), also known as Teleférico La Paz–El Alto (La Paz–El Alto Cable Car), is an
aerial cable car urban transit system serving the
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
–
El Alto
El Alto (Spanish for "The Heights") is the List of Bolivian cities by population, second-largest city in Bolivia, located adjacent to La Paz in Pedro Domingo Murillo Province on the Altiplano highlands. El Alto is today one of Bolivia's fastest- ...
metropolitan area in
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
.
As of October 2019, the system consists of 26 stations (36 if transfer stations are counted separately per line) along ten lines: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, White, Sky Blue, Purple, Brown, and Silver. Further lines and extensions are in planning or construction.
Upon the completion of the Phase One (Red, Yellow, and Green Lines) in 2014, the system was considered to be the longest aerial cable car system in the world. Based on its master plan, the completed system, which is being built by the
Doppelmayr Garaventa Group
Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of Aerial lift, ropeways and people movers for ski areas, Public transport, urban transport, amusement parks, and material handling systems. As of 2023, the group had produced over 15,400 ...
,
is intended to reach a length of with 11 lines and 30 stations.
While other urban transit cable cars like
MedellÃn's Metrocable complement existing rapid transit systems, Mi Teleférico is the first system to use cable cars as the backbone of the urban transit network.
In 2018, Mi Teleférico won a Latam Smart City Award in the category of "Sustainable urban development and mobility".
Mi Teleférico was planned in order to address a number of problems, including a precarious public transit system that could not cope with growing user demands, the high cost in time and money of traveling between La Paz and El Alto, chaotic traffic with its subsequent environmental and noise pollution, and a growing demand for
gasoline
Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
and
diesel fuel
Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...
, which are subsidized by the state. The Red, Yellow, and Purple lines connect the neighboring cities of La Paz and El Alto, which are separated by a steep slope about tall, and which were previously only connected by winding, congested roads.
History
Background
The neighboring cities of El Alto and La Paz are
the second and third most populous cities in Bolivia. Despite their proximity, travel between the two has always been a challenge, due to a difference in elevation of about . La Paz, the national capital of Bolivia, is located in a canyon on the
Choqueyapu River, while El Alto, a poorer but growing city with a majority indigenous population, is located above it on the
Altiplano
The Altiplano (Spanish language, Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechuan languages, Quechua and Aymara language, Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla people, Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extens ...
plateau. Prior to the construction of the cable car, travel between La Paz and El Alto was limited to heavily crowded, winding streets, and the only public transit consisted of buses and minibuses that often got stuck in traffic.
In order to alleviate this situation, the idea of connecting the two cities with a cable car has been proposed several times since the 1970s.
In the 1970s, a team planned an aerial cable car route connecting the neighborhoods of La Ceja in
El Alto
El Alto (Spanish for "The Heights") is the List of Bolivian cities by population, second-largest city in Bolivia, located adjacent to La Paz in Pedro Domingo Murillo Province on the Altiplano highlands. El Alto is today one of Bolivia's fastest- ...
and La Florida in
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
.
In 1990, a feasibility study was undertaken for a cable car between La Ceja in El Alto and the Plaza de San Francisco in La Paz. The most controversial aspects of the plan were the fare, the low passenger capacity, and ultimately the proximity to the
Basilica of San Francisco. During the
1991 municipal elections, the
Conciencia de Patria (CONDEPA) party candidate argued against a cable car, claiming it would cost minibus drivers their livelihoods and impact privacy.
In the
1993 municipal elections, mayoral candidate
Mónica Medina, also of the CONDEPA party, made aerial transit one of her campaign promises, modifying the original idea of a single line into a system of interconnected cable car lines with a hub on Lainkakota hill.
In 2003, the project returned to the table, but details such as tower placement stalled the work.
The planned San Francisco terminal was moved to the Zapata soccer field near the
Higher University of San Andrés
Universidad Mayor de San Andrés or UMSA () is the leading public university in Bolivia, established since 1830 in the city of La Paz. UMSA is the second-oldest university in Bolivia, after the University of San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca ( ...
, but the idea was still too controversial to move ahead.
In 2011, the
Municipal Government of La Paz carried out a study on potential ridership demand, and found that the city handles 1.7 million trips per day, including 350,000 trips between La Paz and El Alto.
Phase One
In July 2012, Bolivian President
Evo Morales Ayma drafted a bill for the construction of a cable car to connect El Alto with the center and south of La Paz and sent it to the
Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Morales called together the mayor of La Paz,
Luis Revilla, the mayor of El Alto,
Édgar Patana, and the governor of the
La Paz Department,
César Cocarico, to participate in the project. The project was financed by the country's National Treasury with an internal loan from the
Central Bank of Bolivia.
The system's Phase One consisted of the Red Line (''LÃnea Roja''), Yellow Line (''LÃnea Amarilla''), and Green Line (''LÃnea Verde''), which are also the colors of the
Bolivian flag. Phase One was inaugurated and began operation on 30 May 2014.
Phase Two

On 1 July 2014, Evo Morales announced five new interconnected lines to be built in the coming years. On 26 January 2015, the law permitting construction of Phase Two was passed, increasing the number of new lines to six and committing US $450 million to the project. A seventh line was announced in February 2016,
and an eighth was announced in July 2016.
Phase Two will extend the system by over .
On 13 July 2017, it was announced that the cost of Phase 2 would be increased to US $506 million.
Phase Two began operation in 2017 with the inauguration of the Blue Line (''LÃnea Azul'') on 3 March 2017,
followed by the Orange Line (''LÃnea Naranja'') on 29 September 2017.
On 24 March 2018, the White Line (''LÃnea Blanca'') and the first section of the Sky Blue Line (''LÃnea Celeste'') were opened.
The second and final section of the Sky Blue Line was opened on 14 July 2018. The remaining five lines will be the Purple Line (''LÃnea Morada''), the Brown Line (''LÃnea Café''), the Silver Line (''LÃnea Plateada''), and the Gold Line (''LÃnea Dorada'').
As of March 2018, the Purple and Silver Lines are under construction.
Other cities
Oruro
Mi Teleférico contributed to the construction of the Teleférico TurÃstico "Virgen del Socavón" (Our Lady of the Mines Tourist Cable Car) in
Oruro, Bolivia. The cable car connects the city center to the Virgen del Socavón statue and shrine on nearby Santa Bárbara hill, which plays an important role in the city's
carnaval celebrations. The cable car, which opened on 7 February 2018, consists of a single line with two stations and 16 cars. It has a capacity of 1000 passengers per hour, and a one-way trip takes approximately 3 minutes.
The project was originally due to open in November 2016, but it suffered repeated delays until Mi Teleférico took over construction work in 2017.
Sucre
, the Empresa Estatal de Transporte por Cable "Mi Teleférico" was in the process of planning a cable car system for the city of
Sucre
Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...
.
Lines
Lines in operation
The Mi Teleférico system consists of monocable aerial cable car lines. Most lines have a maximum capacity of 3000 passengers per hour, while the Sky Blue Line has a capacity of 4000 passengers per hour.
The network has a total of seven lines, with 443 cars on the Red, Green, and Yellow Lines, 208 on the Blue Line, 127 on the Orange Line,
131 on the White Line,
and 155 on the Sky Blue Line. Each car seats 10 passengers. Cars depart every 12 seconds, and the network is open 17 hours a day.
According to Mi Teleférico, the Red, Yellow, and Green Lines combined transport between 80,000 and 90,000 passengers per day. Of these, the Yellow and Red Lines, the two lines that link La Paz and El Alto, account for some 70,000 rides. During its opening week, the Blue Line moved 41,000 passengers in one day, and it has increased ridership on the Red Line by 15%.
Future lines
Stations
All stations have both a
Spanish name and an
Aymara name.
Red Line (''LÃnea Roja'')
Yellow Line (''LÃnea Amarilla'')
Green Line (''LÃnea Verde'')
Blue Line (''LÃnea Azul'')
Orange Line (''LÃnea Naranja'')
White Line (''LÃnea Blanca'')
Sky Blue Line (''LÃnea Celeste'')
Purple Line (''LÃnea Morada'')
Brown Line (''LÃnea Café'')
Silver Line (''LÃnea Plateada'')
Gold Line (''LÃnea Dorada'')
Incidents
On February 14, 2015, a eucalyptus tree fell, striking an empty cabin on the Yellow Line, dislodging the cable and leaving passengers stranded for three hours. Nineteen passengers suffered bruises and other minor injuries, but there were no major injuries, and only minor damage to three cabins.
On May 9, 2016, a tower from the construction of the Blue Line fell, with nine injured and no deaths.
Intermodal transfers
Beginning in December 2014, the Mi Teleférico and
La Paz Bus systems began allowing passenger transfers at Chuqui Apu station.
Mobile application
Mi Teleférico has released a
mobile application
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
for Android and iOS with information about existing and future lines.
Network map
References
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mi Teleferico
2014 establishments in Bolivia
Aerial tramways
Transport in Bolivia
Gondola lifts
La Paz
Public transport in Bolivia