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Apr 30, 2015
Photo of the Week, Sugarloaf Cable Car

Photo of the Week: Sugarloaf Cable Car (Bondinho Pão de Açucar)

Photographer: Photo by Flickr user Nan Palmero. About: Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Sugarloaf Cable Car is undoubtedly one of the world’s most famous ropeways. Built over 100 years ago by Augusto Ferreira Ramos, the system has retained its charm and remains one of Rio’s most important cultural and historical icons. Each year it transports over...

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Apr 29, 2015
Public Transit, Thoughts

Why Commute When You Could Be Transported?

Oddly, one of the simplest but greatest joys I’ve experienced as a parent were Saturday morning subway rides with my daughter when she was between 3 and 6 years old. She loved the whole experience, from giving a ticket to the attendant in the booth, to looking out the window as the tunnel lights rushed...

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Apr 25, 2015
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Rio’s Providência Cable Car Set to Open (Again?) in May

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of urban gondolas, cable cars and cable propelled transit: Providência Cable Car (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) Residents of Rio de Janeiro can breathe a sign of relief, now that officials have announced the Teleférico da Providência will actually commence operations...

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Apr 23, 2015
Ocean Park Gondola, Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week: Ocean Park Cable Car

Photographer: Photo by Flickr user harmon. About: Although not actually a mass transit gondola, Hong Kong’s Ocean Park Cable Car acts like one. One of the world’s only “dual” mono-cable detachable gondolas, it efficiently uses two cable-car systems side-by-side. It boasts a 4000-person capacity spread over 252 cabins. The 1.5km ride is an indispensable link...

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Apr 22, 2015
Installations, Pardatschgratbahn

Pardatschgratbahn (Ischgl, Austria)

— — Thanks go to Reader Reto from Switzerland, who sent us a video of the mighty Pardatschgratbahn in Ischgl, Austria. This new 3S cable car adds to the small but growing list of tricable detachable gondolas in the world. It reportedly has the greatest height difference of any 3S: 1,251m! (That’s almost 50% taller...

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Apr 17, 2015
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Penang Chief Minister Announces Urban Cable Car, Skycab

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of urban gondolas, cable cars and cable propelled transit: Penang Skycab Plans for an urban gondola were announced this week in Penang, Malaysia. The 3km system — estimated to cost RM 250-300 million (USD$69-83 million) — will connect Penang Sentral,...

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Apr 16, 2015
Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week: Teleférico de Gaia

Photographer: Photo by Flickr user Sérgio Lopes. About: The Teleférico de Gaia is Porto, Portugal’s 562m urban cable car system. This gondola quickly takes tourists on a sweeping panoramic ride over this town’s historic UNESCO-recognized city center, from the Douro riverside to the upper deck of the magnificent Dom Luis I Bridge. More than tourist...

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Apr 15, 2015
Just For Fun

Metal Cable to My Cable Car

Proving once again that cable cars are the most romantic transport technology in the world (link 1, link 2, link 3)… 😉 —

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Apr 14, 2015
Analysis, La Paz, Thoughts

It’s a ‘Disruptive Game-Changer’ But Still There’s Much Ground to Cover

Last month, Dopplemayr made a big splash is the ropeway transit industry. They inked a deal worth nearly a half billion US dollars, for six new ropeway cable car lines in the neighbouring Latin American municipalities of La Paz and El Alto. Another 20km will be added to the existing ropeway system over the next...

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Apr 10, 2015
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup: Urban Zoo Gondola Mooted in Halle, Germany

  A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of urban gondolas, cable cars and cable propelled transit: Urban Zoo Cable Car Concept (Halle, Germany) Halle, a city of 230,000 in the Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state, invited three ropeway manufacturers to further examine its cable car concept. Plans are...

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