Rendering of Krasnodar Cable Car. Screenshot from 24krasnador YouTube channel.
Chances are you’ve never heard of Krasnodar — a city of 900,000 people that’s located some 1,300km from Moscow and 300km from Sochi.
In recent times, this so-called unofficial capital of the Russian south has been experiencing significant population growth. Between 2007-2017, the city added about 200,000 residents. Today, it is the 16th most populous city in Russia and the 3rd most populous in the country’s Southern Federal District after Rostov-on-Don and Volgograd.
To alleviate traffic congestion and improve transport options, the city’s economic committee released a proposal to build a massive 36km network of urban gondolas in November 2017. Since then, the proposal has been revised to 32km, spread over 12 stations and five lines. If Krasnodar is successful in this endeavour, their urban ropeway network would be the world’s second largest, right behind La Paz who has a final build out length of 32.7km.
32km network of urban gondolas have been designed. Screenshot from 24krasnador YouTube channel.
Given language barriers, it’s difficult to say where the cable cars are travelling to, but it appears that the five lines are planned to connect major activity nodes such as the Gallery-Krasnodar (shopping and entertainment center), the German Village, the Krasnodar stadium and several residential districts.
The proponents believe that they can complete the entire network in just 3.5 – 4 years at a cost of US$150 million (10-12 billion rubles). The current model is set at US$0.50 per ticket, attracting an estimated 35 million passengers per year (approximately 100,000 per day).
While this figure seems high, the ridership numbers wouldn’t be that far-fetched as Mi Teleférico has transported over 135 million since the first cable car line opened in May 2014. This roughly equals to more than 31 million passengers per year.
Gondola system passing through and connecting the new Krasnodar football stadium which was built just two years ago. Screenshot from 24krasnador YouTube channel.
Screenshot from 24krasnador YouTube channel.
In comparison to local data, the city estimates that its current transport network carries over 210 million persons per annum. With the cable car, proponents believe it can reduce traffic loads by 12%, and eliminate 178,000 cars and 105 buses from the road.
Similar to many recent gondola proposals seen in Hollywood, Branson, and Albany, the project lead believes the system can be privately financed and built via a PPP structure. In a news article this week, Krasnodar’s Mayor, Evgeny Pervyshov, appears to be supportive of the project if investors are willing to step up to the plate.
Within Russia, urban gondola technology seems to be finding it stride. So far, Nizhny Novgorod has operated its transit cable lift since 2012 while Moscow should be opening two recreational systems in the short- to mid-term (Sparrow Hills/Luzhniki Stadium gondola and VDNKh Ropeway).