The sky's the limit ...
- ccj508
- Mar 2
- 4 min read
Shrewsbury Moves - STCRA is far from convinced ....
This article has been widely circulated and is intended to provoke thought, debate and feedback about an imaginative and exciting travel option. A cable car could promote easy and exciting access to Shrewsbury Town Centre whilst helping to reduce road traffic. This is not as yet established STRCA policy. Please give us feedback! Christopher Bibb and Caroline John, authors.
The Shrewsbury Moves consortium intends to create three traffic loops in our town, with the aim - laudable in principle – of eradicating all through-traffic.
Some, however, regard the Loop Concept as being deeply flawed, derivative not innovative and really rather humdrum. Firstly, the proposed Loops will channel all legitimate local cars vans and trucks into unsuitably, narrow and ancient streets. Not only has this been overlooked, but secondly the impact of the increased traffic flow around the town’s incomplete ring roads has not been assessed. Despite huge expenditure to date, no modelling has been done. No-one has any idea whether the existing roads have the requisite capacity.
We doubt that the plans even tick the boxes of their own objectives! Indeed, the town recently witnessed how very wrong a Shrewsbury Moves idea can be – with the fiasco of the Floating Bus Stop adjacent to Shrewsbury Station.
It appears that Shrewsbury Moves has been formulated based on a deeply questionable ‘best guess philosophy’ – all at a time of severe financial constraint is affecting Shropshire and many other councils across the country. Yet, by approving these plans, Shropshire Council has made decisions which now set in stone some of the principles for the redesign of the town.
Our scepticism about the Loops prompted us to look at an option for the town that we were pretty sure has not been considered by the Moves team or its consultants – an Urban Cable Car.
At first it may appear to be a crazy idea, but a closer look may reveal a recipe to add value and attract private investment – rather than being reliant upon Government funding – and elevate the town to become one of the country’s great destinations.
Urban cable cars are taking off worldwide – not just for fun, or for novelty, or for decoration, but for real solutions to urban transport needs.
Major Cities with Modern Urban Cable Car Systems
La Paz, Bolivia: home to the largest urban cable car network in the world, with 10+ lines.
Medellín, Colombia: the pioneer (Metrocable) with multiple lines connecting hilly neighbourhoods.
Mexico City, Mexico: features high-capacity commuter systems like Cablebús.
Guayaquil, Ecuador: Aerosuscia system.
Toulouse, France: Téléo, described as Europe's longest urban tricable gondola. https://www.simagazin.com/en/si-urban-en/the-french-city-toulouse-now-has-an-urban-3s-cable-car/
London, UK: IFS Cloud Cable Car (Greenwich Peninsula).
Koblenz, Germany: operates a cable car over the Rhine.
Other locations: Caracas (Venezuela), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Ankara (Turkey), Brest (France), Hong Kong, Portland (USA), Haifa (Israel), and Moscow (Russia).
Key Features of Urban Cable Cars
Growth: in some regions, these systems are seeing 15–20% year-over-year growth.
Capacity: modern systems can move 1,000–2,000 passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD), with some high-capacity designs handling up to 4,000–6,000 PPHPD.
Purpose: they are primarily used to overcome geographical barriers (rivers, hills) or to connect isolated, dense neighbourhood to existing transit hubs, often costing less and building faster than light rail.
Future Cities: cities planning or building new systems include Paris, Lagos, Jerusalem, and Gothenburg.
Whilst these cities are showing real imagination and entrepreneurism, Shrewsbury continues to think ‘Park and Ride’ and ‘Parkway Station’. Shrewsbury’s three permanent Park & Ride sites at Meole Brace, Harlescott, and Oxon were established in the early 1990s, coinciding with the completion of the town's bypass. Surely 30 years is enough for Shrewsbury to be quite certain of the level of Park and Ride popularity?
So how might it be done for us, here in Shrewsbury?
With added tiers, the town’s three, existing and super convenient car parks – Frankwell, Abbey Foregate and Howard Street – each could each be linked to the very centre of town, and to the Station.
Once storied, these three car parks alone could hold as many cars as the existing P&Rs. But instead of waiting for a bus to arrive, then to load, followed by a 25-minute ride into town, the walk-on-walk-off cable car would link the car parks to the town centre via a thrilling, visitor-inducing, 5-minute flight over our wonderful town.
It would also connect and endow the rail station with sufficient car parking, easily accessed from all directions. It would, at a stroke, optimise rail commuting via our historic and beautiful rail station, obviating any need for a new and additional station.
Private Finance
And whereas Shrewsbury Moves is dependent upon government funding, a scheme such as this would surely attract private investment.
As a (weekend) shopping destination, Shrewsbury is already unique in terms of its setting, and the extent and variety of its shops.
As an ancient market town, its hinterland has a radius of 30 miles, within which Shrewsbury can be reached, easily by road, within the hour (The blue circle represents similar travel time to the centre of Birmingham).
As a shopping destination, Shrewsbury is already unique in terms of its setting, and the extent and variety of its shops – which the BID can back strenuously.
As a magical medieval city for visitors from home and abroad, supporting our hospitality sector, what better panorama could be had than from high in the air?
Being forced to park miles from the town centre at a wet and windy P&R, to wait for the arrival of a bus, to queue to load, and then be tossed around for half-an-hour as the bus inches its way into the town, simply doesn’t compare!
To be able to drive, park easily and fly into the heart of Shrewsbury within an hour – via the cable car – would elevate the town as a destination enormously. Not merely swift, the cable car will add spectacle and excitement for visiting families and serve as a major draw for shoppers and investment by retailers.
All we need is the will, the courage, and the wit to leverage private finance! Surely, we have these in Shrewsbury. And please – NO LOOPS!
Tell us what you think on info@STCRA.co.uk
