January the 24th, 2024 – The Zagreb Cable Car that takes passengers up to the peak of Sljeme is set to be free for two weekends next month, as the mayor recently announced.
The capital’s cable car was a topic of heated debate and conversation for a while, even back during the reign of former Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić’s reign. Despite having been constructed and in working order, it has faced several obstacles and continues to be a matter that comes up quite frequently for the city’s administration.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, among other topics of interest, Zagreb’s mayor turned his attention to the Zagreb Cable Car. It carried 25,000 passengers over a recent weekend when it was offering rides for free, which is five times more than usual.
“The cable car was free because we wanted to avoid a traffic collapse at the top of Sljeme itself. The amount of people coming to ride it had never been seen before. Many people came to Sljeme in not only cars but by public transport,” said Mayor Tomislav Tomašević, announcing that the Zagreb Cable Car will be free during the two weekends that fall during the school holidays on February the 17th and 25th, as well.
He added that the City of Zagreb will be paying off the cost of the cable car (which is worth 80 million euros) for another 20 years from the budget and through taxes. 80 percent of the annual cost of the cable car comes from the budget itself, while only 20 percent is covered by ticket revenue. The city is doing calculations for the cable car to be free for everyone and will soon come out with decisions regarding that.
