In Colorado, we have similar cable car systems high up in the Rocky Mountains, where people often travel to go snowboarding or skiing. In the United States, we usually call these cable car systems “gondolas.” An electric motor drives a long loop of steel cable over several towers and around a pair of large pulley wheels at both ends of the loop. The cable cars hang from the cable by a large steel arm. As the cable moves through the loop, the cable cars move along with it.
La Paz’s Mi Teleférico first began operating just five years ago, with only three lines and 11 different stations. Today, there are nine lines and more than 30 stations, with cable cars leaving the stations every 12 seconds and running 17 hours per day (from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.). A new line, the gold line, is scheduled to begin operating next year. La Paz’s Mi Teleférico is now the world’s largest and highest aerial cable car urban transit system. Bypassing much of the steep mountainous terrain here in the city, it’s estimated that the cable cars have cut average commute times down from one hour to just ten minutes! The system has become so popular and so successful that by 2030, La Paz expects to have more than 16 lines running, with free WiFi inside of every cable car.
I was so nervous the first time I hopped into the Mi Teleférico! Even though I lived in Colorado for more than eight years, I had only ridden on a ski gondola a couple of times. On the few occasions that I did ride on a gondola, I knew that I was not going very far. You see, I am very afraid of heights.
