Post by Charlotte Boffetti. Undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons for building subways, streetcars, and cable cars is to improve urban mobility. These systems are designed to transport passengers from one destination to another. And in the minds of many transit planners and engineers, this unfortunately tends to be the sole motivation – however, I...
Last week, Baton Rouge become the latest American city to announce plans to explore an urban gondola. This adds to the growing list of US cities such as San Diego, Seattle, Buffalo, Georgetown (Washington DC), and Staten Island (New York) who are actively considering/planning a Cable Propelled Transit system. In typical fashion, the public reacted with...
There exists an almost century-old anecdote about a German aerodynamicist and a bumblebee. Over dinner, the aerodynamicist remarked to a biologist that – according to his calculations and the accepted theory of the day – a bumblebee was incapable of flight. This, of course, wasn’t true. Bumblebees could fly (still do, I believe) and it didn’t...
I think it fair to say most transit geeks/advocates/aficionados/whatever start from the following rational, central assumption: The role of transit is to move as many people as quickly, cost-effectively and comfortably as possible. Obviously some might favor one aspect of that assumption more so than others. Jarrett Walker, for example, would favor speed over all...
Recently I was at dinner with some good friends and, being a transit geek, began talking about urban gondolas as one way to ease urban traffic. My pal, who once believed gondolas would “never catch on in North America”, admitted how surprised he was to notice the Roosevelt Island Tramway on a recent visit to...
Note: this is a repost from an original article in 2012. Last week, guest blogger Ryan O’Connor, wrote a brief analysis on the state of HSR (high speed rail) and the potential implications and lessons cable can learn from China’s recent love affair with rail. If you haven’t been keeping up-to-date with transportation news in...
¡Caleños a bordo! Algunos temerosos, otros felices, pero todos emocionados con el nuevo sistema de transporte para la comuna 20 de Cali que fue inaugurado hoy. El MÍO cable ofrecerá recorridos gratuitos en su fase inicial de operación que se extenderá hasta el 10 de octubre. Descubre todos los videos e imágenes de esta histórica...
Last week the state government of Victoria, Australia signed a 50-year lease for a new tourist-oriented gondola on Arthurs Seat. It replaces a 1960 2-person chairlift that was shuttered in 2006 after a series of incidents. The process was long and arduous but necessary, following all the rules. With the lease in place, the Arthurs Seat...
Spying on roof terraces from above #lapazcablecar #thankevo #bolivia #weatheredpink #corrougatediron #clothesline #shadowplay #notmypanni A photo posted by Amanda Littlewood (@muscari_haze) on Jul 31, 2014 at 1:25pm PDT Suddenly this week, popular media outlets began reporting the big “news” from Bolivia. That is, La Paz’s “Subways in the Sky” will be tripling in size over the...
Ropeways are built for many reasons: skiing, sightseeing, amusement, public transport, and private transport. Yes, that’s right private transport. It’s actually more common than you might think. We’ve reported examples on the Gondola project before – like the Kriens funicular, Terra del Mar funicular, and of course, some of the rich and famous have their...