Weekly Roundup

10
Feb

2023

Weekly Roundup: Two New Gondolas to Aid Tourism and Urban Development in German Cities

    Göppingen mit Hohenstaufen
    The German city of Herne will soon feature a new edition to its scenic landscape: a gondola system to increase tourism, bolster urban and economic development, and improve transit. Image: from the Göppingen mit Hohenstaufen collection (https://flic.kr/p/2eG25Lh) by to.wi (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) on Flickr.
    • There is a planned urban gondola for the German city of Herne. The preliminary work on the project has begun, as was announced by the Mayor of Herne, Franz Dudde, at a local New Year’s event. The gondola will connect the General Blumenthal colliery wasteland to downtown Wanne. In addition to improving transit, the gondola is anticipated to positively impact tourism and urban development. Because the gondola would be electrically powered, it would also help minimize the temperature rise in the city.  


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    03
    Feb

    2023

    Weekly Roundup: Continued Progress on the Santo Domingo Cable Car and More

    Teleférico de Santo Domingo
    Line #1 of the Santo Domingo cable car has been in operation since May of 2018; Line 2, which will add four more stations and is estimated to transport an additional 4,500 passengers, will open later this month.
    Image: 42103287050_65fce83b71_o.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/presidenciard/42103287050/in/photostream/) by Gobierno Danilo Medina (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
    • America’s first scenic tramway, Estes Park Tramway, is set to close after six decades. The tramway, also known as an aerial tram, is located in Colorado. The system was designed and built by Robert Heron and has been operated by the Heron family since opening in 1955. The system spans 1,060 feet with no towers between the bottom and top station. The travel time to reach the top of Prospect Mountain takes two minutes and twenty seconds. The family is hoping a new owner comes forward to take over the business.
    • The port city of Genoa, Italy, plans to build a gondola. The project is anticipated to begin at the end of Summer 2023, with a route of approximately 2.2 kilometers and three stations. There is opposition from locals, but the public authority believes the system will not only improve mobility in the city, but also boost tourism. The 35-million-euro contract was awarded to Doppelmayr Italia.   


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    27
    Jan

    2023

    Weekly Roundup: Table Mountain Cableway in South Africa Hosts a Very Special Guest

    The Table Mountain Cableway in Cape Town, South Africa, has been a popular way to reach the top of this natural wonder since 1929. This week, a very special guest has returned to the mountain 78 years after his historic first trip.
    Photo credit: LizaLotter, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.


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    13
    Jan

    2023

    Weekly Roundup: Five Cable Car Systems Across 3 Continents Break News

    Bridge “Pont d’Aquitaine” on the river Garonne between the north of Bordeaux and Lormont, France. A cable car system is planned for the area, though exact route is still unknown.
    Photo credit: derivative work: Sam (talk)Pont_aquitaine_A10_Bordeaux_Lormont.jpg: Olivier MOUGEL, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    • The city of Bordeaux in southern France plans to install a cable car as part of the public transit system. The system will connect the suburb of Lormont on the east bank of the river to Bacalan on the west bank. The exact route is still unknown, but alternatives can be seen in this article. The system budget is between €53m to €73m depending on the ultimate alignment. The system is anticipated to improve mobility for underserviced areas. The French cities of Brest and Toulouse have already integrated cable cars into their transit networks, and Grenoble is also planning a cable car for the suburbs of Paris.
    • Court favors Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (ART) over the opposition. The opposition felt the project did not go through the proper channels when the project was advanced without competitive bidding. The project was presented as an unsolicited proposal to Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation with the understanding that the project would be privately funded and would reimburse Metro’s staffing costs. See a related Weekly Roundup hereSCJ Alliance is part of this project.
    • The Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola project continues to hear from supporters and opponents. Little Cottonwood Canyon is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Utah, and its close proximity to the Salt Lake Airport has increased the number of visitors to Alta Ski Resort. Safety risks due to avalanches and icy road conditions are increased with high traffic volumes. Several agencies have studied the alternatives and concluded that the gondola was the best option. An educational website, Gondola Works, highlights the benefits of the project. See a related Weekly Roundup here.
    • The Skyline Gondola in New Zealand is getting revamped. The current 4-person gondola system will be replaced with a 10-person gondola. The project is broken into three phases, with the anticipation of the new gondola opening in December of this year. This project will require the entire existing system to be removed, including the stations and towers. 


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    06
    Jan

    2023

    WEEKLY ROUNDUP: Historic Greek town looking for a gondola

    Monemvasia Greece Peloponnese
    Photo Credit: JustinW, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons




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    23
    Dec

    2022

    WEEKLY ROUNDUP: Second largest ski resort in the country is open!

    Alpine Meadows – Entrance to The Chute that Seldoms Slide
    Photo Credit: Tfcallahan1 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    • The Penang Cable Car, in Penang Hill, has acquired a designer. Hartasuma won the design, finance, operate, and transfer (DBOT) project and will own the concession for the site for the next 30 years. They are partnering with Doppelmayr for the project. The system will have 43 cabins taking the 10 minute trip to the upper station for an hourly capacity of 1,000 passengers.
    • Palisades-Tahoe system in California opens December 14. The $65 million monocable detachable system (MDG) connects the Alpine Lodge and The Village at Palisades Tahoe. The 2.4-mile alignment is a 16-minute ride which goes over KT-22. The system has 98 cabins and operates at 11 miles per hour. The MDG connects two resorts and creates a 6,000-acre skiing area, making it the second largest ski resort in the country.
    • Bayraklı Cable Car will connect to the İzmir, Turkey city hospital. The planned cable car will have four stations, a length of 2.43 kilometers, and an elevation change of 171 meters. The survey report shows the cable car traveling from the coastal park of the city and then up to the hospital. The tower locations are yet to be determined. 


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    16
    Dec

    2022

    WEEKLY ROUNDUP: NEW BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT TRAM OPERATIONS

    Teton Village clock tower and tram station
    Photo Credit: CosmicPenguin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    • Pioneer Express Lift, at Winter Park Resort, Colorado, is being upgraded to serve new terrain. The lift will be replaced with a Leitner Poma detachable lift which will upgrade the capacity from 1,970 to 2,800 people per hour. The new lift will include a mid-station loading zone so that riders can take the 5-minute ride up and skip the easy runs at the bottom of the mountain.
    • Take a behind the scenes look at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s Aerial Tram. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort recently released a video showing a behind the scenes look at what it takes to operate their Aerial Tramway, Big Red. The video follows an operator up the mountain in the crow’s nest of the Aerial Tramway as he checks out the equipment and does maintenance. Big Red was opened in 2008 and travels 4.85 miles up the mountain in about 9 minutes.
    • A gondola to cross U.S. – Canada border revisited. The 1,219-meter-long system, known as the Freedom Gondola, was originally proposed in 2000 to move 4,000 pph (people per hour) at $72 million USD across the Detroit River. While the project has been dead for a while, a recent concept study was completed in 2021 by SCJ Alliance and revisits the idea. The concept study outlines the benefits of adding a gondola connection in addition to the new bridge, set to open 2024, and recommends that a tricable detachable gondola (TDG) be chosen to span the river at the proper clearance. SCJ Alliance is a part of this project.


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