The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is not enamoured by my proposal for cable transit in Toronto, likely because their plan is a multi-billion dollar network of light rail lines throughout Toronto called Transit City. Fair enough. But let’s actually break down the TTC’s argument and see why they’re not into the idea. Brad Ross, TTC...
The exception to Detachable Grips are what I like to think of as Attachable Grips. This concept is best exemplified by the familiar San Francisco Cable Cars. I will not go into a long description about the technology. Instead, I’d like to point you to Joe Thompson’s Cable Car Guy website which does an excellent job...
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...
I’m in transit today to visit the Innsbruck Hungerburgbahn. This should be a fascinating system to explore given that it is one of only a few so-called Hybrid Funiculars in the world. As I understand it, the beauty of a Hybrid Funicular is that the chassis and the cabins align themselves separately from one another....
On April 26th, 2008 unionized staff of the Toronto Transit Commission walked off the job at 12:01 am. The action occurred on a Friday night, thereby stranding late night workers, revelers and bar patrons. People were not happy. At the time, I was without a contract and was scrambling to find a way to continue...
I tend to pick on Light Rail for a reason. It’s a technology akin to the average beauty contestant. It looks good on the outside, but is kind of useless on the inside. Subways (HRT) can move hordes of people quickly and buses can move a moderate number of people cheaply, but Light Rail seems...
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...
Take a minute to think about that question . . . what do you hate about your city’s transit system? With transit fares rising and the price of automobiles dropping (can a $1,000 car from China really be that far away?) our public transit systems are going to have to do a lot to convince...
Sometimes we’re not great at extrapolating and translating from one realm into another. We’re hard-wired to imagine one technology, idea or product as being appropriate in only one environment. It’s like when you learn a second language. Oftentimes, you’ll be baffled by words with multiple meanings. Because you first learned the word in one environment, you...