I wonder what Jarrett Walker would say about this: Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan
I’m going to forego my usual thought experiment introduction and just leave it at this: What happens to cities, transit, cable, etc when Witricity (or something comparable, but with a less awful name) is scaled up and as common as an electrical outlet? Watch, contemplate and discuss:
The Gondola Project Forum is now (finally) open for business. Sort of. We’re looking for a few testers/moderators to start using the forum, introduce topics, kick the wheels, break stuff, make suggestions and generally help us learn how to best utilize this new tool. After a few weeks of that, we’ll publish the link to...
A quick look at some of the statistics that make your cities work (or not): Cost to ride taxi in Delhi: $0.90 Cost to renew Chicago transit station: $4 million Year of Chinese tunnel bus: 2010 Year of New York tunnel bus: 1969 Speed: 60mph Speed of Swiss “Jetman”: 200km/h Speed of prototype HSR in...
A few highlights from the around the world of Urban Gondolas and Cable Propelled Transit: PR Newswire reports that the “permit authorizing the (Roosevelt Island) tramway to open to the general public is expected to be issued in November.” The site has a nice photo of the new installation. Oregon Live reports that the Portland...
Cable splicing must be one of the most specialized professions in the world. Consider it: There’s anywhere from ten to twenty thousand cable systems around the globe, each needing its haul ropes replaced every so often. Meanwhile, there’s only a few people in the world licensed and/or experienced enough to do it. It’s also probably...
We here at The Gondola Project love the Chinese Tunnel Bus™. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving. So when this came along, we practically fell out of our seats: Turns out the idea behind the bus was dreamt-up 40 years ago by American architect Craig Hodgetts. And while some of the particulars...
Scott W. sent me a link to the photo above of the clearly abandoned Okutama Ropeway in Haikyo, Saitama Japan. Beautiful, eerie and fascinating. If you’re interested in the Okutama Ropeway, I’d encourage you to check out author and photographer Michael John Grist’s photo essay on the abandoned system. It’s a stunner. Out of respect...
If I could think of one “Silver Bullet Urban Gondola Transit System” – that is a system that perfectly demonstrates the concept of Urban Gondolas and Cable Propelled Transit, I’d imagine this: Integrated by fare. The system must use the same fare system as the rest of the city’s transit grid. It must be a...
With the possible exception of New York, there is arguably no more important city in the English-speaking world than London, England. During the summer of 2012 when the British capital hosts the Olympic Games, that city’s profile will be even higher. That’s why those of us interested in Cable Propelled Transit are watching the proposed...