top of page

Why the Bolivian CABLE CAR is environmentally friendly?

Updated: Aug 23, 2022


Teleferico La Paz

The yellow line of the cable car in La Paz - Bolivia

The cable car or cable car is a sustainable transportation method that has been implemented in several Latin American cities as an alternative to other public transportation systems in places where the topography is not favorable and the costs of conventional modalities increase with slopes.

Although cable car systems have been used in some Latin American cities as a modality in some segments of the city, in the city of La Paz - Bolivia the cable car system has been adopted as the central element to meet the needs of mass transportation. , given the complexity of the topography and the great pressure of urban mobility that is not alien to many of the cities of Latin America. This transport system, which attempts to cover more than 20% of daily urban transport needs, has been adopted as an alternative to public transport, taken over by the State company "Mi Teleferico", when a large part of public transport was in the hands of unions. carriers and small private carriers. A cable car transport network has several environmental and urban benefits: - A first obvious advantage for users is that the cable car does not need to compete with other means of transport on existing roads in the city, that is, it does not compete for land space as is the case with dedicated bus lines or the metro. ; - There is an additional benefit from the urban perspective and it is that the cable car will most likely modify the urban space, ordering it and even compacting the city even more; - The use of clean energy is emphasized by the Ministry of Public Works, Services and Housing of Bolivia, although when using energy from the network, it is subject to the energy mix of the electricity network, which in Bolivia is generated by 60% by gas. natural; - There are other environmental benefits emphasized by the authorities and by the company "Mi Teleférico" itself, such as the reduction of transport noise and other pollutants attributed to transport such as NOx, CO and SO2; - There is still no evaluation of the climate benefits, such as the amount of Greenhouse Gas emissions avoided by the cable car network; Like any infrastructure project, the cable car is not free from negative or not so positive collateral effects. - Some sections of the cable car, such as the section of the white line that crosses an important avenue in the city of La Paz, have been strongly criticized by the residents of the city;


- The cable car has undoubtedly modified the aerial landscape of the city in some segments and has taken away the privacy of many properties and private homes;


We appreciate your questions and comments in the Facebook box enabled below this entry and we recommend you to participate in our open forum "let's go by bike, a forum on urban development on a human scale"










30 views
TAGS
bottom of page