Why Cable Cars Could Be the Future of Public Transport in India

It is 9 AM in Bengaluru, and you left home 45 minutes ago. And it is not surprising that you have just covered 2 kilometers. 

For millions of Indians, this is not an occasional bad day. It is Tuesday. 

It is every Tuesday. Traffic jams in cities have become a part of life. People have simply stopped thinking that it will get better. 

India has 11 cities in the top 50 most congested cities. Our roads are fuller than ever. Indian metro projects are years behind schedule. Getting land for infrastructure is one of the most expensive and time-consuming problems for any government.

So here is a question worth asking: what if the ANSWER is not on the ground at all?

Cable car public transport in India is no longer just an idea for mountain tourism. Aerial ropeways are becoming a part of the conversation about how to get around cities. The government is actually supporting the idea of using cable cars for mobility. And there are strong reasons why this idea is being talked about more.

Let us look at why.

Cable Cars Are Not Just for Hill Stations Anymore 

Most Indians picture a cable car and think of Gulmarg – Or maybe a temple on a hill somewhere in Uttarakhand. That association made great sense for decades. Ropeways in India were built almost entirely for tourism and pilgrimage access. They were fun to ride, scenic to view, and seasonal. This kind of image is now changing quickly.

Urban planners, state governments, and the central government are all looking at urban ropeways in India as a daily commuter solution. Now, it is not just a weekend attraction anymore. Many cities have streets, rivers to cross, steep hills, and roads that cannot be made any wider. So they are asking, why not build ropeways above everything?

And this is more than a thought experiment. The change is already taking place in places.

In countries, cities like Medellín in Colombia and La Paz in Bolivia have been using cable cars as a normal way for people to get around for more than ten years. Indeed, these places have been running cable cars as mainstream public transit.

India is watching. More importantly, India is building.

What Is Making India Ready for Cable Cars Right Now? 

India’s cities are growing faster than their roads. 

• By the year 2030, the number of people living in India’s cities is going to be around 600 million people. This is going to put a lot of pressure on the roads and other things that are already being used a lot. In the mountainous areas of India, it is very hard to build new roads and metros. Building roads and metros in these areas of India is also very complex and expensive.
  
• Adding more roads or metro lines is not always the answer. And especially true when 30% of the country is hilly or mountainous terrain. These are common places where conventional construction becomes either impossible or unaffordably expensive.

Here, Parvatmala Pariyojana ropeway projects change the equation. 

• The Union Budget for 2022-23 made this announcement. The scheme will look at more than 200 ropeway projects all over India. They are going to spend Rs 1.25 lakh crore on the Union Budget 2022-23 scheme. More importantly, it does not just cover hill areas. It explicitly targets congested urban corridors where metros and roads have hit their limits.  
• For the first time in India’s infrastructure history, ropeways have a dedicated national program behind them. The funding and the targets are set. And the projects are no longer on paper. They are under construction.

You can read more of such content in detail in our blog on the future of transportation with ropeway technology in India. 

Cable Cars vs Metro vs Roads: The Numbers Spinning the Wheel 

This is the comparison most people have not seen laid out clearly. So here it is. 

Cost of Construction

Ropeways are usually less expensive to build compared to metro lines. This is especially true in areas with a lot of traffic or hills. The cost of metro projects in India can be very different from one city to another. It also depends on the route. Whether the metro is underground or above ground. Ropeways are different. They do not have these costs. 

Ropeways are a choice because they do not cost as much. The infrastructure needs fewer civil structures, no tunnelling, and a much smaller ground footprint. This means that ropeways are a lot cheaper to build for every kilometre of ropeway.

Land Acquisition

This is where ropeways have a clear structural advantage. Aerial cable cars operate in their own dedicated right-of-way, which is the sky. They require no extensive ground track infrastructure. In a country where land acquisition is one of the biggest reasons infrastructure projects stall for years, this is not a minor point.

Speed of Deployment

Cable cars can typically move from approval to operation faster than metro projects, which in India often stretch across eight to twelve years. Ropeways have a simpler construction process, fewer dependencies, and a smaller regulatory surface to navigate.

Environmental Impact

Ropeways run on electricity with no direct corridor emissions. Since they are built above ground, they cause far less surface disruption and require minimal clearing of land or vegetation below for cities already dealing with poor air quality, that matters.

Passenger Capacity

Modern gondola systems can move up to 3,000 passengers per hour per direction. That is not metro-level volume. But for corridors where a metro will never be built, it is a genuinely useful number.

The honest framing is this: ropeways are not metro replacements. They are practical, deployable solutions for corridors where metros are too expensive, too slow, or simply not feasible.

Projects Already Proving the Point

The best argument for urban ropeways in India is not theory. It is what is already being built.

Varanasi Kashi Ropeway

This is India’s first urban public transport ropeway and the most important proof of concept the country has right now. The ropeway is 3.75 km long. It connects Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station to Godowlia Chowk, which is in the middle of Varanasi city. Moreover, it is one of the most crowded cities in India. The ropeway there is designed to carry a lot of people at a time and runs for 16 hours every day. The journey that currently takes close to 45 minutes by road is expected to take around 16 minutes once operational.

This is not a tourism project. It is a commuter infrastructure investment in a city where road widening is simply not an option.

Dehradun to Mussoorie

The Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway is being built to serve one of the most heavily trafficked hill routes in North India. Millions of people travel on this route annually. The project aims to capture a meaningful share of that traffic. And offer a faster, cleaner alternative to the busy road.

Shimla

Himachal Pradesh is planning a long ropeway corridor connecting Tara Devi to Sanjauli across multiple stations. The project is designed specifically to reduce road congestion in a city that has been struggling with traffic and tourist inflow for years.

India’s ropeway sector is clearly moving from theory to implementation. These are not isolated pilots. They are part of a growing national pipeline of projects spanning both congested cities and difficult hill terrain.

What Are the Challenges Worth Knowing? 

No honest assessment of cable car public transport in India leaves out the limitations. And there are a few worth knowing.

Capacity Has a Ceiling

Ropeways are not made to replace high-volume mass transit for real. Like a gondola setup moving 3,000 passengers per hour per direction can be helpful, but it is just nowhere close to what a busy metro or suburban rail corridor carries every day. Ropeways tend to work the best as feeder systems, like a connector route, or as point-to-point solutions in places where heavier transit cannot reasonably go.

To understand how these systems work beyond urban centres, read our detailed piece on How Ropeway Systems Enhance Connectivity in Remote and Hilly Areas. 

Weather Can Be a Factor

Operations sometimes get messed up when it’s extreme out there, like heavy winds or storms. On top of that, most modern systems have safety protocols in place that pause everything when conditions go past certain thresholds. This is manageable, but it is a real operational consideration, especially in hilly regions.

Public Awareness Is Still Catching Up

Most Indians see ropeways as something to do when they are on vacation. It is a hard fact that building trust in ropeways as a commute option will take some time, consistent safety records, and clear communication from the people who operate the ropeways and the government.

None of these is a reason to dismiss ropeways. Cities like Medellín and La Paz solved exactly these challenges over time. India can too. But solving these problems will take careful planning.

Conclusion: The Sky Is Not the Limit. It Is the Route. 

Cable cars will not fix every problem that India has with mobility around cities. But for cramped corridors, hilly ground, and those tight urban pockets where acquiring land becomes this decade-long war, ropeways give you something rather rare. An Answer that feels practical, affordable, and ready to deploy. 

The government has recognised this. Projects in Varanasi, Dehradun, and Shimla are no longer proposals. They are under construction. The question is no longer whether cable car public transport in India has a future. It clearly does. The question is how fast India moves on it.

M&M Ropeways has been part of this industry for over 35 years, with 120+ projects delivered across some of the most challenging terrains in the country. Our systems are ISO and OITAF certified, built to operate in conditions as extreme as -35°C, and trusted by both government bodies and private developers.

If ropeway infrastructure is on your radar, we would be glad to talk. Contact today.