Nowaday’s, it’s easy to be partisan. In fact, it might even be a requirement. The Light Rail boys have LightRailNow. The bicycle crew’s got Probicycle. Bus Rapid Transit has the National BRT Institute. High Speed Rail has the AHSRA. The PRT posse’s got Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit. Trolley Bus fans have these guys. Paratransit’s...
I’d like to congratulate Andrew Burleson, Dean Hall and David Morris over at neoHOUSTON for their Cable Propelled Challenge. The challenge was a quick and dirty design competition to see where neoHOUSTON’S readers would install a CPT system. Given the short turn-around time, it was impressive to see a half-dozen quality submissions. Congratulations to Danny...
It’s only a matter of time before someone builds an urban gondola or Cable Propelled Transit system in your world. It’s only a matter of when, where and whose first. I know this because I read dozens of documents and reports from amateurs and professionals alike, answer a fair bit of email and listen to...
Over at The City Fix, Megan McConville has a great piece on cable transit called Up, Up and Away in a Cable Car. It’s an excellent analysis of the technology that talks extensively about the management difficulties and poor decision-making behind the Maokong Gondola in Taipei. Well worth the read and very informative for cities...
All images courtesy of the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group. Design by Johannes Geisler.
My hunch is that many people stumble onto the topic of Cable Propelled Transit (and this website) by googling the words urban and gondola or urban gondola. If not, go ahead and try it and see what you come up with. I’ll wait . . . So what did you find? Likely you came upon several...
In her seminal work The Death and Life of Great American Cities, urban theorist Jane Jacobs declared that a safe street or neighborhood was one that had plenty of “eyes” on it. That is, the more people use a street, the safer it becomes. Criminals, after all, don’t like the prying eyes of strangers and...
I love skeptics. Skeptics are a necessary check and balance in our entire system. They’re also some of the most positive and exciting individuals you’ll come across. There is a difference, however, between healthy skepticism and cynicism, even though the two terms are often used interchangeably. Skeptics challenge the status quo and vet new ideas....
Right now, the major source of information about cable tech comes from skiing-related sources. Here’s five useful ones. They’re not all in English. And they’re not all up to date, but they represent some of the few resources cable’s got: Bergbahnen.org Lift-world.info Skilifts.org Funi Forum Ropeways.net Part of what holds cable back is a lack...
Transit planning is a political act, no two ways about it. And as such, transit is subject to all the bumps and grinds characteristic of political and economic cycles. But unlike smaller scale legacy projects (because, let’s be honest, transit is as much about legacy building as much as it is about transportation), transit is...