13 – 17 February 2018

The Wellington Cable Car was high on my to do list when I started to research the city. Growing up in Pittsburgh, the Duquesne Incline is iconic. Wellington’s cable cars looked quite familiar. They are a quick way to get up and down the terraces and worth a ride just for fun. They are your best option to visit the Botanical Gardens and Victoria University from the city center. The overlook at the top provides 180-degree views of the city and harbour and the Cable Car Museum is free.

At museum we learned about the long history of cable cars in New Zealand. Two items stuck out for me.

First, privately owned cable cars are used throughout Wellington for residential uses. Many of the houses peculiarly perched on the sides of the mountains use cable cars to scale the mountain side, connecting their garage or car park to their house. We saw them several times when we walked the Mount Victoria area. Great way to commute but I’m not sure how safe I’d feel.

Second, the first electric driven cable cars in New Zealand were built in Philadelphia. The city of Dunedin purchased them from J G Brill Company, the same manufacturer of Pittsburgh’s beloved Duquesne Incline cable cars. The Wellington cars were manufactured locally using what the engineer learned from Dunedin. It’s a small world.

Lookout from the Top

Residential Cable Car Tracks