Cablebús: Leading the World in Urban Aerial Mobility

Cities sometimes look into the wrong mirrors. For years, Europe and Asia have been the primary reference points when discussing innovative public transportation, while the world’s largest urban cable car lines for passenger transport are being built on this side of the ocean, in Mexico.

This is neither an isolated project nor a technological curiosity. It reflects a growing understanding that mobility can no longer be conceived in only two dimensions. Mexico is beginning to look upward, toward more efficient systems that enable direct routes and operate independently of traffic congestion. It is also looking toward inclusion, by integrating elevated, irregular, and peripheral areas that have historically been underserved by traditional transportation models. At the same time, it is embracing sustainability through electric, quiet systems with a low environmental footprint, capable of operating with high safety standards in complex urban environments.

There is also a growing recognition that Mexican engineering can lead world-class projects, and that our cities are not merely adopting technology, but actively driving it, setting new global records in the process.

A clear example is Mexico City’s Cablebús Line 5, which will become the longest urban cable car passenger transport line in the world. Spanning 15.2km, with 12 stations and 462 cabins, it will have the capacity to transport up to 3,000 passengers per hour per direction. The line will connect Álvaro Obregon, Magdalena Contreras, and Benito Juarez, reducing travel times by more than 50%. This is not an experiment. It is planned, funded public infrastructure with a defined start of operations.

And it is not the only case.

The city of Puebla has decided to build a complete cable car network, consisting of four lines, nine stations, and a total length of 13.61km, with more than 150 cabins in operation. The system will benefit over 1.7 million residents, providing a viable mobility alternative in areas where conventional transportation simply cannot operate or expand.

Both projects share more than technology. They share a vision. Mexico is recognizing that cable transport is not tourist entertainment, but a mature, safe, electric, and accessible urban solution, with right-of-way costs significantly lower than those of other mass transit systems.

Today, with Cablebús Lines 1, 3, and 5 in Mexico City, the Puebla network, and the cable car system under development in Uruapan, the country is building the most extensive urban aerial mobility network on the continent, exceeding 50km in total length and positively impacting the daily lives of more than 350,000 people.

The most important transformation is conceptual. Mexico is moving away from thinking solely in terms of “more lanes” and beginning to think in terms of more dimensions. Urban aerial mobility does not replace the metro, buses, or bicycles, it complements them. It creates shortcuts over ravines, crosses dense urban areas without demolishing the city, reduces travel times, lowers emissions, and restores something we had come to accept as lost time.

Beyond infrastructure and engineering, these projects also generate measurable social and economic value. By improving access to employment, education, healthcare, and public services, urban cable car systems strengthen social cohesion and help rebalance opportunity across the city. Shorter and more reliable travel times translate into higher productivity, lower transportation costs for families, and a tangible improvement in quality of life. In this sense, urban aerial mobility is not only a transportation solution, but also a tool for social equity and urban resilience.

It is no coincidence that the world’s largest lines are emerging here. Mexican cities concentrate precisely the challenges that this technology addresses best: steep slopes, irregular terrain, expansive urban growth, and the urgent need to connect peripheral areas with urban centers.

Mexico is not following a global trend, it is setting it.

The mobility of the future does not move only on the ground. It also moves through the air.