Cable cars might be expected in Cebu City soon

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama talked with the reporters after his People’s State of the City Address on Monday, July 3, 2023. | Niña Mae Oliverio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cable cars might be expected in Cebu City soon.

This was one of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s plans for the city which was presented during his People’s State of the City Address on Monday, July 3, 2023.

In his interview with the reporters on Monday, he shared how he had envisioned having an aerial ropeway transit (ART) system in the city.

Support from business tycoon

He said that his friendship with the billionaire tycoon, “the Sy family,” supported his vision.

In his second term, he said, especially when he had a consortium with various companies, he already had the idea of having cable cars.

Rama said that he asked Hans Sy, chairman of the executive committee of SM Prime, about having a cable car on the tower of Sy’s establishment “leading towards the summer capital barangay and that is Sudlon 1.”

Rama also said that a cable company came into his office.

However, he did not specify when it took place.

Cable cars from airport

Rama got even more positive of having ART in the city as he recalled that during his Hongkong visit, he witnessed that people can take a cable car from the airport.

“Possibility, from the airport…it will now pass (from there) to Fuente. It can even go to Busay. That was a dream,” he told the reporters.

Furthermore, Rama said that Sy told him, “Give me the place, then we will have it.”

“That was what he said when I was in my first term elected [in] 2013,” he said.

Rama did not provide specific details yet regarding the route of the cable car as well as when this plan would be achieved.

Existing plan

Based on the audio visual presentation (AVP) of Rama’s People’s State of the City Address, having cable cars and a railway system were part of Rama’s vision during the 85th charter day on February 24, 2022.

READ: Rama bares plans to build new dam during SOCA

“He presented the ideas with the Department of Transportation, opened the doors to the private sector, and explored the cable car system from South Road Properties to the uplands. Another group also studied the route from Cebu IT Park to Barangay Busay in Cebu City,” the AVP stated.

These plans are yet to be realized.

It can be recalled that in 2018, Fortunato Sanchez Jr., president of a construction line company, presented the ART as a mass transportation system that would complement the Bus Rapid Transit in the city.

One cabin of the ART could carry 10 passengers from one station to another with a nine-second interval and the number of passengers it can accommodate equates to 200 jeepneys per hour per direction with a speed of 22 kilometers per hour.

READ: Pushing ‘cable cars’ for Cebu City

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