Prague's Petřín funicular will be out of service for most of October due to maintenance

People who want to see the autumn leaves in Prague’s Petřín park will have to do so on foot. The cable car will be out of service until the morning of October 24 for scheduled twice-yearly maintenance.

Shutdowns of the cable car, also referred to as the funicular, are performed by the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) on a regular basis, always in spring and autumn. This is to ensure its safe and reliable operation. “As part of the necessary inspection, there will be an accurate geodetic measurement of individual elements of the track, track gauge and other parts of the track surface,” Pavel Kejha, head of the Petřín Cable Car facility said.

“At the same time, maintenance and service interventions will be performed, for example, in the form of cleaning the winding chamber or lighting the track and stations. Before the reopening, the track, stations and cars will also be cleaned,” he said, adding that the camera system will be renovated this time.

People can use the funicular in Petřín with a valid transit ticket or annual pass such as the one on the Lítačka card. There are three stops: Újezd, at the bottom of the hill; Nebozízek midway up the hill; and Petřín, at the top of the hill. Near the top station there is the Petřín Lookout Tower, Mirror Maze, rose garden and the Štefánik Observatory (Štefánikova hvězdárna).

The Újezd – Petřín cable car began to serve the public on July 25, 1891, but its service has not been continuous. Beginning in 1920, it had a 12-year break. After that it served 33 years until 1965, when large landslides destroyed the track. The current cable car has been transporting passengers up and down Petřín since 1985 and has been part of Prague’s public transport network since then.

From the start of operations in June 1985 until the end of 2019, the cable car has transported 54,446,053 passengers up and down Petřín. In 2019, some 2,230,373 passengers were transported on the Petřín cable car, which was a record number for the entire period of its existence. It is ranked among the top tourist attractions in the Czech Republc.

It is busier during the April to October summer season, when it carries an average of 250,000 passengers a month. In the winter season, this the average is 120,000 passengers per month, which is also why during this period the time between cable car trips is extended by five minutes compared to the summer season and runs every quarter of an hour.

The Petřín funicular wasn’t the first one in Prague. On May 31, 1891, a cable car going up Letná began operation, but it only lasted until 1916. The remnants of the upper landing platform were recently restored and have become a popular spot for taking selfies and panoramic photos.

In the next five years, a new cable car system will link the Podbaba, Troja and Bohnice neighborhoods in Prague 6 and Prague 8. When completed, the 2.5-kilometer-long trip from Bohnice to Podbaba will be reduced to seven minutes. Currently it takes up to three-quarters of an hour using publci transit.

The cable car isn’t he only unusual mode of transit that people can use with a ticket of pass. There is also a network of ferries crossing the Vltava river and stopping at some of the islands.