In his legendary treatise on industrial design The Design of Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman professes his love for camping gear as being some of the best-designed products in the world. Why does he think such gear is so well-designed? Because more often than not, the products are designed by people who actually use them....
I had planned a new Thought Experiment for today’s post, until I came upon this: The 8 Most WTF Ideas In the History of Transportation via one of my all-time favourite websites, Cracked.com. For obvious reasons I had to preempt today’s post. I’m quite sure all the transit geek’s out there will love it, if...
A quick look at some of the things that make your cities work (or not): Creative class: Innovation adverse Future cities: Inclusion 25th anniversary: Vancouver Skytrain Initial design capacity: 100,000 passengers Passengers per day in 1985: 60,000 2010: 240,000 Cost: $38 million/km CDN Cost of Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong subway line: $280 million/km USD Cost...
A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas and Cable Propelled Transit: According to a report from Rio Times Online, it appears that Rio is planning to build a second Urban Gondola system. This system would serve the Rocinha favela and should connect with a future metro line. This is a major development...
The new Roosevelt Island Tram (RIT) is likely to generate renewed interest in cable transit and urban gondolas. What it may also do is demonstrate to the wider transit planning community that Cable Propelled Transit is an “open” platform and not (necessarily) subject to the issue of proprietary technology. Let me explain: The Roosevelt Island...
A quick thought: The cable industry positions themselves as Ski Lift manufacturers who sometimes build transit. Why not flip that around? Why not be Transit Builders that happen to provide transportation to a whole host of markets, including ski hills? There’s a difference there. It’s subtle, but it’s there.
Young people and students are the lifeblood of any new idea. Students talk, socialize and are generally more willing to wade around into the unfamiliar and unknown. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Facebook was invented by a 20 year old. It’s also no surprise that a large percentage of email I receive regarding cable transit...
Gareth Long is an artist in New York and one of my oldest and dearest friends. Sadly, due to the two-headed monster known as Geography and Life, we rarely get to see each other. But given the recent reopening of the Roosevelt Island Tram, it seemed like a logical opportunity to work together and see...
Back in October, I brought notice to Rio’s Complexo do Alemao Teleférico. In that post I stated that based upon available information, the system was to be operational by the end of this year. Unfortunately in late November, Rio and the Complexo do Alemao favela were witness to a nasty battle between insurgent drug cartels...
A quick look at some of the things that make your cities work (or not): No pant’s day: Underwear everywhere Pantless subway ride: 44 cities Participants: 5000 Pantless subway ride: New York style Next event: Sunday, January 9, 2011 Telstar Logistics: Free illegal loading zone parking Parking pet peeve: Empty shopping carts in parking spots...