Last night I went for a ride in San Francisco. I was on the west coast learning about various cable systems and I was at the end of a long week of traveling and research. I needed room to clear my head, get out of the hotel. I found myself jumping on a cable car at...
On Monday, February 15th an older man and a young man engaged in a fistfight on a public transit bus in Oakland, California. The fight left the young man bloodied, bruised and asking for an ambulance. The incident – as is so characteristic of our world today – was videotaped via cell phone and then...
Because we’ve always done it that way is not an effective way to justify your organization’s methods, strategies and actions. Especially when it’s clear they’re not working. Because we’ve always done it that way is nothing more than an excuse. At best, it’s lazy and fairly benign. At worst, it’s an enemy of change and...
Pitting drivers against transit users is cheap and easy politics and it doesn’t help anyone (except maybe the politician). Drivers aren’t inherently against transit any more than transit users are inherently against cars. That just becomes the end result when you make both groups fight over the little slivers of road space we currently have. (For...
Back in 1990 Grace Manufacturing had a lot of scrap steel lying around and it was sharp. Instead of throwing the steel out, they decided to turn that waste into revenue. So was born the Microplane, an incredibly sharp wood shaving tool. It sold fine, but nothing special. Then along came Lorraine Lee of Ottawa,...
. . . we miss the little things because we’re too focused on criticizing the big things. A restaurant critic slams a new local bistro but fails to notice the washrooms. Too bad, because the sinks would’ve fit perfectly in his tiny downtown condo. A professional football scout skips the Ivy League schools because they’re...
I’m in transit today, traveling back to Toronto and it’s lovely minus 10 degree February temperatures. In the meantime, check out the Spokane Falls Skyride (video below). Given its urban/natural setting, this should be a fascinating system to discover more about. Any information on this installation would be greatly appreciated!
There are hundreds of ways public transit could pay for itself. Public transit operators have simply chosen the least effective and most out-dated of them all: Fares. The thing about fares is this: They always go up and customers are never happy about it. The airlines realized this years ago and stopped worrying about fares....
Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following links to view Part 1 and Part 2. Most aerial cable systems offer a smooth ride. What little friction there is, is rarely felt by the rider. Except,...
Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following link to view Part 1. The very first thing one notices about the Peak 2 Peak is the sheer scale of it. Everything is bigger, flashier and a little...