In this article we examine the notion of ‘governance’ in its two main meanings as applied to the case of the aerial cable cars (‘Metrocables’) in Colombia’s second largest urban centre, Medellín. In its first meaning, governance is understood as ‘good government’ based on the efficient and transparent actions of local government institutions in close collaboration with other social actors, while its second meaning stresses the notion of ‘good government’ as a neoliberal strategy that helps impose the interests of political and economic elites and, above all, the accumulation of private capital. In Medellín, the use of aerial cable cars as a public transport system is a demonstration of political imagination, technical creativity and management capacity of public enterprises. We conclude that the benefits derived from articulating marginalised populations and the creation of real impressions of social inclusion do not derive simply from isolated interventions such as an aerial cable car but, as was done in Medellín, these must be complemented with urban upgrading projects, changes in local political practices and a genuine increase in individual and collective opportunities.