Medellin is the only city in Colombia with a metro system. The first above-ground metro line was inaugurated in 1995 after which the city’s public transport system was expanded with a second line, cable cart lines and a bus rapid transit line.
The current metro system has two lines. The main line connects the northern municipality of Bello with the southern municipalities of Envigado and Itagui. The second line connects downtown Medellin with the western San Javier district.
An integrated cable cart system was introduced in 2007 to connect the populated slums located on the city’s steep hills in the west and northeast.
The metro and the integrated cable car system transport an average of 465,000 commuters per day.
A bus rapid transit system was added in 2011 to further include Medellin’s impoverished northeast and the vast Belen district located in the southwest of the city.
Authorities and construction companies plan to expand both the metro and the bus system to integrate nearby municipalities into the mass transit system.