Public Transportation as an Agent of Modernization and Urban Order: A Study of the First Cable Cars in the State of Mexico

Abstract

The Mexicable was Mexico's first cable car system that served to transport residents from marginal communities nestled in the distant mountainsides that previously lacked efficient ways to access urban centers. The new mode of public transportation has largely been recognized as a tourist attraction in the peripherals of Mexico City, and remains a token of accomplishment for president of Mexico at the time, Enrique Peña Nieto, and the president of the State of Mexico, Eruviel Ã�vila Villegas. This essay seeks to understand the impact of the infrastructure and reconcile community participation within transportation policies to produce political agency for members of marginalized communities in Ecatepec. Findings from this essay problematize the role of the Mexicable in pursuit of increasing Mexico's competitiveness and its subsequent reiteration of neoliberal practices within Ecatepec. The infrastructure enabled the state government to organize urban communities according to the needs of the government over the needs of its residents. In doing so, the federal and state government limited the impact of the Mexicable by minimally focusing on social interest.