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Feb 07, 2010
3S, Aerial Trams, Gondola, Peak 2 Peak, Urban Planning & Design

The Peak 2 Peak (Part 3)

  Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following links to view Part 1 and Part 2. Most aerial cable systems offer a smooth ride. What little friction there is, is rarely felt by the rider. Except,...

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Feb 06, 2010
Aerial Trams, Gondola, Peak 2 Peak, Urban Planning & Design

The Peak 2 Peak (Part 2)

Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following link to view Part 1. The very first thing one notices about the Peak 2 Peak is the sheer scale of it. Everything is bigger, flashier and a little...

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Feb 05, 2010
Aerial Trams, Cable Cars, Hybrids, Peak 2 Peak

The Peak 2 Peak (Part 1)

Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is a 3-part series on the system. Part 1 is necessarily technical in nature and will refer back to several pages of The Gondola Project for those unfamiliar with cable technology. With small, incremental baby-steps, cable transit continues to push its capabilities beyond...

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Feb 04, 2010
Aerial Trams, Roosevelt Island Tram, Urban Planning & Design

Roosevelt Island Tram

New York’s famous Roosevelt Island Tram will be closing this spring for a complete overhaul. The system, built in the late 70’s is one of the few public CPT systems in North America and recently became fully-integrated into that city’s transit system. So if any of you are in NY in the next month, take...

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Jan 07, 2010
Aerial Trams, Analysis, Gondola, History, Roosevelt Island Tram, Urban Planning & Design

CPT in NYC

I recently wrote an article for the Architectural League of New York‘s urbanism-themed website Urban Omnibus. The article, titled Off the Road and Into the Skies (click to read it), should provide you with a decent history of New York City’s Roosevelt Island Tram and some analysis of Santiago Calatrava’s botched cable transit proposal for...

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Nov 15, 2009
Aerial Trams, Analysis, Portland Aerial Tram

Not Over My Back Yard

Here’s an example of how not to implement Cable-Propelled Transit (CPT) in an urban area. The Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) desired a direct connection between their two campuses in Portland, Oregon; one at the bottom of a mountain, another at the top. A CPT system was a logical choice. I won’t discuss what I...

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Nov 13, 2009
Aerial Trams, Basic Lessons, Funiculars

Basic Lesson 3: Aerial Trams & Funiculars

There are two minor sub-groups of CPT technology:  Aerial Trams and Funiculars. Aerial Trams are like larger Gondolas.  I’ll discuss this technology in greater detail later. Generally speaking, however, Aerial Trams are (relative to Gondolas) an out-dated mode of Cable-Propelled Transit.  Compared with Gondola technology, Aerial Trams exhibit longer wait times between vehicles; lower line...

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Nov 02, 2009
Aerial Trams, History, Portland Aerial Tram, Roosevelt Island Tram

No City Wants To Be First . . .

but every city wants to be second. The competitive drive to be number one just doesn’t seem to permeate City Hall and that’s understandable.  Infrastructure is terribly expensive and no politician or planner wants to embarrass themselves by green-lighting a future white elephant. Cities are therefore remarkably conservative when it comes to infrastructure.  Cities tend...

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