1001 Smart Cities
🇲🇽 Mexico City

Cablebus: Cable Cars as Ordinary Public Transit

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 1 sourced claim · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

1 sourced claim on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

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The lines climbing into hillside neighbourhoods carry riders in Metro-scale numbers. The flat park line drew about 15,000 passengers a day in 2025 against a design capacity of 34,000.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence📊 Independent
what does this mean?The strongest source is an independent non-academic evaluation: an audit office, a government or EU review, or an NGO. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byServicio de Transportes Electricos de la Ciudad de Mexico (STE)
Scale🏙️ City-wide
CostLine 2 approx. MXN 3.17bn, Line 3 approx. MXN 2.6bn (Line 1 not confirmed)
FundingMexico City government budget; federal funds announced for Line 4

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 7 more in Mexico City · 🚌 Public transport guide · 🚲 Mobility projects

Mexico City runs three aerial cable car lines as regular public transport: Line 1 (9.2 km, Gustavo A. Madero, Doppelmayr) opened in July 2021, Line 2 (10.55 km, Iztapalapa, Leitner, awarded by direct contract) in August 2021, and Line 3 (5.42 km, across the four sections of Chapultepec park) in September 2024. They carried 47.7 million passengers in 2025, cost 7 pesos a ride and are paid for with the citywide Movilidad Integrada card, which also covers the Metro, Metrobus, Trolebus and Ecobici. Guinness certified Line 2 in 2021 as the world's longest urban cable car line. The hillside lines carry the riders: the Chapultepec line drew about 15,000 passengers a day in 2025 against a design capacity of 34,000.

Live 📅 since 2021

📊 Impact

A 2024 review by ITDP Mexico and the Inter-American Development Bank found Cablebus cut users' travel times by almost 45% and doubled, in some cases tripled, the jobs, health services, schools, shops and leisure destinations reachable within an hour's trip. The same study put operating cost at 8.73 pesos per passenger, below Metrobus (11.5), the Metro (15.3) and RTP buses (17.7).

🎓 Lesson

A cable car earns its place by geography, not by technology: the two lines climbing into hillside neighbourhoods carry riders in Metro-scale numbers, while the flat park line runs at under half its designed capacity.

🚲 MobilityPublic transportSmart ticketing

Sources

↗ ITDP Mexico / Inter-American Development Bank, 'Lecciones aprendidas en la implementacion del Cablebus' (research)Published 23 July 2024 archived copyCarries the impact figures at sentence level: 'El Cablebus logro disminuir los tiempos de traslado de las personas usuarias casi en un 45%' ('Cablebus cut users' travel times by almost 45%'), and 'Se duplicaron las oportunidades de empleo, salud, educacion, abastecimiento y esparcimiento' reachable in under an hour, tripled in some cases. Also estimates 18,569 t CO2e avoided from 2021 to December 2023. Method: literature review of 21 papers, 4 interviews in La Paz-El Alto, Bogota and Medellin, 9 interviews with Cablebus actors, with the city mobility ministry SEMOVI taking part. No control group, and the implementing agency was a participant, so this is a lessons-learned study rather than an arm's-length audit.
↗ Expansion Obras, 27 Sept 2024: cost per passenger (press, reporting the ITDP/IDB study)'el costo operativo del Cablebus (el promedio de las lineas 1 y 2) es de 8.73 pesos por pasajero' ('the operating cost of Cablebus, averaging lines 1 and 2, is 8.73 pesos per passenger'), against 11.5 for Metrobus, 15.3 for the Metro and 17.7 for RTP. Also: 'Las lineas 1 y 2 del Cablebus ... transportaron a mas de 40 millones de pasajeros en 2022.'
↗ El Universal, 2025 ridership by line (press, citing STE)Published 29 December 2025STE figures for calendar 2025: Line 2 'movilizo a 22.9 millones de personas', Line 1 'traslado a 19.3 millones de pasajeros', Line 3 'fue utilizada por un total de 5.5 millones de personas' (22.9M / 19.3M / 5.5M, 47.7M combined). Strongest recent confirmation that all three lines are running.
↗ Expansion Obras, 5 Aug 2021: who built Line 2 and what it cost (press)Updated 8 August 2021'La empresa encargada de construir la segunda linea del medio de transporte es Leitner Spa' ('the company charged with building the second line is Leitner Spa'), contracted directly rather than by tender, with Alfa Proveedores and Leitner Ropeways Mexico; 'La Linea 2 tuvo una inversion de 3,168 millones de pesos'. The city government's own inauguration release gives 3,183 million pesos; the discrepancy is left standing rather than averaged.
↗ Corriente Alterna, UNAM: failures and queues on Line 2 (independent journalism)Published 8 August 2021Counterweight to the operator account: 'la espera puede demorar hasta sesenta minutos en las horas pico' at Xalpa station ('the wait can take up to sixty minutes at peak hours'), nicknamed 'el Pantitlan del Cablebus'; the works ministry documented seven cabin stoppages between 8 August and 21 November 2021, mostly power supply and motor control faults; passengers were stranded aloft during the 7.1 earthquake of 7 September 2021. Leitner is contracted to spend 159.7 million pesos a year on maintenance in the first year of operation.
Show 3 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Wikipedia (ES), Linea 1 and Linea 3 del Cablebus (encyclopedia, used for line geometry only)Line 1: 'El 11 de julio de 2021, fue inaugurado el troncal Indios Verdes — Cuautepec', 9.2 km, 6 stations, 377 cabins, 33 min 20 s end to end, fare MXN 7.00; first section opened 4 March 2021. The companion article on Line 3 gives 24 September 2024, 5.42 km, 6 stations, 180 cabins, Miguel Hidalgo and Alvaro Obregon, connecting the four sections of Chapultepec, with a five-station extension into the upper Alvaro Obregon neighbourhoods only proposed. Used as corroboration because the operator site ste.cdmx.gob.mx returns 503 to automated requests.
↗ La Jornada, 27 Aug 2021: Guinness record for Line 2 (press)Guinness World Records certified Line 2 (10.55 km) as the world's longest urban cable car line, August 2021; also reported by Forbes Mexico. Attributed to Guinness rather than asserted by the atlas, and the record is a moving target: the planned 15.2 km Line 5 is promoted as its successor.
↗ Infobae, 14 July 2026: annual two-week inspection shutdown (press)Each of the three lines closes for roughly two weeks a year for its annual inspection, staggered from 13 July, with free RTP replacement buses; El Universal reported riders saying they were not told in advance and paid more to travel. Line 3 also lost power in February 2026 and ran on a provisional service for four hours after an electrical fault on 28 May 2026 (La Jornada).

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2021. 6 of 8 sources carry a publication date, from 5 August 2021 to 14 July 2026.

When the sources were published

  1. Expansión · pressExpansion Obras, 5 Aug 2021: who built Line 2 and what it cost (press) · updated 8 August 2021
  2. Corriente Alterna (UNAM) · pressCorriente Alterna, UNAM: failures and queues on Line 2 (independent journalism)
  3. Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Mexico · ngoITDP Mexico / Inter-American Development Bank, 'Lecciones aprendidas en la implementacion del Cablebus' (research)
  4. Expansión · pressExpansion Obras, 27 Sept 2024: cost per passenger (press, reporting the ITDP/IDB study)
  5. El Universal · pressEl Universal, 2025 ridership by line (press, citing STE)
  6. Infobae · pressInfobae, 14 July 2026: annual two-week inspection shutdown (press)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Sources last read
  2. Entered the record

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 1 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 1 addressable claim, 8 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 1

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-4d44818d548cb240 quantitative
A 2024 review by ITDP Mexico and the Inter-American Development Bank found Cablebus cut users' travel times by almost 45% and doubled, in some cases tripled, the jobs, health services, schools, shops and leisure destinations reachable within an hour's trip
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The same ITDP/IDB study also put operating cost at 8.73 pesos per passenger, below Metrobus, the Metro and RTP buses.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. ITDP Mexico / Inter-American Development Bank, 'Lecciones aprendidas en la implementacion del Cablebus' (research)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates effective 2026-07-26 · created 2026-08-20

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:123845e75bcdc30aac078932fff2b07a3535a7562c4d2583a6c6dd2ccea4d32c
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
1
of 1 claims mapped
8
source dossiers
7
publication dates recorded
1
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Servicio de Transportes Electricos de la Ciudad de Mexico (STE)
Actor types
utility
Funding model
public
Funding description
Mexico City government budget; federal funds announced for Line 4
Cost
Line 2 approx. MXN 3.17bn, Line 3 approx. MXN 2.6bn (Line 1 not confirmed)
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

8 source dossiers

ITDP Mexico / Inter-American Development Bank, 'Lecciones aprendidas en la implementacion del Cablebus' (research) mexico.itdp.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-0014b1107438c74d
Publisher
Name not classified · mexico.itdp.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-07-23
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-05-12
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Carries the impact figures at sentence level: 'El Cablebus logro disminuir los tiempos de traslado de las personas usuarias casi en un 45%' ('Cablebus cut users' travel times by almost 45%'), and 'Se duplicaron las oportunidades de empleo, salud, educacion, abastecimiento y esparcimiento' reachable in under an hour, tripled in some cases. Also estimates 18,569 t CO2e avoided from 2021 to December 2023. Method: literature review of 21 papers, 4 interviews in La Paz-El Alto, Bogota and Medellin, 9 interviews with Cablebus actors, with the city mobility ministry SEMOVI taking part. No control group, and the implementing agency was a participant, so this is a lessons-learned study rather than an arm's-length audit.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Expansion Obras, 27 Sept 2024: cost per passenger (press, reporting the ITDP/IDB study) obras.expansion.mx · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-9c01369d31d84327
Publisher
Name not classified · obras.expansion.mx
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-09-27
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

'el costo operativo del Cablebus (el promedio de las lineas 1 y 2) es de 8.73 pesos por pasajero' ('the operating cost of Cablebus, averaging lines 1 and 2, is 8.73 pesos per passenger'), against 11.5 for Metrobus, 15.3 for the Metro and 17.7 for RTP. Also: 'Las lineas 1 y 2 del Cablebus ... transportaron a mas de 40 millones de pasajeros en 2022.'

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
El Universal, 2025 ridership by line (press, citing STE) eluniversal.com.mx · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-d5f6e33ed5773d63
Publisher
Name not classified · eluniversal.com.mx
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-12-29
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

STE figures for calendar 2025: Line 2 'movilizo a 22.9 millones de personas', Line 1 'traslado a 19.3 millones de pasajeros', Line 3 'fue utilizada por un total de 5.5 millones de personas' (22.9M / 19.3M / 5.5M, 47.7M combined). Strongest recent confirmation that all three lines are running.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Expansion Obras, 5 Aug 2021: who built Line 2 and what it cost (press) obras.expansion.mx · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-7ea671bdf4bec4ca
Publisher
Name not classified · obras.expansion.mx
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-08-05
Updated
2021-08-08
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

'La empresa encargada de construir la segunda linea del medio de transporte es Leitner Spa' ('the company charged with building the second line is Leitner Spa'), contracted directly rather than by tender, with Alfa Proveedores and Leitner Ropeways Mexico; 'La Linea 2 tuvo una inversion de 3,168 millones de pesos'. The city government's own inauguration release gives 3,183 million pesos; the discrepancy is left standing rather than averaged.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Corriente Alterna, UNAM: failures and queues on Line 2 (independent journalism) corrientealterna.unam.mx · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-676bb56fc634a5d6
Publisher
Name not classified · corrientealterna.unam.mx
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-08-08
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Counterweight to the operator account: 'la espera puede demorar hasta sesenta minutos en las horas pico' at Xalpa station ('the wait can take up to sixty minutes at peak hours'), nicknamed 'el Pantitlan del Cablebus'; the works ministry documented seven cabin stoppages between 8 August and 21 November 2021, mostly power supply and motor control faults; passengers were stranded aloft during the 7.1 earthquake of 7 September 2021. Leitner is contracted to spend 159.7 million pesos a year on maintenance in the first year of operation.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Wikipedia (ES), Linea 1 and Linea 3 del Cablebus (encyclopedia, used for line geometry only) es.wikipedia.org · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-7d5f78c42f9dd9c6
Publisher
Name not classified · es.wikipedia.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Line 1: 'El 11 de julio de 2021, fue inaugurado el troncal Indios Verdes — Cuautepec', 9.2 km, 6 stations, 377 cabins, 33 min 20 s end to end, fare MXN 7.00; first section opened 4 March 2021. The companion article on Line 3 gives 24 September 2024, 5.42 km, 6 stations, 180 cabins, Miguel Hidalgo and Alvaro Obregon, connecting the four sections of Chapultepec, with a five-station extension into the upper Alvaro Obregon neighbourhoods only proposed. Used as corroboration because the operator site ste.cdmx.gob.mx returns 503 to automated requests.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
La Jornada, 27 Aug 2021: Guinness record for Line 2 (press) jornada.com.mx · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-d763499565b507e5
Publisher
Name not classified · jornada.com.mx
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-08-27
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Guinness World Records certified Line 2 (10.55 km) as the world's longest urban cable car line, August 2021; also reported by Forbes Mexico. Attributed to Guinness rather than asserted by the atlas, and the record is a moving target: the planned 15.2 km Line 5 is promoted as its successor.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Infobae, 14 July 2026: annual two-week inspection shutdown (press) infobae.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-23ef0c5b5f0af33c
Publisher
Name not classified · infobae.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2026-07-14
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Each of the three lines closes for roughly two weeks a year for its annual inspection, staggered from 13 July, with free RTP replacement buses; El Universal reported riders saying they were not told in advance and paid more to travel. Line 3 also lost power in February 2026 and ran on a provisional service for four hours after an electrical fault on 28 May 2026 (La Jornada).

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇨🇴 Metrocable & Social Urbanism · Medellín Medellín proved the cable car as transit in 2004; Mexico City's hillside lines now carry 42 million riders a year, the park line 5.5. 🇲🇽 Metrobus: Mexico City's BRT Network and Its Open Real-Time Feed · Mexico City Cheapest mode in the city to run: 8.73 pesos a passenger against 11.5 on Metrobus, on the same 2024 ITDP and IDB review. 🇲🇽 Movilidad Integrada: One Fare Card Across Eight Transport Systems · Mexico City One card, separate fares: Cablebus costs 7 pesos and the Metro 5, both paid with the same Movilidad Integrada card.

Explore the wider context

🔑 Your Smart City Is Owned by Someone Else📖 Urban cable car📖 Bus rapid transit (BRT)📖 E-ticketing
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Cablebus: Cable Cars as Ordinary Public Transit” — Mexico City, Mexico. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/mexico-city-cablebus/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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