The first Cable Car for Bogotá’s district Ciudad Bolivar – new possibilities for local tourism?

Ciudad Bolivar is located in the south of Bogotá. Its’ developed district is one of the world’s largest urban slums, although the definition of slum is misleading – people live relatively normal lives here, however everything is improvised and in really bad condition. Most houses have been turned from informal into proper housing years ago. Bogotá’s only mass transportation system ‘TransMilenio’, which is composed of large buses running on individual lanes through the city, does not cover much of the area of Ciudad Bolivar. This results in over 700.000 people having little access to the TransMilenio. Bogotá’s government has been trying to improve living conditions and public transport for the people of Ciudad Bolivar, but the mountainous landscape makes it hard to reach deep into the urbanized hilly areas.

Now the construction of a cable car called ‘TransMiCable’ connecting the TransMilenio station ‘Portal El Tunal’ with the neighborhoods up the hill is supposed to improve traffic and transportation in the area. Four stations in different parts of Ciudad Bolivar will be built and thus, save the people time. From the top of the hill down to El Tunal station requires over 1 hour by bus, with the TransMiCable it will be 13.5 minutes. Lots of people are hoping that it will also improve security and attract tourism, as it did in Medellín. The city is a good example of successful city planning and allowing poor neighbourhoods to participate in the city’s everyday life by making the daily commute easier. In Medellín, tourists take the cable cars to once dangerous no-go areas to enjoy the view or go on a tour through the barrios. Service of the first public cable car in Bogotá is supposed to start in 2018 and people can’t wait to see the stations finished.