Are cable cars efficient?

One apparent advantage of the cable car is its relative energy efficiency. This is due to the economy of centrally located power stations, and the ability of descending cars to transfer energy to ascending cars.



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The mitigative impact on climate is also significant: use of the cable cars has led to a reduction of 121,029 tonnes of CO2 between 2010 and 2016.

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Despite their good characteristics, aerial cable cars also have certain limitations:
  • Speed limited to 12 m/s or 43,2 km/h.
  • Capacity limited to 4,000 persons/h.
  • Suitable only for distances up to 7 km (gondolas with intermediate stations)
  • Wind resistance, normally up to 18 m/s (65 km/h), bi-cable systems 90 km/h.


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A disadvantage of mono-cable gondolas is that the weight of the carrying-hauling rope is quite high. The weight ratio of cargo, empty cabins, and carrying-hauling rope is somewhere around 30:30:40.

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After an average of 30 years, cable cars reach the end of their life, although some components such as cables have to be discarded considerably earlier. In some cases, legal requirements demand the removal of installations after just twenty years, so it is a good thing that cable cars have multiple lives.

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In 2017, 10 people were killed when a cable car fell into a ravine hundreds of meters (feet) deep in the popular mountain resort of Murree after its cable broke.

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Don't get me wrong, the cable cars operate safely in the rain all the time. On occasion, though, there are more extreme conditions that argue for the prudent use of bus shuttles. Usually in rainy conditions, grip persons keep an abundance of sand in the cable car sand reservoir to help with braking.

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As a model for the mobility of the future, urban cable cars like those in Latin America are a role model for metropolitan regions that are reaching their limits of their infrastructure.

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Environmentally Friendly Gondolas can help wean people from car dependency according to Fast Company. If enough areas are connected, people may choose to use this new attractive public transportation and leave their cars at home. Since many are electric, this makes them very eco-friendly.

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Most aerial cable systems can make turns, although it is difficult, or near impossible, for fixed grip technologies such as aerial trams and pulsed gondolas. (Fixed grip systems, particularly pulsed gondolas systems do sometimes make slight turns along specially designed towers.)

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Human error caused a gondola to fall to the ground at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que., on Dec. 10, according to a report by engineers hired by the ski hill.

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The car will then slowly move forward, and a further, and stronger, pull locks the grip to the cable and brings the car up to its cruising (and maximum) speed, of 9.5 mph. To stop the car, the grip lever is thrown forward to disengage the grip, and the hand brake lever pulled on.

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Stopping a cable car These are crew-activated by foot pedals on both ends of the California cars, and on the front end of the Powell cars. A conductor's lever on the rear platform activates rear track brakes on Powell cars. Track brakes are simply pieces of wood located between the wheel sets on the cars.

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