. . . unless it’s fully-integrated into a transit system.
This is Part 2 of a 3 Part series of posts on the Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn. To read Part 1, click here and to read Part 3, click here. Leaving the technology-side of things until tomorrow’s post, let’s talk about the Hungerburgbahn’s station configuration. A common misconception about cable transit is that the stations are large...
Last month I toured the Hungerburgbahn CPT system in Innsbruck, Austria. There is much to say about this system, so I’ve broken the column into 3 parts. This is Part 1. The importance of the Hungerburgbahn in Innsbruck, Austria cannot be overstated. Given its unique Hybrid Funicular technology and elegant organic station design by renowned...
Yesterday, in Lenggries Germany, a gondola system malfunctioned stranding dozens of riders in mid-air. Helicopters were were used in the rescue. There were no injuries. The system was built by a subsidiary of Thyssenkrupp, a manufacturer with little experience in cable transit. Detractors of cable technology – I’m certain – will use this as evidence...
With most traditional transit technologies, there is little consideration about the variations within that technology. A bus is a bus; a streetcar is a streetcar; and a subway is a subway. Sure, there’s variation between suppliers and models, but those differences are negligible compared to the overall technologies themselves. That’s one of the real competitive...
You can say whatever you want about Light Rail, Subways and Buses. We can keep that debate going forever. But when it comes to a transit technology’s saunability… Cable’s clearly got them all beat.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post titled What Do You Hate About Your City’s Transit System? The post was meant to get people thinking about their own local transit system and to contemplate why they just accept what their transit is rather than what it could be. I encouraged people to email...
(Check out this fascinating video of a San Francisco Cable Car in action, days before the 1906 earthquake. Tnanks to Ron Wm. Hurlbut for pointing it out!) Lot’s of people have asked of me a variation of the following question: If cable’s so great, why did we change all our cable cars to electric ones...
January 28th, 1882 is one of (if not the) most important dates in Cable Transit history. On that blustery winter day, C.B. Holmes opened the first cable car in Chicago. It was the first time cable was shown to be economical in such a snowy, icy, windy environment. It was also the first known instance...
Your children and/or grandchildren will think it’s cool. You will save lives because you’re implementing the safest form of mass public transit there is. You will save your city money which will make everyone at City Hall happier. Your peers will respect you for doing something different. You will have fun. You like fun, don’t...