Cable cars have established themselves as a means of public transport in South America. The world’s longest network is in La Paz. The cabins were supplied by Olten-based manufacturer CWA.
The streets of La Paz are chronically congested. Free travel is only possible high above the rooftops. To escape the traffic chaos, hundreds of thousands use the cable car every day – on their way to work, school or shopping.
The urban cable car network in the Bolivian capital is 33 kilometers long. It comprises ten lines with a total of 36 stations. This makes Mi Teleférico the longest ropeway network in the world. It is impossible to imagine everyday life in La Paz and the neighboring city of El Alto without this unusual means of transport.
The shift of public transport from the ground to the air has fundamentally changed mobility in the city. In the past, if you wanted to get from A to B, you had to hop on one of the many minibuses. But the streets are narrow, the traffic is slow, and the buses are full and unpunctual. There is not enough space for a streetcar and a subway system is hardly feasible due to the many inclines. The cable car proves to be the optimal solution: today, it enables clean, fast and safe progress.
The 1413 cabins in use in La Paz come from Switzerland. They were built by the Olten-based manufacturer CWA. The company has already built around 70 urban ropeways in 38 countries, many of them in South America and Asia. In Europe, the means of transport has so far been associated more with mountain tourism, but that is likely to change soon. In 2022, Paris has begun construction of an urban ropeway. The cabins for this will also be supplied by CWA.
