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Jul 31, 2010
Research Issues, Thoughts

Where Do We Go From Here?

Last week, I think, was a turning point for The Gondola Project. If you’ll recall – or if you’re just joining us (welcome, by the way!) – last week we talked about the Funivia del Renon in Bolzano, Italy (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3). I had toured the system and had some insight...

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Jul 30, 2010
Oakland Airport Connector

Oakland Update

So apparently the Oakland Airport Connector will proceed. The resurrection of the OAC had been reported on widely earlier this month, but those reports were somewhat premature. The project would not proceed unless a new funding plan was blessed by the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART’s) board of directors. Progressive Railroading, however, is now reporting that...

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Jul 29, 2010
Funivia del Renon

The Bolzano 3S (Funivia del Renon), Part 3

Back in January I drew attention to the Funivia del Renon in Bolzano, Italy. I suggested that it was likely a strong Urban Gondola system for teaching us about how to blend the stations into the surrounding urban fabric. Those comments, however, were made second-hand based on the few images and videos I could find...

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Jul 28, 2010
Funivia del Renon

The Bolzano 3S (Funivia del Renon), Part 2

Back in January I drew attention to the Funivia del Renon in Bolzano, Italy. I suggested that it was likely a strong Urban Gondola system for teaching us about how to blend the stations into the surrounding urban fabric. Those comments, however, were made second-hand based on the few images and videos I could find...

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Jul 27, 2010
Funivia del Renon

The Bolzano 3S (Funivia del Renon), Part 1

Back in January I drew attention to the Funivia del Renon in Bolzano, Italy. I suggested that it was likely a strong Urban Gondola system for teaching us about how to blend the stations into the surrounding urban fabric. Those comments, however, were made second-hand based on the few images and videos I could find...

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Jul 26, 2010
Blogs & Other Sites, Bus, Light Rail & Streetcars, Urban Planning & Design

Forecasting as Voodoo

There’s nothing more common and consistently wrong in the transit planner’s toolbox as ridership forecasting and projections. It’s like voodoo: 90% of the time it doesn’t work, and the 10% of the time it does no one knows why (hint: it’s not because of the voodoo). So here comes Tom Rubin, a veteran transit consultant...

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Jul 25, 2010
Sunday Statshot, Uncategorized

Sunday Morning Statshot

Number of asses seen by Southern Californian Amtrak riders on July 11: 10,000 Number of days to travel from Beijing to London on China’s new proposed transcontinental high-speed rail link: 2 Cost of high-speed rail tracks: 3x more than conventional Number of car sales in 2002-2003 in India: 6.8 million Number of car sales in...

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Jul 24, 2010
Thoughts

Obedience Training

If you work in a planning firm, city, political office, think tank, etc. where you might get fired or disciplined for mentioning or proposing the idea of urban gondolas, you probably didn’t want to work there in the first place. Places like that are interested only in gatekeeping and maintaining the status quo. They’re interested...

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Jul 23, 2010
Medellin MetroCable, Urban Planning & Design

Things Spread Quickly

Last month CUP conducted a study of all planned, conceived or under-construction cable systems in South America. Our findings shocked even us: Almost 5 dozen systems are in the works on that continent and that number doesn’t even include Brazil (because of the Portuguese language issues – as in, we don’t speak Portuguese), the largest...

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Jul 22, 2010
Thought Experiments, Urban Planning & Design

A Wait Time Thought Experiment

According to the Transportation Research Board’s Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, wait times for transit are around 2 times more onerous to riders than actual in-vehicle time. They see that ratio rise to 2.5 times when wait times are coupled to transfers. With that in mind, how long is the following journey: A...

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