Posts Tagged: Oakland Airport Connector

23
May

2014

Weekly Roundup: Cable Car for Cebu City Proposed by Doppelmayr

Cebu City. Image by Flickr user kathwoolbrightdarza.

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas and cable propelled transit:



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20
Feb

2013

Pictures: Oakland Airport Connector Construction Update – February 2013

Construction of the Oakland Airport Connector is well underway and continues to make headway. Thanks to one of our readers, Steven Dorst, we have some new pictures of the construction progress thus far. Check it out.

Guideway and vehicle rendering. Image by Steven Dorst.

 

Station rendering and notice. Image by Steven Dorst.

Station construction progress - 1. Image by Steven Dorst.

 

Station construction progress - 2. Image by Steven Dorst.

Thanks again to Steven Dorst for allowing us to share the pictures. If you have any questions about this post, feel free to comment below or you may contact Steven himself via his Twitter account.

More construction photos are available on the official Oakland Connector website.

 



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18
Jan

2013

Weekly Roundup: More on Chicago’s Cable Cars

Chicago Cable Cars by Greg Borzo.

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit:

  • The Sri Maha Mariamman Devasthanam temple committee in Kuala Lampur has given final approvals for a cable car to open in 2014.


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02
Dec

2011

Weekly Roundup:

A rendering of a future Oakland Airport Connector station. Image via Oakland North.

A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit:



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20
Jun

2011

Is Public Transportation 340% More Expensive Than It Needs To Be?

Why is the Koblenz system so cheap compared to public installations?

Cable Propelled Transit systems could prove a boon to public transportation scholars and researchers because the technology’s curious history could open up the ‘black box’ of public transportation funding in the developed world and throw into question our entire model of how we build things that move other things.

Because cable has a long history of being utilized in a variety of other installations, we have an excellent model of how much these systems should – and do – cost. Problem is, this model seems to increasingly run up against the cost estimates prepared by government agencies.

If history is any predictor of the future, then a cable system built in an english-speaking country for the primary purpose of public transportation is likely to cost 300 – 400% more than an equivalent system built for recreational purposes. That’s concerning because whether for recreational or public transportation purposes, both systems are essentially doing the same thing – moving people from Point A to Point B.

Now let’s not make any mistake here: Of course a system built by a public agency for public transportation purposes will be more costly than those built by the private sector for recreational purposes. But should the gulf between these two purposes be so wide?

Consider the Koblenz Rheinseilbahn: It was built for ~$20m USD. It’s state-of-the-art 3S technology and is just under 1 km in length.

Now compare that to the Burnaby Mountain gondola which is estimated to cost $120m CAD (note: at time of writing, USD and CAD were basically equivalent). Now the Burnaby system is 2.7 km long. That additional length should add no more than ~$15m USD to the line costs for the system.

Assuming an alternate universe where the Koblenz Rheinseilbah was the same length as the Burnaby Mountain gondola, the total cost of this alternate reality Rheinseilbahn would therefore be ~$35m USD. That means that the public sector Burnaby gondola is 342% more expensive than the private sector Koblenz gondola.

Granted, there are a few caveats to this analysis which are important:

  • Government is always more expensive than the private sector.
  • The Koblenz Rheinseilbahn doesn’t have any of the air rights or privacy challenges that the Burnaby Mountain gondola has to wrestle with.
  • We have little understanding of the funding mechanism used in Koblenz. It’s possible the system was built at or below cost in exchange for a cut of the gate – a situation that would be all but impossible to replicate in Burnaby.

Nevertheless, a 342% premium is startling. And we don’t have anywhere near enough information to understand why that premium exists.

This isn’t an argument against the Burnaby Mountain gondola. Let me repeat that: This isn’t an argument against the Burnaby Mountain gondola. It is instead a concern about how we build transit in a western, developed city.

After all, we’ve seen equivalent situations with the Portland Aerial Tram, London Cable Car and Oakland Airport Connector. All display similar price points that are simply out of line with what we know and understand about cable technology.

This suggests a problem that is not specific to Burnaby but is systemic to our public transportation model. Either we’re paying a price that’s 3 times higher than is necessary or we could be building 3 times as much transit for the same amount of money. Either situation is unsustainable and should be subject to intense public scrutiny as it undermines our ability to quickly and cost-effectively build transit.

Maybe after we look a bit closer, we’ll conclude that’s just the way the system is. But if so, then shouldn’t we at least be asking why that is?



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30
Jul

2010

Oakland Update

So apparently the Oakland Airport Connector will proceed. The resurrection of the OAC had been reported on widely earlier this month, but those reports were somewhat premature. The project would not proceed unless a new funding plan was blessed by the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART’s) board of directors.

Progressive Railroading, however, is now reporting that the BART board has indeed approved the new funding plan that will allow the project to proceed.

Progressive Railroading notes that the project should begin construction in late 2010 and that the next steps in the process will be for BART to secure approval of $25 million from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and gain approval of $20 million in funds from the state of California.

The California Transportation Commission will consider the decision at an upcoming meeting on August 12.

In other words: Two major hurdles still to go. Remember, California’s still the brokest of the broke and the FTA has no love for this project. After all, they first tried to derail (sorry) this project back in February when it rescinded its pledge of $70 million in funding.

Hopefully this soap opera is coming to an end soon.



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16
Jul

2010

Oakland Airport Connector Back From The Dead

This is getting absurd:

In December of 2009, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) announced that the Oakland Airport Connector would be a cable-propelled transit system.

This was a major victory for cable as the bids pitted cable technology provided by Poma and Doppelmayr against standard self-propelled technologies provided by Bombardier and Mitsubishi. That cable came out on top was important and a strong, rational choice.

But then in February of this year, the project was all but killed by a ruling by the FTA. The ruling said that BART was not in compliance with a Title 1V Civil Rights requirement. The project was therefore in limbo.

Late last month, however, reports arise that BART has located alternative funding sources and will proceed with the project. BART staffers are expected to present their new funding plan to the BART board as early as July 22nd.

We’ll make sure to keep you updated the next time this project gets killed and subsequently resurrected. And killed and subsequently resurrected. And killed and subsequently resurrected . . .



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