Residents are given a free daily round trip on the Teleférico, easing the financial burden on this poor constituency.

The system is the work of Alemão PAC (Growth Acceleration Plan), and part of an urban revitalization program started under former President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. Ranging from the establishment of basic sanitation and services to new housing and social services, the project by the design office of Jorge Mario Jáuregui provides the residents of this sprawling hillside community an urban support system to foster growth and opportunity.

The Teleférico is a 6-station funicular system based on those built in similar communities in Medellín and Caracas, resolving transportation issues in conjunction with other social maladies in one single project in order to reconnect these slums with the rest of the city. Three and a half kilometers long, the aerial course eases mobility and transportation along the sprawling housing complex, shortening travel time between its two extreme stations from 50 minutes by foot up and down unpaved hilly streets to a pleasant 16 minute ride with panoramic views of Rio’s landscape.

In order to serve the 120,000 residents of Alemão, 152 cabins fitting ten people each move almost continually between stations, carrying three thousand passengers per hour. The system connects each of the complex’s principal favelas to the city’s mass transit. At each station, mini-buses and other conventional transportation methods are available; at Bonsucesso’s terminal station, an intermodal transit node provides transfers to commuter rail lines towards the center of the city.