Sometimes transit should just be fun.
At the height of the economic crisis, the folks at O*GE InteractiveGallery in Haifa, Israel, decided to brighten people’s daily life with their Citymonsters art project. The transformation of the Haifa Cable Car was part of that project.
The Haifa Cable Car is not a complex system. It dates from the 1980’s and is what’s known as a pulsed system that doesn’t carry many people and is really only viable in point to point installations.
That really doesn’t matter, however, when you’ve got something as eye-catching (sorry) as this:
Meanwhile (on a more serious note):
It seems that Haifa is about to become one of the world’s next cities to fully-integrate a Cable Propelled Transit system into their local public transportation grid.
The Haifa Economic Corporation plans to connect Haifa’s two major universities, Technion and the University of Haifa to a Bus Rapid Transit Terminal. The project would be 4.4 km long and feature 8 person vehicles departing every 11 seconds.
As of last year, the tender had been whittled down to three bidders, but I have yet to determine whether (if any) winner has been announced. Delays of this sort are common, especially given current economies. If anyone has any information on this, please post it in the comments section; it’d be most appreciated.
No matter what the situation, the new Haifa system demonstrates that cities are slowly beginning to understand the value of cable as a viable means of public transit. I’ll admit we’re no where near the tipping point yet, but every time another city goes down that path we get just a little bit closer.
Learn more about OGE Architects by visiting their site at www.oge-architects.com.
Creative Commons images by O*GE InteractiveGallery – Gaston.
6 Comments
“Sometimes, transit should just be fun.” Indeed, more please!
I’ve been looking over your website about CPT systems. I currently work in a city that has a former railroad right-of-way turned regional trail that transverses several other cities in this valley, but has limited transit linking it to two major metro stations on either end. The trail goes through a major business park, several residential areas, and a developing downtown project. There have been attempts to install a rail extension using the trail, but those proposals have been squashed due to NIMBYism, much to the detriment of transit dependent residents in area. A CPT system sounds like a good option for a link to the rest of the metro system, since there already are electric towers along the trail right now, and would’nt interfere to much with the landscape.
If you don’t mind me asking: What city might this be?
Hi Steven, sorry for the late reply. I work in San Ramon, CA, in the SF Bay Area. The two metro, or BART stations are located in Pleasanton, CA to the south, and Walnut Creek, CA to the north, with some bus lines, but no direct, frequent transit line connecting the stations.
Thanks for the info, Joel, I’ll look into this in the future!
dear
i am a travel agent and i need your telephone – fax number
i have group who wishes to use the cable car.
michel 02-5619990 – 209
waiting for your reply
thanks