Cableway

Urban cableways

Urban cable transport encompasses all transport systems that use cables to pull vehicles around cities. The Gondola lift or cableway type is spreading relatively quickly in South American urban environments, following the success of Medellín's Metrocable around 2004. As of 2023, 33 aerial cable cars (ACC) transit lines were inaugurated in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the majority after 2010. There are also three recent installations in Algeria in Tlemcen, Skikda and Constantine. Urban cable cars are a relatively old concept – the Bastille cable car in Grenoble, France went into service in 1934 and the Sugarloaf Cable Cars in Rio de Janeiro in 1912 and 1913, although the purpose of these installations is not to transport city dwellers in the narrow sense, but to serve as a tourist site. The majority of installations were built to overcome specific geographical challenges, such as for river crossings, access to islands, major urban breaks (motorway, railway, large industrial site) or steep gradients.