Metrocable gondolas in Medellin. Photo / supplied
Gondolas have long been used for tourism. But in 2004 the Colombian city of Medellin opened a gondola line for the poor areas high on the steep hillsides at the edge of the city. People living there found it very hard to get to and from downtown, where all the
jobs were, which meant low employment and high crime.
The Metrocable line was so popular there are now five, linked to the subway, trams and rapid bus services. Ticketing across the whole network is integrated and extremely cheap. The newest line has 10-passenger cabins and can carry up to 2500 people an hour. Employment is up and crime is down.
Metrocable has been widely copied. At least 24 other South American cities now have commuter-focused gondolas; Portland and New York have "aerial trams" and more are planned in Los Angeles, Oakland and Tampa Bay in Florida.
Gondolas wouldn't work everywhere. But the big lesson of Medellin is that getting people to use public transport is not the insurmountable problem we're sometimes told. If you build it so it's cheap to use, frequent, safe, reliable and fast enough, the people will come. And maybe it helps to be a bit fun.
Design for Living is a Canvas magazine series presenting bright ideas that make cities better.
