Metro de Medellín
The Pitch
Metrocable—an aerial cable car system built into Medellín’s existing public metro services—integrated hillside neighborhoods with the rest of the city by offering more affordable and efficient transportation. Owned and operated by Metro de Medellín and supported by the Municipality of Medellín, the arrival of Metrocable’s first line, Line K, is widely seen as a key turning point in Medellín’s fortune.
The Problem
A drug trafficking crisis, rural-urban migration and economic decline fueled a large-scale breakdown of the rule of law in Medellín’s low-income hillside peripheries. For decades, slow, small buses were the only mode of public transport accessible for these neighborhoods.
The Process
- Introduced the possibility of using an aerial cable car to better integrate hillside communities in a 1998 land use plan
- Conducted financial and technical pre-feasibility studies for Metrocable in 2000, providing an initial social and environmental assessment of the communities to be affected
- Mapped out the social fabric of neighborhoods, including how people traveled and moved, lived and associated with one another through churches and other community organizations
- Introduced the cable car in Medellín’s Development Plan for 2001-2003
- Built relationships and trust with local communities through social outreach teams
- Signed a cost-sharing agreement with Metro de Medellín in 2002 and awarded a public bid for construction in 2003 that supported construction of Metrocable’s first line, Line K
- Launched social programming around the project, including a short story contest and youth-targeted social activities
- Hired many community members as construction workers and operations staff
- Built a culture of Metrocable users who understood how to use the system responsibly
- Launched an area-based public investment project in the area where Line K would begin operation in 2004; the municipality invested in schools and youth recreation areas, affordable housing, business development centers and the improvement of public spaces around station areas
- Since Line K began operations in July 2004, added four additional Metrocable lines flanked by complementary municipal investments in public space; one more line is under construction
The Impact
- Directly benefitted 150,000 residents through Line K
- Reduced commute times to the city center from 90 to 30 minutes
- Integrated Metrocable with other public metro services, enabling riders to travel between Metrocable and other metro lines with only one ticket
- Improved patronage of hillside businesses and boosted the area’s tourism industry
- Increased adjacent real estate values by 50%
- Prevented use of 1.7 million+ gallons of diesel fuel per year
- Helped make public spaces safer: Neighborhoods serviced by Metrocable saw a 66% reduction in the rate of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants
- Motivated the Municipality of Medellín to invest in the zone through a holistic public infrastructure plan
- Inspired integration of aerial cable cars in three other cities
- Led Medellín to establish the first set of codes regulating aerial public transportation in Colombia
