A new cable car system, installed by Leitner Ropeways, was opened in Tbilisi. The new ropeway is mainly designed as a tourist attraction, which crosses between Rike Park and Narikala fortress up on the hill overlooking the capital city with 8-passenger gondola lifts allowing visitors to take in views of Old Town. Tbilisi municipality, however, also plans to restore some of the old cable cars and add several new commuter routes to make aerial tramway part of the capital city’s transport infrastructure. There were six ropeways in Tbilisi during the Soviet times with all of them now dysfunctional; most of them ceased operating in 1990s and the last remaining cable car, linking Chavchavadze Avenue and Kus Tba (Turtle Lake) ceased running couple of years ago. In 1990 at least 19 people, including children, died in an accident involving two cable cars on a ropeway route between Rustaveli Avenue and mount Mtatsminda.
