IMAGINE travelling at least 40 meters above ground on your way to work.
Norbert Feuerstein of Doppelmayr Mass Transport System said that the use of cable cars is now the fastest, safest and cheapest alternative mode of mass transport in the world.
He is asking members of the Cebu City Council to also try the technology here as a means to especially address congestion problems.
“The future of urban mobility is (now) above the head,” he said.
Feuerstein was in Cebu City yesterday to make a presentation of his cable car proposal to legislators.
His company is a supplier and operator of cable cars.
Feuerstein said cable cars are elevated at 15 to 40 meters above ground using stations located 8 kilometers away from each other. Its elevation could go higher as the stations go farther away from each other.
In Sentosa island in Singapore, their cable car system is 115 meters above ground.
Electricity powers cable cars which can travel at the speed of 18 kph to 25 kph.
In Germany, travels that last 25 minutes can be completed in just four minutes aboard a cable car.
“You could tap foreign funding agencies like ADB for the project. This is a perfect project for funding,” he said, noting that ADB allocated at least $540 million per year on foreign assisted projects.
Feuerstein said they have installed cable cars for use in mass transport in London, Germany, Algeria and Singapore, among others.
The cable car system in London has been operational for 20 months and has so far transported 3.5 million people. “What about the rates? It has to be made affordable,” said Acting Vice Mayor Margot Osmeña.
Feuerstein said that fixing the rates is something that the city government will have to decide on.
If funding assistance is made available, the city could then afford to set low rates for cable car use.
He added that the cost of putting up the cable car system vary depending on the number of stations and cable cars that the government would want to put up through PPP or through a BOT scheme.