For added comfort and ease of movement, there will be flip-up seats instead of the current bench-style ones. A special VIP cabin will come adorned with crystals, leather chairs, a DVD player, fridge and sound system.
To accommodate the bigger cars, the cables will have to be raised as well - from the current height of 90 metres above sea level to 110 metres.
'We have to constantly rejuvenate ourselves and stay relevant in the market,' said Ms Susan Teh, chief executive officer for Mount Faber Leisure Group which operates the cable car system on Monday. 'Come next year, there will be lots of new attractions coming up within this sourthern precinct. We will be anticipating an increase in ridership.'
She expects the new system to attract more 10 to 15 per cent more riders, surpassing the 1.7 million yearly average in the past few years. So far this year, cable car ridership has fallen 9 per cent from a year ago, she added.
As part of its 35th anniversary, children below 12-years-old will be able to ride a cable car for free from now until the system closes in the third quarter of this year.
To boost traffic children below 12-years-old will be able to ride a cable car for free from now until the system closes in the third quarter of this year.
Such retooling efforts are the way to go during a downturn, said Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, who was the guest of honour at the unveiling of the new cable car at Mount Faber on Monday.
His message to the industry: Do not wait until the recovery to start investing because it will probably be too late. The objective, he said, is to continually invest and upgrade infrastructure.
He pointed out that the current cable car investment was 'a case in point'. By the time the new system is built, he said, it will be able to be part of the new set of offerings including the two integrated resorts and cruise terminal.
