HISTORY Modern Cable Propelled Transit started in Caracas, Venezuela with the Mount Avila Gondola. This system was originally built in the middle of the last century to carry people from Caracas to the top of Mount Avila where the luxurious Hotel Humboldt had been built. Political and economic strife caused the government to leave for...
Every so often we are confronted with wonderful and mysterious transportation devices (see Chinese Tunnel Bus). Today, we happen to come across the Sistema Monorail Con Funiculares (or the Monorail System With Funiculars) — a conceptual transit system designed by ECOLVIAS from Medellin, Colombia. There’s not much information about this technology but it does make me wonder what type of...
A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of urban gondolas, cable cars and cable propelled transit: Medellin, Colombia has officially announced the construction of its 3rd Metrocable line. The 2.5km urban cable car will benefit 350,000 residents and will link the neighbourhood of Pichacho to the metro...
A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit: Reports indicate that La Paz, Bolivia’s Teleférico Metropolitano continues to make steady progress. Out of the 3 systems being built, the Red Line is the closest to completion with 50% of...
A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit: Bad news coming from Koblenz, Germany: ICOMO’s (International Council for Monuments and Sites) position paper states that Koblenz Rheinseilbahn is not compatible with the surrounding historical area and calls for its dismantling in...
A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit: Reports surfaced the last couple weeks about an urban cable car proposal in Jerusalem. A map of the proposed 1.6 km alignment is now available can be seen above or by...
The American Journal of Epidemiology recently published a report, Reducing violence by transforming neighborhoods: a natural experiment in Medellín, Colombia, which examines the effects of “neighbourhood level interventions”. In this research paper, the “intervention” studied was the implementation of the Metrocable Line K in 2004. The paper looks at 25 neighbourhoods that were serviced by the...
Not to be outdone by its compatriot, Medellin, news reports coming from Bogota, Colombia indicates that the country’s capital is now seeking to build a Metrocable system of its own. The cable car is expected to operate in the districts of Ciudad Bolivar and San Cristobal – both of which are located southwest and southeast...
It’s been a busy week here at the Gondola Project. So let’s take a quick look at some of the highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit. Congratulations to Medellin, Colombia (and San Francisco) for being this year’s winner of the 8th annual Sustainable Transport Awards – hosted by...
As we’ve argued before, Medellin is quickly becoming the poster child for multi-modal transit planning and the city’s latest public transit addition only solidifies that reputation. Last week, the BBC reported (not to mention many, many others) that the city has opened a six-segment, 130m long system of escalators that rise 384m up into Comuna 13...