“The hill to go up from Oncopole to Rangueil University Hospital is hard on a bike, so taking the cable car makes my life easier, assures this Toulousain with his crossed bike Tuesday morning in a Téléo cabin, the new Toulouse cable car (Haute -Garonne). It is really a good equipment for the sportsmen, many in this green zone “. Put into service last weekend, the longest cable car in France, connecting over three kilometers the three stations Oncopole, Rangueil Hospital and Paul-Sabatier University, filled up with curious people, eager to discover the Pink City from above. . According to Tisséo, the Toulouse public transport organizer, nearly 50,000 trips were recorded last weekend, where access was free.
Monday, the first weekday of operation of this new mode of transport, nearly 7,500 journeys were counted. According to a Tisséo agent, many employees, in particular from the Rangueil hospital, took the cabins of the cable car allowing them to make the trip in ten minutes instead of thirty by car or public transport.
“The cabins are very quiet”
For the travelers present on Tuesday morning, it was the speed and ease of access that convinced them to use this installation which allows them to admire the wooded area of Pech David, to span the Garonne and to admire the chain of the Pyrenees. Ahmed, an employee of an aeronautics company, uses Téléo for the first time to go to a medical appointment at the University Hospital of Rangueil. “I live near the road to Spain so I came by bike to the Oncopole station and in five minutes, I’ll be in Rangueil,” he says. It is difficult to park at the hospital so it is a good means of transport. Also, the cabins are very quiet and it’s amazing to see the city from this vantage point.”
In the same cabin, a group of seven retirees are enthusiastic about the view. “We take advantage of our weekly walk together to discover the cable car, they say. It is a great technical feat because the trip is very flexible, without jerks. It is an ecological means of transport and financially cheaper than the construction of a metro”. Téléo, the cost of which amounts to 82 million euros, must unclog part of the Toulouse ring road. The facility has a total of 15 cabins in line with a capacity of 34 seats, accessible for people with reduced mobility. The interior space of the cabins also allows the boarding of bicycles.
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