Aerial Ropeways as Catalysts for Sustainable Public Transit in Egypt

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Mobility is not only about facilitating accessibility for everyone but also providing broad social, economic, and environmental benefits. While many countries in the developed and developing parts of the world are moving towards the development of smart mobility and sustainable transportation systems, the ropeway transit system (RTS) has imposed itself as an environmentally, socially, and economically effective mode of public transportation. However, the use of RTS in urban environments as a public transport system has not yet been studied thoroughly. The traffic congestion and air quality deterioration, the problems associated with transportation, appears even more in the high-density populated areas such as Greater Cairo, Egypt, where the two banks of the Nile River are linked with only eight bridges, which, along with the Cairo Metro and the ongoing sustainable transport project in Egypt, have not yet solved these problems. Thus, this paper aims to (a) develop a theoretical background on RTS systems, (b) review the existing statement of transportation in Egypt, and (c) highlight the possibility of applying this type of transport in Egypt and develop a set of recommendations for addressing the traffic congestion problem in the Greater Cairo area through an RTS.

Are We Taking Off? A Critical Review of Urban Aerial Cable Cars as an Integrated Part of Sustainable Transport

“…To provide appropriate insights into the systematic literature review, the results were clustered into matching subject areas, following the notion that urban cable cars are commonly defined as a sustainable transport mode [6,[23][24][25][26][27][28]. While there is no universal definition of sustainable transport, the United Nations has provided an understanding that describes it as follows: "Sustainable transport is the provision of services and infrastructure for the mobility of people and goods-advancing economic and social development to benefit today's and future generations-in a manner that is safe, affordable, accessible, efficient, and resilient, while minimizing carbon and other emissions and environmental impacts" [29].…”

“…Given the need to further develop and complement urban public transport, cable cars are considered one solution and perhaps have even partly found their niche already. The existing literature optimistically presents cable cars as a sustainable transport mode [6,[23][24][25][26][27][28], thus, assigning a valuable role to the technology; however, the role of cable cars in urban environments is not yet studied in-depth, which leads to the research question on the potential success of urban aerial cable cars becoming a standard part of transport planners' repertoires.…”

“…Due to acute and increasing congestion in the local road space, the author emphasized that an alternative to conventional roadbased transport would be indispensable and predicted the success of a cable car, as the local administrative and political stakeholders were supportive of the project proposal. [24] Similar work explored a project proposal in Makassar, Indonesia, concerning the appropriate technology, routing, location of stations, and further planning questions [67]. Apart from the simplified differentiation, as stated at the beginning of the section that there are only two different markets for urban cable cars related to public transport and tourism purposes [17], other research also emphasized a mixed potential for tourism, shopping, business trips and daily commuting [67].…”

“…Furthermore, cable cars' are a well-tested technology from predominantly touristic mountain regions, and this is another benefit in these cases; however, the environmental assessment of cable cars in urban areas and direct system comparisons to urban modes of transport have remained largely unstudied [6]. As a result, the environmental benefits are frequently mentioned in this context but not further quantified [24,25].…”