The cable car system is seriously being looked as an alternative mode of transportation by the incoming transportation secretary Arthur Tugade.
Tugade said, “to help ease traffic congestion and speed up travel time for commuters in Metro Manila, we should have a cable car system similar in Bolivia.”
He said, “I’m borrowing from the Bolivia experience where they use cable cars. We can start in the Pasig area and then move on to EDSA, use gondolas that can carry 35 passengers.”
He is also considering the cable car system running from Santa Rosa, Laguna, to Makati City. Likewise, it can also be used as a more scenic form of travel.
According to Tugade, they are already in talks with the cable car manufacturer. An Austrian company Doppelmayr that provided the similar solution in Bolivia called ‘Mi Teleférico’. If this gets a go signal, Manila residents can expect the project to be operational in just 18 months.
The Bolivian aerial cable car system
In 2014 the Bolivian city of La Paz started to use an aerial cable car urban transit system. Currently, three lines are in operation and seven more lines are in the planning stage.
A 10 km (6.2 mi) in length, Phase One (the first three lines) that connect La Paz with the neighboring city of El Alto was considered to be the longest aerial cable car system in the world upon its completion in 2014.
The system was planned in order to address a number of problems, including a precarious public transit system that could not cope with growing user demands, the high cost in time and money of traveling between La Paz and El Alto, chaotic traffic with its subsequent environmental and noise pollution, and a growing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel, which are subsidized by the state. – Jason E.
Cable Car System are only used in inaccessible places like mountains, between body of water and alike. But in a city such as Metro Manila it is not feasible. Remember cable cars have weight limitations meaning they have payload limitations since its just being supported by cable. This is not a good suggestion to solve our traffic problems. Overhead Mass Rail are still the best, actually subway rail system are better, but they curtail more funds to make since you have to borrow underground. I do think its better to connect all “main” rail system with with “smaller” rail systems to the inner places of a district interconnected by stations. One excellent example is the London Underground of course for us it should be over the ground system which we presently have.
If this will replace our Philippine Jeepneys, then I think this will help solve. (Help solve, but not eradicate) Metro Manila traffic. This can serve as an alternative transportation. But still, Mass Transit System (MRT) is still the best. All Metro Manila towns should be interconnected with MRT and not just selected routes (like in Hongkong/Singapore).