Brno will begin working on an analysis that will verify the benefits of the cable car from Pisárky to the campus

Brno – Dissatisfaction with the planned construction of a cable car from Brno's Pisárky to the university campus was expressed at today's meeting of the Brno councilors by both the public and the opposition. According to critics, it will negatively impact a significant bird area, and they question the purpose and necessity of the construction. The city will begin working on an analysis to show whether the cable car has benefits, said transport councillor Petr Kratochvíl (ODS) to journalists. The project, estimated at 950 million koruna, has had a construction permit since last week.

"What is the transportation purpose of a billion-crown cable car that will take eight minutes, when a trolleybus takes nine minutes? Why build an expensive cable car that has a negative impact on the environment instead of strengthening public transport? Should the cable car be a tourist attraction? Does Brno need it? What are the benefits of the cable car?" asked members of the public during the meeting, echoing the comments of Jan Sychra, chairman of the South Moravian branch of the Czech Ornithological Society. The organization has filed a lawsuit against the construction permit.

Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) stated that she is glad that discussions are taking place. "This is not a standard public transport project, even though it is planned as part of public transport. We believe it will benefit the area. Primarily, it will serve the basic transport needs, but it can also be an attraction. Regarding concerns about the degradation of nature, most of us use cable cars in various natural areas and I don't think they have been degraded," she said.

Deputy Mayor for the Environment Filip Chvátal (KDU-ČSL) noted, however, that it was not included in the biological assessment, which ornithologists dispute, that the area is a significant nesting site. "This is new information," he added.

The opposition Greens are also against the construction. They demand a study that will describe the economics and transport sensibility of the project. Councillor Kratochvíl stated that the city will now begin working on the analysis. "It will show the likely transport yield, the most pessimistic and the most optimistic scenarios. We will also consider whether transport will be part of the public transport fare or whether it will be charged only to those who do not have an annual ticket. There are several options. We need to establish a pessimistic variant and compare it with the costs associated with the operation of the cable car to determine whether it will be beneficial for the city," he said.

However, questions were also raised by information from the Seznam Zprávy portal that the cable car was designed for 12 million crowns by the AiD team of entrepreneur Jaromír Černý. The entrepreneur is also the owner of the development company CD XXI, which has owned extensive land in the campus area for decades, according to the website. One of these plots is set to become a cable car intermediary station.

Kratochvíl argued that whoever designed the cable car had to adhere to the technical study. "It was prepared by the well-known company PK Ossendorf. They looked for the optimal route for the stations, and of all the options, the current location of the cable car emerged. It cannot lead anywhere else," the councillor said. The director of the company, Vlastislav Novák, also spoke before the councilors, stating that they did not consider who owned the land at the time the study was created.