Posts Tagged: ankara cable car

09
Nov

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 8 — Conclusions)

Yenimhalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

The Yenimahalle Teleferik. Image by Steven Dale.

As I’ve stated throughout this series, the Yenimahalle Teleferik (Ankara Cable Car) is remarkably innovative in its station design and can lay claim to a wide variety of ‘firsts.’ Those firsts are all related to matters of urban design, though not from a technology perspective. All of the innovation is in its relationship to the surrounding urban environment.

That’s important because the cable car industry hasn’t historically shown much concern to those matters. The Yenimahalle Teleferik is therefore emblematic of a dynamic industry in flux.

The growth in the urban gondola industry over the last decade has been breathtaking. We’ve seen so many installations go into operation and so many advances in the technology, it’s almost hard to remember how nascent this industry really is.

What’s happening in Ankara, however, I suspect is a watershed moment for the industry — or at the very least for the system’s manufacturer, Leitner. The Yenimahalle Teleferik shows Leitner coming to grips with the urban fundamentals of what is undeniably their urban future.

Careful industry players will recognize Yenimahalle for the turning point it is. It is a system that is debating what it means for a gondola system to actually be a part of the urban fabric. Given the complexity of the urban environment the system needed to contend with, that’s a question system designers could’ve simply ignored.

Instead, they doubled-down and tried to navigate it.

This may sound high-minded, but Yenimahalle is a system in conversation with the surrounding city. That conversation is sometimes confused, sometimes a bit misguided and not always clear, but the fact that it’s happening is what’s important.

I earlier called the Yenimahalle Teleferik as an “imperfect masterpiece,” and I stand by that assessment. The system juggles such a dizzying array of first-of-its-kind urban design moments, it’s no wonder some are only half-realized.

And who cares if it doesn’t succeed entirely?

When the first iPhone came out way back in 2007, it was hailed as a total game-changer. It was not, however, without faults. The software was buggy, the battery life poor and the app store still a year away.

Nevertheless, the iPhone totally upended how the public viewed what a cell phone could do and be. Apple essentially created the entire industry of mobile computing with the simple idea that a cell phone could be so much more than it originally was.

That’s what’s happening in Ankara.

The Yenimahalle Teleferik represents the moment when an industry said “maybe we need to rethink how a cable car fits into the urban form.” They didn’t get everything right—who ever really does?—but they had the foresight and the courage to address the question and try to get it right.

Yenimahalle lays the groundwork for future system design in ways that are completely original and compelling. Smart designers of the future will examine this system and stand on its shoulders — which is good for everyone.

And it is that inspirational and aspirational quality that, I’m certain, will be the Yenimahalle Teleferik’s legacy for decades to come.


ANKARA SERIES

Read Part 1 – Intro

Read Part 2 – Explore

Read Part 3 – Photos

Read Part 4 – Station 1

Read Part 5 – Station 2

Read Part 6 – Station 3

Read Part 7 – Station 4



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03
Nov

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 7 — Station Four)

 

Yenimahalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Street level of the Yenimahalle Telerik just outside Station Four. Image by Steven Dale.

You cannot ignore Station Four (Şentepe Station) of the Yenimahalle Teleferik (Ankara Cable Car). It’s dominant in a most unexpected way. Like every other station along the Yenimahalle Teleferik before it, Station Four points the way to the future of urban gondolas and cable cars while not exactly mastering it. Read more



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30
Oct

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 6 — Station Three)

Yenimahalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Station 3 of the Yenimhalle Teleferik.

Station 3 (TRT Vericiler Station) of the Yenimahalle Teleferik (Ankara Cable Car) is probably the most controversial of all the stations along the line. The station feels and looks not unlike a maintenance garage. And there’s a reason for that — it is a maintenance garage.

Station 3 was the original end station of the first phase of the Yenimahalle Teleferik. If you recall from the original post in this series, this system was phased in over two separate loops of rope. Station 3 is also, therefore, the start of the second phase and loop.

Best practice dictates that maintenance and storage facilities for gondola vehicles should be located at the end of a loop in areas with plenty of space. Station 3’s location satisfies both those elements. But rather than treat Station 3 as an urban, pedestrian area that happens to include a workshop and parking garage, Station 3 is treated as a parking garage and workshop that happens to include a transit platform.

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27
Oct

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 5 — Station Two)

Yenimahalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Google earth image of Yenimahalle Teleferik, Station Two.

Station Two (Yunus Emre Meydan Station) of the Yenimahalle Teleferik, as I stated in the last post, is by far the most innovative of the Ankara Cable Car’s stations. Taking up the entirety of an irregularly-shaped traffic island makes it unique beyond compare. There is simply no station that we know of that is configured in such a way.

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22
Oct

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 4 — Station One)

Yenimahalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Looking into the mouth of the Yenimahalle Teleferik Station One. Image by Steven Dale.

When I first started this system profile earlier in the week, I’d originally intended to discuss the stations collectively. But once I sat down to do so and began reviewing my notes and photos, I realized that was a ridiculous idea.

Firstly, I had way too many photos of each station to fit within a single column. Secondly, I had way too much commentary on the various stations to fit within a single column. And thirdly, I realized such a structure would be disrespectful to what makes this system really shine. As I’ve stated previously, it’s the station design and configuration that makes this project important. To really appreciate the Yenimahalle Teleferik, you need to understand the stations. Hence the reason I’m going to dedicate a single column for each and every station before I wrap up with some final thoughts.

So let’s begin . . . .

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21
Oct

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 3 — Photos!)

Yenimhalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Sign in metro station connecting Yenimahalle Teleferik to the metro line. Image by Steven Dale.

Before we move onto discussions about each individual station, you’ll find some favourite images taken during my tour of the Yenimhalle Teleferik / Ankara Cable Car.

Click ‘more’ to view the photos after the jump.

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20
Oct

2015

Ankara Cable Car / Yenimahalle Teleferik (Part 2)

Yenimahalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Yenimahalle Teleferik. Image by Steven Dale

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before —

A city in a developing or newly industrialized economy has some significant topographical challenges in an outlying neighborhood. To solve the problem, they build a four-to-six station long urban gondola system that’s between two-to-four kilometers in length with an offered capacity of two-to-four-thousand pphpd.

The citizens rejoice.

With the possible exception of mega-networks like that which is being built in La Paz, Bolivia, that’s pretty much been the story for urban gondolas over the last ten years. It’s as predictable as a mid-season episode of House.

The technology is always a Monocable Detachable Gondola, it’s always in a less-than-developed economy and it’s always of a certain size and length such that it acts as a feeder system for another higher order transit technology.

The new Ankara Cable Car (or if you prefer Yenimahalle Teleferik) follows that story template to a tee. It is, in many ways, a completely common urban gondola arrangement. The system serves a series of disconnected, hillside neighbourhoods; it’s four stations are spread over 3.2 kilometres with one connected to a metro station (Yenimahalle); and an offered capacity of 2,400 pphpd.

Interestingly, the first two sections were commissioned and opened last year with the final section opening earlier this year. This situation alone demonstrates the ability of the technology to be phased-in and expanded over time.

Ridership statistics, unfortunately, were not available at time of writing. Given the phased opening schedule, the government had decided to allow all users of the system to ride free-from-charge. As a result, ticketing kiosks were either not installed or not operational, hence the dearth of ridership values.

Nevertheless, during my two days in Ankara, riding the systems at all times of day the system was consistently busy. The system is clearly in the consciousness of the city. People were riding the system for amusement purposes as much as for transportation purposes. This was especially clear during the evening. Families could be seen disembarking at termini and then immediately re-boarding for a return trip, suggesting trips for pleasure rather than commuting.

Yenimahalle-Teleferik-Ankara-Cable-Car-3-(web)

Yenimahalle Teleferik. Image by Steven Dale

That’s no surprise. The system itself looms large on the city’s skyline and is easily visible from numerous vantage points around the city. Why wouldn’t you want to ride it? You see it in the distance and you have a visceral want to ride the thing right now.

This is particularly true given how beautiful the ride is after dark when the lights of the city are visible from a myriad of different angles.

It’s hard to overstate this without sounding like I’m overselling it, but to ride the Yenimahalle Teleferik after dark is an urban experience like no other. Think about what it’s like to fly into a dense urban environment by plane after dark. Everyone’s eyes are fixated on the scenery below, lights twinkling in their eyes. That’s the experience you get in the Yenimalle Teleferik. But instead of peering through a tiny window over the shoulder of someone you don’t know, you get an entire 360 degree view — and uncannily close up.

It’s exceptional. Full stop.

Yenimahalle Teleferik Ankara Cable Car

Yenimahalle Teleferik after dark. Image courtesy of M. Kaindl.

Built by Leitner for an all-in price of €25mm, the Yenimahalle Teleferik is so reminiscent—from a capabilities perspective—of systems such as those in Medellin, it could be viewed as nothing more then the next me-too chapter in the urban gondola narrative.

Build this system in 2005 and it’s important. Build it in 2015 and it’s an also-ran. That would be the typical way to analyze this system. But that would also be incorrect.

As I mentioned yesterday, this is a system that breaks new ground in the urban gondola market by virtue of some of the most innovative and interesting station configurations we’ve ever seen.

As we’ll see in subsequent posts, the station designs challenge your thinking about how a gondola system can fit into the urban environment in ways that are both breath-taking and curious.

But leaving those stations for a separate discussion, the system becomes common. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It is, I would contend, a wonderful progression of the technology within a very specific feeder/circulator niche.

For cable car systems to eventually penetrate the mainstream consciousness of the transit planning apparatus, commonness is a necessity. The vast majority of buses, trains and subways, after all, are just that—common. It’s their banality that makes them attractive to planners. Predictability and unoriginality is the bread and butter of transit engineering.

All maturing technologies go through this process. If successful, novelty gives way to familiarity, which in turn allows a fledgling market to reach maturity. It then no longer becomes about inventing the ‘next killer app,’ it’s about creating minor, incremental improvements in the product as the years go by.

The Yenimahalle Teleferik shows that quite exquisitely.



ANKARA SERIES

Return to Part 1 – Intro

Read Part 3 – Photos

Read Part 4 – Station 1

Read Part 5 – Station 2

Read Part 6 – Station 3

Read Part 7 – Station 4

Read Part 8 – Conclusion



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