Bab El Oued – Z’ghara Cable Car. Image by El Biar Alger.
It didn’t take long before the first urban gondola of 2019 was inaugurated.
On January 2nd, the Algerian neighbourhoods of Bab El Oued, Celeste Village and Z’ghara in Algiers became the recipient of a new 2km, 3-station aerial ropeway.
Built with a maximum line speed of 5.5m/s, and sixty-six 10-person cabins, the system can transport up to 2,400 persons per hour per direction (pphpd). A trip on the monocable detachable gondola (MDG) will take 7 minutes and will operate 13 hours in the winter and 19 hours daily in the summer. A single fare has been priced at 30 DA (US$0.25) — that’s 20 DA less than a Metro ride.
Bab El Oued – Z’gahara Cable Car. Photo by El Biar Alger.
Bab El Oued – Z’gahara Cable Car. Photo by El Biar Alger.
Due likely to language barriers and its geographic location, Algeria and its capital, Algiers, is often an underrated player when it comes to Cable Propelled Transit (CPT) systems. To put it into perspective, the Bab El Oued – Z’ghara Cable Car is now the 6th urban ropeway constructed in Algiers! Arguably, only La Paz’s Mi Teleferico can claim that it has more operational ropeways in a city.
For those unfamiliar with Algiers, existing ropeway systems include the Madania Cable Car, Our Lady of Africa Cable Car, Memorial Cable Car, Palace of Culture Cable Car and the Bouzareah Oued-Koriche Cable Car.
All of these cable lifts are short, 2-station aerial trams except for the Bouzareh Oued-Koriche Cable Car which is a 2.9km, 3-station monocable. Perhaps even more impressive is that Algiers can be considered a pioneer in the industry as it first deployed an urban ropeway (Madania Cable Car) in 1956!
Reports indicate that the aerial lift will be managed and operated by the Algerian Cable Transport Company (ETAC).