South America isn’t the only place that cable cars are making a comeback though, the construction of a cable car in Lagos, Nigeria, is nearly complete and the World Banks has approved a $175 million financing loan to construct one in Kampala, Uganda.

The arguments for cable cars are compelling. Although they carry fewer passengers an hour than subways (5,000 compared to 20,000), they cost ten times less. Cable cars are also more energy efficient than most transport systems if they are used well because the engines run at a constant speed. The upfront costs are comparatively low, too. A typical two kilometre line might cost £5.1 million, experts at a 2012 urban transport conference in Ethiopia estimated.

And the costs for users can be low too. In Constantine, Algeria, a cable car system carried 4.5 million passengers in its first year, at a cost of 12p per trip. Even at that low price, it covered its operation and maintenance costs.