The Vetruse Cable Car in Usti nad Labem
This is always exciting . . .
While small compared to the other major players in the cable transit industry, the Swiss cable car company of Bartholet hasn’t been caught totally unaware of the potential the urban market presents for cable.
Last year, the company opened the Vetruse Cable Car in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic.
The system connects a local shopping centre to the nearby Chateau Vetruse, a site described as “a popular weekend destination.”
At only a few hundred meters in length (336 meters, to be exact), the system is quite, quite modest; and as you’ll see below, its capacity limitations hardly make it a world-beater in the realm of public transit.
But the system does do some interesting things:
- Firstly, if preliminary reports are to be believed, the system is fully integrated into the city’s public transportation system.
- Secondly, the city terminal is built within the OC Forum shopping mall. How this public transportation system meshes with a private sector shopping complex is unknown at this time, but is well worth exploring later.
- Thirdly, it uses a relatively rare Bicable / Aerial Tram configuration.
- The Bicable / Aerial Tram configuration, by necessity, results in low total capacity. Reports suggest the system can carry a scant 350 persons per hour (presumably, per direction). Those reports, however, were prior to opening. Since opening, we’ve learned that the system has two 15 person cabins departing every 15 minutes — thus resulting in an offered capacity of just 60 pphpd. As the trip only takes 2:45, it may be possible for this system to reach an upper limit capacity of 300 pphpd (assuming a departure every 3:00 minutes), but that would be highly unrealistic.
- Fourthly, as the video we’ve linked to below shows, this system flies over numerous private residences. It would be fascinating to learn about the public’s reaction to this.
- Lastly, it appears to sail over all manner of road, rail and bridge infrastructure; not to mention a river. So once again we’re presented with a system that demonstrates how cable transit has an ability to traverse topographical challenges built by Mother Nature and the Hand of Man.
This is a system deserving of more research and attention. Anyone with further information about it is encouraged to provide it in the comments.
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