Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, is set to introduce a 4.2-kilometer cross-river cable car line aimed at alleviating the city’s chronic traffic congestion and worsening air pollution. The project, currently under construction, is expected to significantly reduce travel times across the Tuul River, a journey that can take up to three hours by car during peak traffic, to just 12 minutes by cable car.
The cable car system, developed by French firm Poma and financed through a concessional loan from the French government, began construction in March and is slated for completion by the end of the year. Project manager Cecile Broi noted the advantages of the cable car in terms of cost efficiency and speed of construction, especially compared to the long-proposed but yet-to-be-started underground metro system that has been discussed for over a decade.
Ulaanbaatar has experienced rapid growth since the collapse of the Soviet-allied communist regime in 1990, with its population tripling from around half a million to over 1.5 million today. The expanding urban sprawl extends into mountainous regions surrounding the Tuul River valley, where many residents live in remote hillside neighborhoods, making transportation both difficult and time-consuming.
Local residents express cautious optimism about the cable car project but remain skeptical about broader improvements to the city’s infrastructure. Narantsetseg Aleksandr, a 68-year-old resident from one of the northern suburbs, said the cable car could offer some benefit to families in remote areas by reducing reliance on the often unreliable bus system. However, she also criticized previous government plans to tackle pollution and traffic as ineffective, describing them as promising on paper but lacking in real progress.
Similarly, Enkhbayar Myanganbayar, a 25-year-old truck driver, dismissed longstanding government promises about building a metro. He described the metro plans as unrealistic, pointing to the worsening congestion and the absence of concrete developments despite repeated assurances over many years.
The cable car route will cross several critical parts of the city’s infrastructure, including a major thoroughfare, the wide Tuul River floodplain, and the Trans-Mongolian Railway. It is expected to transport up to 2,300 passengers per hour, providing a new mode of electric transport designed to ease the pressure on Ulaanbaatar’s congested roads.
The city regularly experiences severe air pollution during its harsh winters, in large part due to the burning of coal and other solid fuels for heating in the traditional “ger” districts—areas named after the portable dwellings used by nomadic communities. The pollution frequently surpasses World Health Organization guidelines, contributing to health problems such as respiratory issues among children.
While the cable car represents a new approach to some of Ulaanbaatar’s transportation challenges, residents continue to call for more comprehensive and effective solutions to the capital’s longstanding traffic and pollution problems.