Urban cable cars have arrived in several cities in France in recent years, such as Toulouse, Brest and Reunion. These cabins, designed and manufactured in Isère, are exported throughout the world, saving time for users and also reducing environmental impact.
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They are made in Avenières, in a workshop located in the north of the Isère department. In this factory, it has been a long time since the gondola lifts have not only taken the route to the ski slopes: for years, they have been making their way up to the biggest cities on the planet.
The first in the world to be equipped was Medellin, in Colombia, in 2004. There, the objective was to open up part of the population of the city isolated on a hill: “We realize that this mode of transport responds to a large number of challenges. It overcomes obstacles. We cross either a slope like in Medellin or mountains, we cross a river like in New York, we cross cities , rivers, railways… We realize to what extent we are relevant in overcoming obstacles”, explains Fabien Felli, the president of Poma.
First Colombia, then New York. Today, 70% of the factory's production is exported to the four corners of the world. In France, the first cable car to fly outside the mountainous area was that of Brest in 2016. In a few months, the city of Ajaccio will also be equipped with one. On the island of beauty, the objective is to relieve congestion on the roads.
“The interest of Ajaccio is to position itself and definitively turn towards the future with a mode of transport that meets the challenges of today and the challenges of tomorrow. The goal is to decongest with transport solutions and we are part of the panel of possible transport solutions”says Fabien Felli.
In 20 years, the urban cable car has become more popular and represents around 30% of the French leader's turnover. This mode of transport increasingly resembles everyday transport, such as buses or metros: “We have the capacity to offer sliding doors like a metro where we are absolutely safe. We are on a model where the doors do not fit inside so there is no potential obstacle to closing the doors. doors”, adds the president of Poma.
A gentle, ecological and made in France mode of transport. The workshop and design office are located in Isère: “These are cabins which are entirely manufactured in France and which can be 95% recycled, tells us Wissam El Moukhal, the director of the Sigma site, the Poma workshop in Isère. The cabin, the day it is no longer in operation, it will be recycled and the components will go back to industry or elsewhere.”
In Toulouse, traveling in the sky cost 110 million euros in 2022 compared to 3 billion euros planned for the new metro line.
