08
Aug

2011

CABLEGRAPH: Gas Prices vs Public Transit

How does the trend of increased ridership match up against the local gas prices in Toronto?

Stuck between budget cuts and politics no one can ignore the increase in both fuel costs and public transit ridership. So the question is, how many riders will it take to shift attention over to public transit funding, infrastructure and policy?



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Cablegraphs
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09
Aug

2011

What opportunities do urban gondolas present TODs? (Part 2 of 3)

Last week, in Part 1 of this series, the idea of combining CPT and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) was introduced. Today we’ll look closer at this topic and explore the opportunities ropeway technologies present to TOD.

While at-grade cable systems, such as funiculars have similar characteristics to LRT in terms of their impact on the urban form, top-supported systems, such as gondolas, present a unique situation.

From a planning effects based perspective, gondolas are well suited to TODs because they lessen the adverse effects on adjoining land, as compared to more traditional urban transport.

Here are just a few reasons why urban gondolas are well suited to TOD’s:

FOOTPRINT: Gondolas have a very small land footprint. Since land is valuable in a TOD this is clearly a positive characteristic. Utilizing less space for transit means more area to work with. This flexibility gives property developers and authorities a larger scope for development options. Since urban gondola TOD’s would not be limited by existing transport corridors (such as ‘at grade’ LRT and BRT) their route is less constrained by topography and the ‘urban form’.

PEDESTRIANS: Gondolas do not present a safety issue for pedestrians since they operate above foot traffic. This is a positive characteristic considering TOD are meant to be walkable and safe.

POLLUTION: Gondolas do not generate point source pollutants, noise or vibration effects. This plays heavily into TODs as a place of amenity – designed for people to live, work and play. Try having a coffee outside next to a busy bus route – not nice!

What other urban gondola characteristics are beneficial to TOD’s, and how? How can the urban form be designed and developed to be complementary to gondolas and vice versa?

(Addressing privacy impacts will be detailed in Part 3.)

This post was written by Ryan O’Connor, a planning and transportation professional based in Wellington, New Zealand. Ryan has been involved with Creative Urban Projects since March 2010.



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Urban Planning & Design
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11
Aug

2011

TOD’s, urban gondolas and what to do about privacy concerns (Part 3 of 3)

Part 1 and Part 2 of this series discussed many of the pros to combining CPT with Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Today we’ll consider one of the major arguments against cable transit — security concerns, and how smart design and planning can help mitigate these issues.

  • Gondolas may pass alongside private property, even when traveling along a public corridor. Generally retail and commercial space are not impacted to the same extent as residential properties, therefore residential properties require special consideration. This is vastly avoided in a TOD arrangement where retail and commercial buildings typically occupy the land closest to transit.
  • Critical heights for CPT are located around the 2nd and 3rd stories of building. This critical area should receive further design considerations.
  • Windows can be tinted on residential properties, particularly those in bedrooms and bathrooms.
  • Proper residential property setbacks, orientation and internal room layouts are some of the ways residential design can help minimise the perception of privacy issues in relation to CPT infrastructure.
  • Vegetative screening – strategically utilising trees or foliage to block or obstruct the view of CPT passengers.
  • Land in direct proximity to the CPT infrastructure can be utilised as green or pedestrian spaces, maximising setbacks to residential buildings. Surveillance by riders could also increase safety in those areas.

There are many strategies that can help reduce safety concerns. Some of these strategies are more easily incorporated into the design of a master planned neighbourhood, as opposed to redevelopment projects. The other approaches can be implemented to the transport system directly.

In summary, CPT does not present a physical barrier in neighbourhoods, nor does it  compromise pedestrian safety. The technology, in fact, maximises land for open space for development while vastly eliminating noise and vibration nuisance, as compared to other modes of transport. With appropriate design components privacy concerns can also be dramatically reduced. In the end this means that the most valuable land in proximity to the transit infrastructure with in TOD can be utilised to its full potential.

What are your thoughts? Does CPT really offer impressive credentials for TOD and urban design in general?

This post was written by Ryan O’Connor, a planning and transportation professional based in Wellington, New Zealand. Ryan has been involved with Creative Urban Projects since March 2010.



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Design Considerations / Urban Planning & Design
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12
Aug

2011

FORUM FRIDAYS: Gondolas to the Moon?

This week on the Gondola Project forum, in response to last week’s post about the future of aerial transit, there was a video response with the Jetson’s theme song displaying the idea of personalized flying mobiles. This got me thinking about both science fiction and outer space (since everything in that show appears to be hoovering in the air). Logically this brought me to contemplating a space gondola with rotating stations and carbon nanotube cables (how else?!).

 

Possible? Likely? A transit line worthwhile?

This discussion to continue on the forum in 3… 2… 1… [click]


 

 

 



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Gondola Project Forum / Innovations / Just For Fun / Oddities / Technologies / Thoughts
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15
Aug

2011

CABLEGRAPH: High Speed Rail



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Cablegraphs / High Speed Rail / High Speed Rail
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02
Nov

2011

Introducing White Cards

Here at the Gondola Project we’ve been busy producing what we’re calling WHITE CARDS — a new learning tool for those interested in Cable Propelled Transit. They’re basically a quick-read version of a white paper:

Sample White Card by CUP Projects.

The series kicks off with cards on Major CPT Systems. Each card provides basic information on the system (with images and stats), our brief analysis of the installation, and other related Gondola Project posts and pages.

The first two WHITE CARDS are now available online. You can find them on the WHITE CARDS Page or in the drop down menu, under “Learn About Cable” in the header.

All White Cards are being released with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 license. For those unaware of what means:

  • You can download, email, print, share and distribute the White Cards as much as you wish so long as:
  • You do not make money from the distribution and sharing of the White Cards.
  • You do not change anything in the White Cards.
  • You do not “cut-and-paste” from the White Cards.

Otherwise, feel free to share them in whatever form you like. Enjoy!



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Koblenz Rheinseilbahn / Lessons / Portland Aerial Tram / White Card
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03
Nov

2011

More White Cards

The Gondola Project has been dedicated to exploring cable systems for a couple years now, and have amassed a large amount of information throughout this site. That is why yesterday we introduced our most recent CUP endeavor — WHITE CARDS, a new (and we hope more succinct) learning tool for cable.

Devised from the idea of a White Paper, an in depth research document often used to explain a technology or analyze policy, the WHITE CARD is meant to be a quick introduction and analysis for the various CPT systems. Since they’ve been published under Creative Commons, with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 license, they can be downloaded, emailed, printed, etc, (just not bought, sold, changed or cut/copied).

That being said, in today’s news we are releasing the second pair of WHITE CARDS from our Major CPT Systems series. You can find them and the full list of available cards here, or from the “Learn About Cable” menu in the header. There are only a handful now, but over the next few weeks we will be growing and expanding the list.



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White Card
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