Mexico City Aerial ‘Cablebus’ Provides Key Connection to Peripheral Neighborhoods

A three-year-old aerial cable car system is transforming Mexico City’s transportation network and making the trip into the central city faster and easier for people living in peripheral neighborhoods. 

As Alex Vasquez explains in Bloomberg CityLab, “The Cablebus system has more than halved trips that used to take an hour and a half by bus or taxi, according to Mexico City's Mobility Ministry. In the sprawling megacity of some 22 million people, faster connections were needed for residents living far from the center and the major subway lines.”

Unlike many other aerial tram systems around the world, Mexico City’s system primarily serves residents in far-flung neighborhoods rather than tourists, “Most of the systems, like the ones in Medellin or in Caracas, Venezuela, move between 15,000 and 40,000 people a day; the Cablebus moves between 70,000 and 80,000 people a day.”

Residents perceive the Cablebus as safer than the city’s other transit options such as the subway system, where the city has created women-only cars to create safer spaces for women travelers, “Gisela Mendez, founder of urban development consultancy Ensamble Urbano, said that situations of harassment and violence against women are considerably reduced on the Cablebus compared to other transport systems.” For people whose work gives them less traditional schedules, the Cablebus’s round-the-clock schedule is also more convenient than buses or trains, whose services are concentrated around typical rush hours.