Posts Tagged: Caracas

05
Oct

2015

Medellin/Caracas, Part 1

Last week I travelled to Medellin, Colombia and Caracas, Venezuela to tour five of the most important CPT systems in the world. This is Part 1 of a photo essay on those systems. In this part, a brief overview of the history of cable transit in this part of the world will be explained. Image by Steven Dale.

HISTORY

Modern Cable Propelled Transit started in Caracas, Venezuela with the Mount Avila Gondola. This system was originally built in the middle of the last century to carry people from Caracas to the top of Mount Avila where the luxurious Hotel Humboldt had been built. Political and economic strife caused the government to leave for neglect both the hotel and gondola. The gondola itself was not reopened until 1999, after a successful rebuild.

The Avila Mountain Gondola In Caracas. Image by Steven Dale.

An Avila Mountain Gondola From Below. Image by Steven Dale.

A gondola passes over two original and well-preserved antique gondola cars at the Mount Avila Caracas Terminal. Image by Steven Dale.

The Avila gondola cannot, however, be truly classed as cable transit. It lacks integration to the local transit network and really exists more for tourists, not local commuters. It did, however, indirectly inspire the nearby city of Medellin, Colombia to pursue a fully-integrated CPT system to serve the impoverished and dangerous barrio of Santo Domingo. The system would take almost 5 years to open, from conception to fruition and would be the world’s first true CPT system. They would name it The Metrocable. The first line, consistent with the city’s existing Metro system, would be named Linea K.

A Linea K Metrocable Car in Medellin, Colombia. Image by Steven Dale.

The Metrocable over top the Santo Domingo barrio. Image by Steven Dale.

Gondolas depart a Linea J Metrocable station. Image by Steven Dale.

Metrocable Linea K would be an enormous success. Crime rates in Santo Domingo plunged and area investment skyrocketed. In the four years since Linea K opened, crime in Santo Domingo virtually disappeared, jobs have increased 300% and 3 banks have opened along the Metrocable route. With such an obvious success story, Metro officials had little trouble convincing decision-makers to open Linea J.

Unlike Linea K, Linea J would connect several smaller barrios in the western end of the city. These barrios suffered from similar economic conditions but did not have the population density that Linea K had. This was considered a good thing as Linea K suffered from overcrowding almost immediately upon opening, a situation not witnessed on Linea J.

A Linea J gondola. Image by Steven Dale.

Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela was not to be undone. The opening of the second Metrocable line in Medellin made Chavez lust after a similar system in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Within 2 years, Chavez’s dream would be realized with Caracas opening their own cable transit system in early 2010. It was also to be named The Metrocable.

Like the Medellin systems before it, the Caracas Metrocable would provide transit to under-serviced barrios with a history of crime and poverty. But unlike the Medellin systems, Caracas would feature enormous stations that included social facilities such as gymnasiums, police stations, community centres and markets. The Caracas Metrocable would also be the first in the world to feature extreme 90 degree turning radii at stations.

Gondolas enter and exit a station in Caracas. Image by Steven Dale.

The Caracas Metrocable. Image by Steven Dale.

The Metrocable loop between Medellin and Venezuela came full circle in early 2010. While Chavez was opening his first system in Caracas, Medellin was opening their third Metrocable line. But this time, the line looked more similar to the original Mount Avila system from Venezuela circa 1999.

While still fully-integrated into the Medellin Metro, the new Linea L services the Parque Arvi at the top of a nearby mountain in Medellin and requires an additional fare of 1,550 Colombian Pesos (roughly $1 US dollar). Linea L would give quick, affordable access to wilderness and parkland facilities that had previously only been accessible to wealthy land-owners in Medellin. This was a welcome change, given Colombia’s historically wide gap between rich and poor.

A Linea L gondola. Image by Steven Dale.

Medellin as seen from the Linea L, Parque Arvi nature preserve. Image by Steven Dale.

Both cities are engaged in major plans to expand their Metrocable offerings and cities throughout Latin America are embarking upon cable transit plans of their own.

Read Part 2.



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21
Nov

2014

Weekly Roundup: BART to OAK airport connection opens; Poma wins Oruro (Bolivia) cable-car tender

BART to OAK opens this Saturday! Image from Bart.gov.

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of urban gondolas, cable cars and cable propelled transit:

  • The Algerian government is embarking on a joint venture involving its transit divisions, EMA (Entreprise du métro d’Alger) and ETUSA (Entreprise de transport urbain et suburbain d’Alger), and French company Poma. The enterprise aims to have local workers acquire manufacturing and maintenance skills from Poma’s experts. According to the article, in 2009, the government promised up to €500 million over five years to renovate and construct urban cable car systems.


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14
Dec

2012

Weekly Roundup: A Solution to Seattle’s Montlake Mess

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit:

  • Politicians in London consider the possibility of the Emirates Air Line becoming a “white elephant.”

If I could buy that right now, I would.



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11
Dec

2012

Mariche MetroCable – Update

Last week we told you about the soon-to-be-opened Mariche Metrocable in Caracas, Venezuela.

As we mentioned, the system would be Caracas’s second public transit urban gondola system and the first known system to implement an express line. We’ve since gathered more details:

Apparently, the line that is about to open is only the express line. The local line is still under construction and we’re unsure as of right now when it line will be open – we’re also not exactly certain what the alignment will be.

As always, we’ll keep following this one and let you know as soon as we have more information.



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24
Aug

2012

Weekly Roundup: More Urban Cable Cars in Venezuela

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit:

  • In Caracas, Venezuela, Latin America’s largest barrio, Petare, is to benefit from upcoming investments in cable car transit systems. Should this occur, Caracas will become only the second Latin American city in the world – indeed, quite possibly the entire world – to have installed multiple cable car systems as fully-integrated components of their public transit system. The first was Medellin. Coincidentally enough, we have a whole photo essay series on these two cities called Medellin / Caracas.
  • Because sometimes having the safest transit technology around isn’t enough: A 26-year-old man died after climbing out of the window of a gondola at Silver Mountain Resort in Idaho and plunged 85 feet onto rocky terrain.


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18
May

2012

Weekly Roundup: Monkey Rides Cable Car (Seriously)

How long until someone decides to use this as evidence that cable is bad for the environment? Image via Vox.

A quick look at some of the highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit:

  • Here’s something I never – and I mean never – thought I’d be obligated to include in a Weekly Roundup: A Gibraltar area ape took a harrowing cable car ride and found himself stranded onto a service cable running between the cars.


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31
Oct

2011

Mimes As Traffic Cops in Caracas?

Traffic cops in Caracas, Venezuela. Seriously.

If Caracas can use ski lifts as public transit what are the chances they could do something even more bizarre to ease one’s daily commute?

Plenty apparently.

Carlos Ocariz, mayor of the Caracas municipality of Sucre, has deployed 120 mimes into Venezuela’s most congested city. The mimes are tasked with taming the city’s notorious traffic and silently shaming (and mocking) drivers and pedestrians into following traffic laws.

Admittedly, the concept is strange but it’s not without precedent. The program was inspired by Bogota, Colombia’s own mime-as-traffic-cop scheme and has since spread to other South American cities like Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Originally conceived and implemented in the mid-2000’s by Bogota’s trailblazing former mayor Antanas Mockus, the program was so popular and effective that the number of mimes-as-traffic-cops grew from an initial 20 to over 400.

According to the Harvard Gazette, Mockus called it “a pacificst counterweight . . . With neither words nor weapons, the mimes were doubly unarmed. My goal was to show the importance of cultural regulations.”

He goes on:

“The distribution of knowledge is the key contemporary task. Knowledge empowers people. If people know the rules, and are sensitized by art, humor, and creativity, they are much more likely to accept change.”

Amen to that.

As we’ve discussed before (here and here, for example) people are creative, emotional and fun-loving creatures. It’s far easier to change people’s behaviour by playing to those aspects of their personalities rather than punishing them with burdensome policy, regulations and utterly ineffective public service campaigns.

Arguably, there are few things more frustrating in the realm of contemporary western policy, politics and planning than the complete humourlessness of the whole exercise. It’s as though our current planning regime has concluded that creativity and humor are incompatible with modern, professional urban life.

I categorically reject that model and opinion because it entirely misunderstands humanity.

Cities are built for humanity. A city, its infrastructure and its policy should therefore live to service the needs, wants and desires of humanity, not the other way around.

Just because your local planner, policy-maker or politician is without humour and creativity, doesn’t mean your entire urban existence needs to be as well.

Image via the Harvard Gazette.



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