Cable cars could reshape urban landscapes

For his thesis at EPFL, Fernando Simas studied how cable cars could be an appealing transportation option for city commuters, and how they could be incorporated into tomorrow's urban landscapes. Cable cars are one of the hallmarks of Switzerland, along with funiculars and paddlewheel boats. They adorn the country's mountaintops like garlands. While cable cars are most often associated with leisure activities in the winter and summer, Fernando Simas has looked at how they could become a common mode of urban transportation. Simas, a researcher at EPFL's Urban Sociology Laboratory (LASUR), recently defended his thesis on this topic, explaining that urban cable cars could become popular among city residents and provide much more than just a means of getting around. Paradoxically, even though the technology is fairly simple, incorporating cable cars into urban landscapes poses its own set of challenges and would require making some complicated decisions. The first part of Simas' thesis explores how city residents generally use public transportation, in order to determine how urban cable cars could fit into commuters' existing habits.