Transport Minister Wissing relies on cable cars in cities

First bus, then train and then a cable car ride – that is Transport Minister Wissing’s vision for local transport in cities. The Cable Car World Congress is discussing whether this can close gaps in the service.

Cable cars have so far been used primarily for tourism. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing believes that this should change. He is the patron of Cable Car World – a cable car congress in Essen. Promoting the cable car as an urban means of transport seems important to him. Since 2022, it has been given the same funding as other means of transport. In addition, there has been a guideline for such projects since then.

Examples in densely populated regions of the world show that cable cars are reliable, climate-friendly and space-saving, says Wissing. That is why he is committed to increasing the visibility of this mobility solution in Germany as well.

Cable car only as a supplement to public transport

Experts from politics, science and cable car construction companies are meeting at the congress in Essen starting today. People from other countries where there are already cable car lines in the public transport sector are also there. Such systems are already being used successfully in Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia.

Cable cars are in some cases the only alternative there – partly because of the topography, says Jürgen Follmann, Dean of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. They are also quick and easy to build. However, they are only suitable for shorter and straight routes and are not quite as fast, says the scientist. That is why transport experts agree that they only work as supplementary systems in Germany.

No master plan for networked local transport

From the perspective of transport scientist Heiner Monheim, Germany lacks a master plan that sensibly combines cable cars and other means of transport such as buses and trains. To do this, it is first necessary to look at where gaps in an existing network are and to what extent these gaps can be closed with cable cars.

In addition, the questions of many residents about cable car routes remain unanswered: What happens if a cable car suddenly flies over my house? And what does that do to the landscape? Monheim puts this down to “poor public relations” in transport infrastructure planning. People have to be taken along and, for example, compensated if that becomes necessary.

Now would be the time for public relations work. Today and tomorrow – at the Cable Car World in Essen.