Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Cable Car Day! On this very date in 1871 (that’s 141 years ago), the first cable car railway patent was bestowed upon Andrew Smith Hallidie. Legend has it that Hallidie invented the cable car after he saw a horse-drawn streetcar slip and fall on San Francisco’s steep roadways...
Gondola Project largely began because we noticed that there was a lack of accurate online educational resources on cable technology. Over these past years, we’ve helped a lot people from all backgrounds learn more about CPT systems by separating fact from fiction. As we know, despite our best efforts, a gap still exists within cable...
After yesterday’s release of the Burnaby Mountain Gondola Business Case, there were so many articles and commentaries on the project around the internet, we thought it prudent to break from our typical structure and dedicate today’s Roundup exclusively to some of the more interesting reactions to that project: The Burnaby News Leader has comments on...
The long in-gestation Burnaby Mountain Gondola Project Business Case has been released by Translink as well as the Alternatives Analysis. The two documents, combined, are roughly 110 pages and as it’s been available for less than 24 hours, we’ve yet to go through it all. As such, we’re going to save our comments for next...
In the past, we’ve seen that Gondola technology is extremely flexible. It can adapt itself literally into anything, whether it be a Gondola Sauna, or a Gondola Music Concert, Cable Lifts have got you covered. However, one can argue that public transit is pretty wacky in general – especially with the recently held 3rd annual...
Last week I discussed the upcoming Vail, Colorado gondola and its promoters’ claims of it being “The World’s Fastest Gondola.” And while I correctly demonstrated how it couldn’t be the fastest gondola, in general, I readily fell for the marketing-speak and accepted without inquiry the idea that at 6 m/s the system could very well...
I recently found this 1989 video depicting a switchback roller coaster at an old Victorian Fairground. As you can see in the short film, the vehicles start at the the top (behind the camera) and uses gravity to “fly” to the other end. At this point everyone must get off the ride, switch the cart...
A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit: Construction begins on the BART Airport Connector in Oakland, California. The 3.2 mile elevated, bottom-supported cable system should be completed by 2014, with a projected price tag of $500 million USD. Construction of the support columns is underway, but...
(Correction/Update: This is certainly not the world’s fastest gondola. MDG systems routinely eclipse the 6 m/s threshold. For more details click here.) A couple weeks ago I brought attention to a new gondola that’s going to be built in Vail, Colorado. While the system is in no way urban, it did have the curious feature of...
Yesterday The Gondola Project was featured in The Toronto Star in a piece called Looking to the skies for answers: A second look at gondola transit. It was, for all intents and purposes, a follow-up piece to their story from 2 years ago about the work we’ve been doing around these parts (which landed on...