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Nov 13, 2012
Austin" The Wire

Urban Gondolas and Cable Cars in Austin, Texas

Post by admin

A station with the Austin, Texas proposed Wire concept. Image via Co.Design.

The people at Frog Design recently offered up their idea for an urban cable car system in Austin, Texas called The Wire and discussed the concept with Co.Design.

The concept itself is engaging – with some nifty renderings to boot. A few notes:

  • The team wisely imagines the cable cars as multi-modal component among many different options within a greater transportation scheme.
  • The network is positively huge. It’s hard to tell exactly what components are cable and which are not, but it’s ambitious.
  • The author of the piece suggests that the system would use 3S gondola technologies, yet all the images in the piece clearly depict MDG technology.
  • Apparently now that the idea has been floated publicly Frog Design intends to meet with Austin authorities. We obviously wish them all the best!

Austin's The Wire by Frog Design. Image via Co.Design.

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5 Comments

  • LX says:

    we’d love to see details about the junctions 😉

  • Matt the Engineer says:

    That’s quite a network. Looking at an Austin map that actually looks feasible (junction technology permitting). A medium length trip would be about 2 or 3 miles – a short enough distance to keep a great advantage over other travel modes.

    Some thought went into this system (other than the 3S/MDG thing – I have a feeling they just haven’t decided yet).

  • Eric Leach says:

    I grew up about 45 min from Austin so I would love to see this for the city. As far as the 3S/MDG I have know clue why they would think they would need 3S. I don’t think they are going to get anywhere near the ridership where they would need the 3S capacity and the wind is not really a factor most of the time.

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