Paris (or more accurately, the southeastern suburb of Créteil) is about to open its first urban cable car line. But what made them build a cableway instead of going with a more conventional option like a bus, a tram, or extending the existing metro line? I went out to the end of Line 8 to see it for myself…

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MORE INFO
Official website of the C1 (in French) – https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/le-reseau/projets/cablec1
Local group protests against the line (Le Parisien, in French)- https://www.leparisien.fr/info-paris-ile-de-france-oise/a-creteil-les-sarrazins-sud-resistent-toujours-contre-le-trace-du-telepherique-06-10-2018-7912722.php

IMAGE CREDITS
Metro Maps by Chabe01 – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Chabe01
Barcelona Cable Car by Mummelgrummel – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barcelona_August_2014_-_Seilbahn_de_Montjuic_003.jpg
London Cable Car by Chris Sampson – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_Cable_Car_(110813-203_CPS_11711627636).jpg
Medellín Cable Car by Camilo Sanchez – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metrocablemed.jpg

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21 Comments

  1. Just drove past this. and wondered where the chffin eck it came from. looks impressive. but like you said will it be used enough to warrant the investement. paris is not holding back on the metro system for sure

  2. Koblenz, Germany had a cable car line build about 10 years ago. It was supposed to be temporary to provide easy access to an exhibition and it isn't part of public transport, you need your seperate ticket for that. Fast forward to the end of it's lifetime and people were very confused why the existing and very well received cable line was supposed to be demolished. There were some public votes after which it was kept.
    Unlike some other lines there were very few alternatives in this case, if any.
    It crosses the river Rhine to go up to a stronghold in a very steep incline.

  3. I'm not sure about this.

    people afraid of heights can put on a… sleep mask?
    and if there is wind and rain and the cabins sway around I really don't wanna be on there.

    if you been to a ski resort before you know what its like if someone messes up at the station: the cabins come to a stop and move up and down, it's pretty scary.
    considering there are 5 stations and people are traveling both ways I see a breakdowns happening multiple times a day

  4. It's 12/2025, so has this opened to the public yet? Hopefully, there will be a follow-up video of the actual ride. Can't wait to return to Paris and check this out!

    Thanks for videos of Paris infrastructures!

  5. We used it last week and it was a great and slightly surreal experience. To get to the start, we walked up a hill from Point du Lac and then took the C1 down to a station called "La Végétale".

  6. This probably is made by Poma and is the same tech used on ski lifts. I would love to see faster cable cars for urban environments, I don't really understand what the limitation is for the cable not moving faster. These would be so much more compelling if they moved twice as fast.

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