Medellin, Colombia: the metrocable as the world’s first cable propelled public transit
Social transformation in informal settlements through mobility innovation.
Jota (jose) Samper
Introduction
The Medellin’s cable car (Metrocable) is the “world’s first true CPT [Cable Propelled
Transit] system [in the world]”(Dale 2010). Since its inception, the
metrocable as an urban CPT system has become a staple of Latin American
cities that are trying to deal with the issues of dense urban form resulting
from informal urban development. The metrocable, since its first implementation
in Medellin, has been imported to other cities in Colombia and also outside of
it, including Caracas and recently Rio de Janeiro.
The planning and practice of such an idea is the product of
more than a decade of research at the planning department in the City of
Medellin. While many cities before 2003 played with the idea of using a cable car
systems, the first attempt was the result of failed project. In the mid
1990’s, the city of Medellin was interested in implementing a touristic cable
car that would connect some of the Andes mountain parks to the center of the
city. This project was deemed politically unfeasible and shelved. A few years later, while looking for
alternatives to deal with transportation issues on the steep hills of the
mountains where most of the informal settlements are located, some of the
planners revisited the previously shelved technical specifications and cost of
a CPT metrocable.
The final specifications were a concerted effort between the
planning department and the very profitable Empresa Metro de Medellín Ltda.
This metro system runs from one end of the city to the other. The metrocable was attached to the already
existing rail metro network which makes the system more efficient and also sustainable
long term. The connectivity of the cable to the already existing transportation
network of the city is one of the aspects that some cities have not applied
when translating this system to other latitudes and yet this connectivity is
probably the most important dimension.
Key Interventions
The first Metrocable served
Medellin neighborhoods Comunas (Districts) 1 and 2 via Line K which
opened in 2006. It is 1.8 km long and contains the following four
stations: Acevedo, Andalucia, Popular, and Santo Domingo. The estimated
construction cost was $26 million USD. It
was paid with funds from the municipality and the Empresa Metro. It climbs
399 m (1,309 ft) at an average speed of 10 miles per hour
(16 km/h) and has a capacity of 64,000 trips a day. It reduces travel
time up to 1 hour and 30 minutes for the most remote areas.
The Medellin Metrocable system contains three
lines, Line K, Line J and Line L (Cable Arvi).
Measurable Outcomes
Given that the system is connected to the metro and its
passengers do not need to pay for an extra ticket, this system not only saves
time for these communities but it also reduced the cost of travel by one
ticket. This can imply a savings of more of 500,000$COL (277$US) a year per
individual. For many community members in informal jobs, this amount can equal
two months of income that they could not otherwise sacrifice away from feeding,
housing, and clothing their families.
Each new station provides new public spaces and the security
services that make these areas some of the safest in a neighborhood know for
levels high levels of insecurity. As a result of such improvements in public
space and security, areas around the stations of the transportation corridor
reported an increase in commerce of up to 300% in the first years of the
project’s implementation.
The planning department today is in the planning stages to
add another three cables in other neighborhoods. This implies that Medellín
will have a total of six metrocables by 2014. The preference of this system
over other ideas has to do with the relative easiness of development and its
low economic and social costs in comparison to any other massive transportation
strategy that require massive evictions. These evictions for the metrocable
only happen at the stations.
Governance (SW to formalize structure for governance)
Medellin found itself in a good position with creative
planners and engineers at the time of implementation of the first Metrocable. Supported by a strong bureaucracy with clean
(non-currupt) finances and a public private partner like the Metro de Medellin,
one of the few profitable metro systems in the world. This permitted the city
to experiment with something new and with positive results.
The participation of the community in the discussions about
the project’s implementation is one of the weak areas that still needs to be
improved. Community members were informed about the changes that would happen.
But actual feedback from the community did not happen. Up to today, the metrocable
strategy has only been implemented in areas developed informally, which implies
that many community members lack titles to their land and lack necessary
leverage to challenge the state initiatives in transforming their environment. This metrocable is still an untested strategy in
formal areas and doing so in the next stage will permit us to better understand
this system’s applicability to other contexts.
Individual Success Story Conclusions
Beyond the transportation advantages that the system has
provided to the community in terms of public space, easy of mobility and
heightened security, the Metrocable has become a symbol of the transformation
of the city in general and in particular of the marginalized communities where
it is been implemented. The metrocable is a local, national and international
tourist attraction that brings foreigners to these once isolated areas. In a
subtle way, this changed community mobility and tourist attraction has changed
the way community members who live in these areas are seen by the more wealthy city
residents throughout the city.
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