So apparently last week the port wine-producing city of Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal is the latest city in the world to open an urban gondola transit system. Similar to the Complexo do Alemao Teleférico in Rio de Janeiro, this one opened without a peep from the English-speaking world. As such, we know virtually...
To start with Part 1, click here. Aesthetically, the Sentosa Island Gondola is a tale of two systems. It’s schizophrenic in its physicality, towing the line between stark utilitarianism and modern, urban chic. Never however, do those two aspects converge effectively. It’s as though there are two halves to its personality, and neither ever seem...
The Sentosa Island Gondola is one of the world’s oldest urban gondola transit systems. Commonly referred to as the Sentosa Island Cable Car (it’s an MDG gondola), the system is utterly normal in most respects but was a pioneer in two very important ways: It was the first system to ever span a major port/harbour and;...
These are a few of the more intriguing tidbits I learned about New Zealand while in Wellington to attend the New Zealand Planning Institute’s annual conference. Most of the lessons were learned via heresay, gossip, first-hand observation and rumour, so take them for what they’re worth. Time hasn’t permitted me to double-check any of the...
A quick look at some of the things that will make future urban mobility work (or not): Reinventing the Automobile – Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century: First self-propelled vehicle: 1769, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot First gasoline-fuelled vehicle: 1885, Karl Benz Number of vehicles in US today: 850 million Number of times vehicles would circle planet...
When you first drive through Mount Victoria Tunnel in Wellington, New Zealand it’s impossible to miss the fact that a whole lot of people are honking their horns for absolutely no apparent reason. But there is, in fact, a very good reason for this display that’s led to the Mount Vic becoming known locally as...
That’s what rail transit advocate Tim Mollison of the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group said about a proposal to bring the Aerobus to the Kitchener-Waterloo region in Ontario, Canada. “Gondolas are for ski hills.” Now, listen. Just because you’re an advocate of one thing doesn’t mean you need to be ignorant about another thing. In fact,...
I was more than a little impressed by the speed with which Gondola Project readers were able to identify the system I pointed out in this past weekend’s post. Sure enough, as Mattias pointed out, the system in question was the Bukit Panjang LRT in Singapore. This wasn’t a system I’d ever heard of or ever...
A quick look at some of the things that make your city’s transit system work (or not) Transit and Fuel Efficiency: Barrels of petroleum used per day by cars in US in 2008: 4,663,900 By bus transit: 45,200 By rail transit: 700 BTU (average energy use) per passenger mile for private automobiles: 3437 * BTU...