I’ve heard the argument that cable’s not a viable form of transit because vehicles cannot move independently of each other. Standard transit technologies – the argument goes – are self-propelled and are therefore immune to problems experienced by other transit vehicles on a line. This argument is only half-true. The first part is true: Yes,...
People don’t ride airplanes because they’re pleasant. They ride them because they have no other real choice. Want proof? Notice how many people are choosing High Speed Rail instead of short haul flights. When there’s choice, people choose. The problem Public Transit faces is this: It’s not an airplane. There are a huge number of...
It’s only 30 seconds. Watch it till the end, trust me.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a city of around 1 million people. It’s the financial centre of Canada’s petrol economy and is very, very cold. Average temperatures range from a low of -15°C (5°F) to a high of 10°C (49°F). Calgarians are therefore blessed with a network of elevated walkways called the Plus 15 System. This...
This is the Baden Gondelbahn in Baden, Switzerland. It is a concept by Stephan Kalt, director of Regional Transport for Baden-Wettingen. Kalt’s concept connects the spa town of Baden with a local train station via Urban Gondola.
2,500 hundred years ago a Greek sculptor crafts an enormous statue of the goddess Athena out of gold and ivory. They need to build a roof to shield her from the elements. So how do you build a roof that large that long ago?
(This post was a little late coming in today. So much going on. Please accept my apologies.) It’s been a good week for Cable Propelled Transit and Urban Gondolas:
One Sunday last month, I was standing at a subway station and the overhead monitor informed me that the next train was to arrive in 9 minutes. 30 seconds later, it anticipated an arrival in 7 minutes. Two minutes later the monitor said the train would arrive in 6 minutes. 3 minutes later, the train...
Idea Suppression is the Gatekeeper’s business and it used to be a good business to be in. The pay was good and the costs were low. If you were in the Gatekeeping business, you really didn’t have to do a whole lot of work to do your job well. To suppress an idea all you...
A comment from Wednesday’s Post made me realize that not everyone who encounters this site for the first time are aware of the arguments that are buried in posts from half a year ago. That’s a mistake I made; and I apologize to any readers new to this site. With that in mind, here are 10...