- Who
- Mi Teleférico
- What
- 33 kilometre(s)
- Where
- Bolivia (La Paz)
- When
The largest public-transit cable-car system is "Mi Teleférico" (also known as "Teleférico La Paz-El Alto") in La Paz, Bolivia. As of 9 March 2019, when the Linea Plateada (Silver Line) opened, the system had 32 stations along 10 cable-car lines, and a total track length of 33 km (20.05 mi).
La Paz, the capital of and most populous city in Bolivia, is centred on a steep-sided valley high in the Andes mountains. The streets of the city rise more than 500 m (1,640 ft) in the 2.8-km (1.7-mi) between the downtown business district and the capital's more modern sister-city, El Alto (which is built on a flat plateau to the west). This challenging terrain, combined with the dense and unplanned development of the city, makes building conventional rail or subway mass transit systems impractical.
The construction of this cable car network began in 2012, with the first lines opening to the public on 30 May 2014. Initially there were just three lines (Roja, Amarilla and Verde), but following the success of this development a further two lines were added in 2017 (Azul and Naranja), three in 2018 (Celeste, Morada and Café) and one in 2019 (Plateada). Another, the Linea Dorada, is due to open in 2020. The system has more than 1,500 individual cable cars, and a passenger capacity of 34,000 people per hour in each direction.
Similar systems are being developed in some of the other South and Central American cities that face the same transport challenges. The Metrocable in Medellín, Colombia, has four lines covering around 10 km (6.2 mi) and at least one operational cable-car line has been integrated into the public transport systems of Caracas, Venezuela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico.
