Mi Teleférico

Mi Teleférico
Red Line cable car connecting El Alto with the city of La Paz behind
Overview
Native nameMi Teleférico
OwnerEmpresa Estatal de Transporte por Cable "Mi Teleférico"
LocaleLa Paz, Bolivia
16°30′00″S 68°09′00″W / 16.50000°S 68.15000°W / -16.50000; -68.15000
Transit typeGondola lift
Number of lines10 (1 in planning)
Number of stations36 (5 in planning)
Websitewww.miteleferico.bo
Operation
Began operation30 May 2014
Operator(s)Empresa Estatal de Transporte por Cable "Mi Teleférico"
Number of vehicles
  • 1398 gondola cars: 10 people each
  • 109 (Red Line)
  • 169 (Yellow Line)
  • 165 (Green Line)
  • 208 (Blue Line)
  • 127 (Orange Line)
  • 131 (White Line)
  • 155 (Sky Blue Line)
  • 190 (Purple Line)
  • 27 (Brown Line)
  • 117 (Silver Line)
  • 106 (Gold Line)
Headway12 sec
Technical
System length19.0 mi (30.6 km)
Average speed11.2 mph (18.0 km/h)
Top speed13.4 mph (21.6 km/h)
System map

Mi Teleférico (Spanish pronunciation: [mi teleˈfeɾiko], English: My Cable Car), also known as Teleférico La Paz–El Alto (La Paz–El Alto Cable Car), is an aerial cable car urban transit system serving the La PazEl Alto metropolitan area in Bolivia. As of October 2019, the system consists of 26 stations (36 if transfer stations are counted separately per line) along ten lines: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, White, Sky Blue, Purple, Brown, and Silver. Further lines and extensions are in planning or construction.

Upon the completion of the 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) Phase One (Red, Yellow, and Green Lines) in 2014, the system was considered to be the longest aerial cable car system in the world. Based on its master plan, the completed system, which is being built by the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, is intended to reach a length of 33.8 km (21.0 mi) with 11 lines and 30 stations. While other urban transit cable cars like Medellín's Metrocable complement existing rapid transit systems, Mi Teleférico is the first system to use cable cars as the backbone of the urban transit network. In 2018, Mi Teleférico won a Latam Smart City Award in the category of "Sustainable urban development and mobility".

Mi Teleférico was planned in order to address a number of problems, including a precarious public transit system that could not cope with growing user demands, the high cost in time and money of traveling between La Paz and El Alto, chaotic traffic with its subsequent environmental and noise pollution, and a growing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel, which are subsidized by the state. The Red, Yellow, and Purple lines connect the neighboring cities of La Paz and El Alto, which are separated by a steep slope about 400 m (1,300 ft) tall, and which were previously only connected by winding, congested roads.