An hour and a half: That’s how long it used to take Juan Carlos Plata to travel to and from work along the winding, car-choked streets of La Paz, Bolivia.
Now, it takes only 11 minutes.
“It’s been really good for us. It’s incredible,” Plata said. “It’s calm. No one bothers you. You couldn’t expect anything like this before.”
The cable car, or teleferico, was a pipe dream for years. But then, with the financial boom of the late 2000s and early 2010s, then-President Evo Morales made it a priority. It was inaugurated in 2014. And now, 200,000 people use it each day.
Bolivia’s La Paz has the highest altitude of any administrative capital of any country in the world, and it also has longest and highest cable car system.Michael Fox/The World
“You’ve seen the geography of La Paz,” said Jose Victor Choque, who rides the cable car frequently. “Mountains, up and down. So, to have a direct mode of transportation, it’s beneficial for everyone. It really saves time.”
And the price is right: 3 bolivianos, or about 30 cents. It’s kind of like catching a gondola ride at a ski resort, but there is almost no wait.
There are somelines during rush hour but they move quickly. A new car leaves the station every 12 seconds, which translates to transporting roughly 50 people per minute.
Using La Paz’s cable car system is kind of like catching a gondola ride at a ski resort, except that there is almost no wait.Michael Fox/The World
The cable cars slow down so people can walk on safely at the station and everyone can find a seat. Seconds after the doors close, the car speeds up and out of the station.
In some of the cars, people talk softly, but in most of them everyone’s quiet. It’s almost like a place of meditation or reflection. Flying high over the busy streets and mass of cinderblock homes, people can hear the sounds of the city, even though they’re muffled by the distance and the glass.
The cable car system, which was inaugurated in 2014, was a top priority for then-President Evo Morales.Michael Fox/The World
The cable car is also very practical, said Hebe, who only gave her first name before running to catch a ride.
“When there are protests and road blocks, it used to be a huge problem,” she added. “Now, we just fly over them.”
Cable cars at one of the stations in La Paz, Bolivia.Michael Fox/The World
Protests aren’t the only thing the cable cars help people get around.
The streets of La Paz flood often during the rainy season, which stretches from November into April. One half-hour downpour in late January overflowed worn out sewage systems, choking traffic and sending water shooting up from manholes. The cable cars and their passengers rolled on like nothing happened.
“I love my cable car,” said lawyer Olivia Espejo, who uses it to travel back and forth from work each day.
“For example, right now, it’s raining and you would never find a minibus on the street,” Espejo said. “Instead, the cable car continues to run. That’s a huge benefit. I am very happy.”
Cable cars are able to circumvent traffic jams caused by overflowing water during La Paz’s long rainy season.Michael Fox/The World
There are some negative consequences to the cable car system. According to anthropologist Carlos Revilla, from the La Paz-based Institute of Research and Action for Integral Development, the costs were way over budget, and developers had to raze properties to build it.
But on the other hand, Revilla said the cable cars have had another completely unexpected effect: They are breaking down walls in the city between the rich and the poor.
“Working class people from El Alto can go to the malls,” he said, and “upper class people from the southern region can go to the July 16th market and feel safe. So, there’s been this beautiful process of rupturing urban segregation.”
In a country where political divisions are strong, particularly with a presidential election five months out, the cable car is just about the one thing everyone can agree on.
“Luckily, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like the cable car,” 17-year-old high school student Ignacio Crespo said. “It’s not new technology, but it’s innovative and helpful in so many ways.”