While cable cars are usually synonymous with ski resorts or mountainous cities, the longest urban cable car in Europe has just opened for business in the French capital.
Paris already has a sprawling and efficient metro system, but the brand-new, three-mile-long cable car has been constructed to better connect the more isolated neighbourhoods in the city’s southeastern corner to central Paris, via metro line 8.
The seventh urban cable car to open in France, it cost a whopping €138 million to build, and planners had to overcome what Valerie Pecresse, head of the Île-de-France region, described to the Telegraph as ‘a 10-year obstacle course’.
On Saturday December 13, the Paris Téléphérique or Câble C1 was officially inaugurated, and it is set to make life a whole lot easier for residents. The cable car connects Créteil to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, and while by bus or car that journey takes 40 minutes, the cable car can do it in just 18. The line’s 105 gondolas, which each hold up to 10 people, are expected to transport 11,000 people per day.
‘This is a great step forward in terms of transportation. The roads are often congested in the morning,’ said Limeil-Brévannes resident Salimatou Bah, ‘We wondered if people would be hesitant, but I think it just takes a little time to adapt.’
How to ride Paris’s new cable car
While the line will predominantly be used by residents, all you need to ride the cable car is a bus ticket or travel pass that you’d also be using on the metro.
While you’re here, have a look at our brilliant list of the best things to do in Paris, curated by our city editors.
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