玻利维亚拉巴斯高空缆车重塑城市交通与市民生活
In most cities, commuting means battling traffic on the ground, but in La Paz, Bolivia, residents glide above the chaos in an expanding network of cable cars. Since 2014, the Mi Teleférico system has carried over 300 million passengers across the Andean city, which sits at nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. What began as a single line has grown into ten interconnected routes stretching 33 kilometers, linking the steep hillside neighborhoods of La Paz with the neighboring city of El Alto. This airborne solution did not just shorten travel times—it reshaped how the city thinks about public space and social connection.
The geography of La Paz posed a unique challenge for urban planners. Ravines, irregular slopes, and extreme altitude made traditional metro or bus rapid transit systems impractical and expensive. Cable cars, by contrast, required minimal ground-level construction and could rise above the tangled streets. Each gondola carries up to ten passengers, departing every 12 seconds during rush hour, which effectively creates a continuous flow. An estimated 300,000 people use the system daily, many of whom previously spent two hours in minibuses navigating narrow, congested roads. Now, a trip from El Alto to the city center takes just 17 minutes.
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