Over the weekend it was announced that the estimated project cost for London’s Thames Cable Car (Gondola) has ballooned to an estimated £60m. For those interested, that means the system will cost roughly $100m USD per kilometer. With the possible exception of the Caracas Metrocable (whose finances are discussed here), the London Thames Cable Car...
A quick, fun look at the history of Zeppelin travel and its (im)possibility for future applications: Year which Zeppelin idea first materialized: 1874 Year which Wright Brothers first took flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: 1903 Speed of initial Zeppelins: 21km/h Zeppelin length: 126m Bus length: 12m First successful Zeppelin: LZ3 Total kilometres travelled:...
A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit: The budget for the London Thames Cable Car has now increased to £60m. Originally estimated to cost £25m, the budget was revised just recently to £45m. This could quickly become one of the most expensive gondola systems the world’s...
Gondola Project commenter, Giorgio Betteto sent along these renderings of his concept for an intermodal urban gondola that can act as a transporter of goods. It’s a logical concept: Gondolas are already equipped with cargo delivery systems (think about the gondolas used to move your luggage up to a ski resort) and the technology could...
Frequent commenter Matt The Engineer has thrown his hat into the ring for an urban gondola transit system in Seattle, Washington. He outlines his concept at Citytank.org: Let’s take a sample Seattle route with 3 stops. Seattle Center to South Lake Union to Capitol Hill near light rail. Each of these neighborhoods is separated by...
Yesterday we had a quick little contest to see how many people could name the city in the western world with the highest percentage of cyclists. The answer was . . .
The Gondola Project isn’t just about Urban Gondolas (though it primarily is). It’s about thinking about our cities and public transit systems in different ways. It’s about being multi-modal and understanding that there are literally dozens of solutions to our problems and being open to all of them. Despite that, we’ve been rather negligent about...
Of course it is. You know that. I know that. We know that. Everyone knows that. That’s why it’s important to start from there. Start from ridiculous. (Note: This applies to any good idea that happens to look ridiculous from an outsider’s perspective.) As people, we’re more easily swayed by those that share a similar...
With an impending GO Transit strike in the near horizon, let’s take a quick look back at some of the more memorable public transit strikes in recent times: Last transit walkout in nation’s capital (Ottawa): 2009 Days lasted: 51 Payroll savings: $3 million/day Economic losses: $4 million/day Property damage losses due to seriously irate commuters in...
Sorry for not getting a post up yesterday. It’s been a very hectic week of projects, presentations and travel. I did, however, want to share an experience that just truly blew my mind: I’m currently staying in a hotel with the typical “free wi-fi” amenity. Now let’s ignore the fact that “free wi-fi” typically means...