#gondolatransport

May 19, 2011
Just For Fun

The Bizarre Search Terms That Led People To The Gondola Project (This Month)

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to get a handle on our traffic here, where it’s been coming from and what people have been looking for. For that, I’ve obviously been using Google Analytics. Now there’s no question that Google’s presence and ubiquity have allowed sites like The Gondola Project to flourish...

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May 18, 2011
Oddities, Thoughts

Public Transportation’s New Years Mystery

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how the differing usage of the terms public transit, transport and transportation led to very different levels of interest across english-speaking cultures around the world. I had planned to follow-up on that post earlier, but such follow-up admittedly slipped my mind due to the large...

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May 17, 2011
Cable Cars

Cable Cars, Lesson 3: Dual Loop Cable Shuttles

For our new readers: Despite the fact that systems like the planned London Thames Cable Car are often officially called “Cable Cars,” they are more often than not Gondolas. This can be confusing to cable transit novices. To make it easier: Cable Cars are supported from below (like cars) and Gondolas are supported from the top...

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May 16, 2011
Oddities, Thought Experiments

Thought Experiment: Should Roller Coaster Designers Design Public Transit?

Disclaimer: This post in no way, shape, form or description advocates using roller coasters or thrill park rides as mass public transit. Should Roller Coaster Engineers and Theme Park Designers participate in the design of public transit? Probably an insane idea; no doubt completely and 100%. But also probably worth exploring, if only in a...

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May 15, 2011
Sunday Statshot

Sunday Statshot with Nick Chu

A quick look at some of the things that make petrol pricing and transport work (or not): World’s largest proven oil reserves: Venezuela World’s cheapest gasoline: Venezuela Cost: $0.02/L ($1.40/L in Toronto) Cost to fill up Hummer: $1.50 US Average driving speeds in Caracas: 11-15 km/h Last year roads were built: 1970 Number of cars...

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May 14, 2011
Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup

A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas and Cable Propelled Transit: Translink announces a public consultation process in regards to Vancouver’s Burnaby Mountain Gondola. It’s been reported that there are privacy concerns from nearby residents. This should be a good opportunity for both sides to hear each other out and (hopefully) find...

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May 13, 2011
Just For Fun

What Would Banning Cars in LA Look Like?

According to a team of architecture students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo an LA without cars would look very, very different (no kidding). It might even involve a few urban gondolas (at the 5:20 through till the 7:20 mark): Downtown Los Angeles from tam thien tran on Vimeo.  

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May 12, 2011
Thoughts

Selling Ski Lifts to Cities

If you’re the owner of a ski resort and you’re looking to buy a new lift/gondola/tram/whatever, you pretty much know who to call. For all intents and purposes, there’s only two companies out there and you’ve likely done business with one or both of them several times before. In other words, the lift companies’ respective...

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May 11, 2011
Victoria Urban Gondola

Urban Gondola Transit in Victoria, British Columbia?

Adding to the Western Canadian surge in interest in urban gondola transit (see here and here), frequent commenter Sean Turvey sends along the following link: Is it a good idea? Unlikely. There are clear problems with the concept – not the least of which is the 15 km long distance Colwood Councillor Brian Tucknott imagines....

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May 10, 2011
Thoughts

Public Transit: Dinner or Roomba?

Disruptive consumer products are naturally geared towards early adopters and spread because this small cohort of early adopting customers allow the products to get a toe-hold in the market. iPods, snowboards and microplane graters all benefitted from the fact that only a small fraction of the population needed to initially purchase them in order for...

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