Metrocable (Caracas)

The Metrocable de Caracas is a gondola lift system integrated with the city's public transport network, which provides quick and safe transportation for those who live in the neighbourhoods situated on Caracas' mountainous regions. The system was built as a tool for social reform with stations set up to accommodate a variety of services such as daycares, libraries, police stations, markets and theatres.

This Metrocable system is part of the growing number of gondola lifts that are now being used for urban transportation purposes (others include the Metrocable (Medellin), Mi Teleférico (La Paz), Portland Aerial Tram, Emirates Air Line and Roosevelt Island Tramway).

In 2006 the interdisciplinary design firm Urban-Think Tank, working with local community leaders and the State Government, came up with the idea to build a network of cable cars into the poorest areas of the capital known as Barrio San Agustín. These plans eventually led to the laying of the foundation stone on 29 November 2006.

On 20 April 2007, construction began on the first line, which starts at San Agustín and reaches towards Central Park (Parque Central) station, where it is linked to the subway network. The Ministry of Infrastructure, Austrian aerial lift manufacturer Doppelmayr, and the Brazilian company Odebrecht were all responsible for the construction of the system. The lighting design project and domotic system was developed and installed by the German-Venezuelan lighting design house Dierck Sistemas de Iluminación CA, located in Caracas.

In December 2009, Caracas Metro Cable entered into the testing phase, and in January 2010 the first users of the system were carried: several community leaders who drove from station Hornos de Cal to station Parque Central.

The line was officially opened on 20 January 2010.

This gondola lift system is fully integrated with the local Metro and has a capacity of 3,000 pphpd (persons per hour per direction). Since its opening in 2010, the system moved on average 1,200 passengers per hour. Each gondola cabin can accommodate up to eight sitters and two standees.

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Wikipedia