If you’re expecting to see urban gondolas and cable propelled transit systems zipping through you city any time soon, I’m here to tell you something: You’re wrong.
Sorry to disappoint you.
Sure, with the right political will and visionary planners, there will be successes here and there, but things won’t change overnight. Things just don’t move that quickly. (Remember as a kid how long it took for Christmas morning to arrive?)
And for cable, that’s a good thing.
Cable’s in an adolescent stage right now. It’s finally stepping into the public transit realm. But to get it right will take time and practice. Better to lower the public’s expectations and win a few, small victories along the way towards mainstream acceptance.
The other option would be to make the mistake PRT has made for the last 60 years: Promise everyone the world and never accomplish anything.
PRT, after all, has been the transit technology of the future for the past 60 years with only minor accomplishments. The only thing more disastrous than PRT’s track record has been the industry’s attempts to manage the public’s expectations.
As they say, talk is cheap.
So let’s lower our expectations: CPT won’t be everywhere tomorrow. It will, however, continue to evolve and make incremental improvements. There’s a good chance the technology will come to your city sometime. But not immediately, and not without your help.
Give it time.