If I gave you the choice between a transit technology that could carry 20,000 people and a technology that could carry 6,000 which would you choose? Clearly, youd choose 20,000. Or what if I gave you the choice between a transit technology that operated at 100 km/hr or one that operated at 35 km/hr? Obviously...
Cable Propelled Transit is just one segment of a technology that has dozens of names, Aerial Ropeways being the most common. But what if you broke it down a bit more? Aerial Ropeways, after all, is a pretty broad term and one that’s not really applicable to the urban area. So how about these: Resort...
In yesterday’s post, I alluded to the bizarre nature of term “3S.” Let me explain – and I warn you, this will make your head hurt: The cable industry differentiates technologies like Monocable Detachable Gondolas (MDG) and Bi-Cable Detachable Gondolas (BDG) based upon the ropes/cables used. Great, you say. That makes sense. Monocables use one...
You can find today’s post over at Planetizen, the world’s largest urban planning related website. In their features section (the scrolling banner at the top of the page) you’ll find a column I wrote for them this week entitled South America Incubates Cable Propelled Transit. The column focuses on how South America, like it did...
As some people know, there’s a huge subset of bottom-supported cable transit in the form of Cable Cars & Funiculars. Yet it’s a topic I’ve not given much attention to so far. Here’s why: It’s hard to get people’s attention with Cable Cars. Urban Gondolas? Much simpler. Back in March I was interviewed for an...
(Today’s is a guest post by planner Michael D. Setty. Big thanks to Michael for taking the time to prepare this column for The Gondola Project’s readers – SD.) EIGHT MILLION ANNUAL VISITORS CLOG MISSOURI TOWN OF 7,000. Branson, Missouri is the “Country Music Capitol” of the U.S. Midwest, catering to more than eight million...
A while back I wrote a post soliciting people to contribute their own Cable Propelled Transit conceptual ideas. Aside from some uptake from the good people over at neoHouston, there was little interest. No wonder: I never offered my own conceptual. Kinda’ hypocritical, huh? So, without further ado . . . Here’s how I’d use...
Over at Human Transit, Jarrett Walker has an excellent post called Transit and the Hierarchy of Needs. In it, he explores Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs and its relationship to public transit. His argument boils down to this: People will only care about high-order transit concerns such as urban design and technology choice once their lower-order...
I’ll admit it: One of the things I love about cable transit is the “treasure hunt” quality of the entire thing. It’s a “lost” technology with clues and remnants scattered around the world. Picking those clues up and piecing them together is – for me – one of the most exciting parts of this work....
I’ve heard the argument that cable’s not a viable form of transit because vehicles cannot move independently of each other. Standard transit technologies – the argument goes – are self-propelled and are therefore immune to problems experienced by other transit vehicles on a line. This argument is only half-true. The first part is true: Yes,...