In the past, your technology was successful if you designed something, marketed it, sold it and people bought it. People used your technology the way you told them to use it and that was that. Then along came things like the internet, Google, the iPhone, WordPress and Web 2.0 and all that changed. Instead of...
I was recently sent a link to the fascinating Kolelinia aerial cable support system for bicycles. While not cable propelled, per se, it clearly uses cables and is well worth exploring. Created by architect Martin Angelov, the Kolelinia allows cyclists to travel in mid-air above the line of traffic. Cyclists follow narrow u-shaped furrows supported...
This is Part 3 of a 3 Part series on the Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn. Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 can be found here. The Hungerburgbahn is what is known in the industry as a Hybrid Funicular. It is a unique and rather new technology that defies categorization and is bound to confuse....
I’m in transit to Vancouver today to tour the Peak 2 Peak gondola in Whistler, British Columbia. The Peak 2 Peak uses an advanced 3S technology, whereby vehicles are supported by two stationary cable spans while the third cable provides the propulsion. It’s one of the most sophisticated cable technologies there is. It enables vehicles...
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...
I recently wrote an article for the Architectural League of New York‘s urbanism-themed website Urban Omnibus. The article, titled Off the Road and Into the Skies (click to read it), should provide you with a decent history of New York City’s Roosevelt Island Tram and some analysis of Santiago Calatrava’s botched cable transit proposal for...
I’d just like to thank everyone for the kind words and support the above article generated. I actually found out this article had landed after the fact. Myself and my partner, Gabriela, were driving home from visiting the Hungerburgbahn in Austria. I received a phone call on my cell from the Toronto radio station CFRB....
1. Design Urban Gondolas and Cable Cars to look more like your city’s existing fleet of transit vehicles. 2. Add more seats to the vehicles. Make sure those seats are comfortable. Benches are not enough. 3. Fully integrate cable with your existing transit systems in a unified, single fare zone. No fee to transfer should...
One of the things I genuinely love about Cable Propelled Transit, is its near constant ability to surprise me. The moment I begin to think I’ve seen it all, then something else lands on my desk. The Trampe bicycle lift system is a fifteen year old invention by Norwegian Engineer, Jarle Wanvik. It operates in...