Why This is Important to Wisconsin: Wisconsin companies with expertise in urban mass transit or in cable cars could find opportunities there.
Mexico City is expanding its aerial cable car system, with a new line that’s planned to open in September. It will be the third Cablebús line that will operate in the metro area of 22.5 million people, and it will extend capacity of the cable cars to more than 100,000 riders a day.
Cablebús is part of Mexico City’s mass transit system. Initiated in 2021, it connects with bus and subway stations, carrying people above the traffic-clogged urban center at a cost of about 35 cents a ride.
Aerial transit systems in Latin American urban areas began in 2004 in Colombia. A 2021 study by World Bank showed that the cable cars are particularly helpful to predominantly low-income residents living in city centers, providing them with more access to jobs and other opportunities.
They also allow better use of public space since the elevated, enclosed platforms take up very little ground space, the study said. Researchers have shown that the aerial car system has reduced the amount of carbon-based pollution released into the atmosphere.
Mexico City’s Cablebús website says the system is an “innovative proposal to address mobility problems in peripheral areas of the city, either due to their location, the scarcity of access roads and/or their reduced capacity compared to a high and constantly growing number of inhabitants who travel through them.” It is a step toward social justice, the website says.
Additional lines already are under consideration.
Wisconsin companies with products or services related to mass transit or aerial cable cars may find opportunities in this market.
