Analysis

22
Nov

2010

What Can We Learn From Elevators?

Image by flickr user wilding.andrew.

The elevator is the world’s most used form of transit. Full stop.

Arguably, it defines contemporary urban culture even more than the private automobile. It is so common, so normal, we never even think about it. It is ubiquitous to the point of invisibility.

According to a wonderful article about elevators in the New Yorker, there are eleven billion elevator trips taken in New York City every year; 30 million every day.

Meanwhile, Otis (the world’s largest manufacturer of “vertical transportation” devices) claims their elevators move the equivalent of the world’s population every nine days.

Basically, without the elevator cities as we currently know them would disappear and be replaced with something entirely different than what we currently experience. Low-rise, European cities of no more than 6 stories would become the norm. And because density couldn’t be packed into one or two spots surrounded by a sea of bungalows, places like Tampa would be replaced with places like Vienna overnight.

Hong Kong would cease to exist entirely.

And yet they’re as safe as can be. Elevator accidents are incredibly rare. Cabins free-falling towards the ground (as one might see in the movies) for all intents and purposes just don’t happen.

Says the New Yorker: “An average of twenty-six people die in (or on) elevators in the United States every year, but most of these are people being paid to work on them. That may still seem like a lot, until you consider that that many die in automobiles every five hours (emphasis mine).”

So next time someone says to you that gondolas and cable transit aren’t safe, just remind them that elevators and gondolas are virtually the same technology – that is, a box attached to a very, very strong rope.

And like elevators, gondolas are about as safe a transit technology as there is.

Analysis / Safety
0
Comments
02
Sep

2010

What’s The Problem?

We live in a marketplace of ideas, and right now cars win because that idea is better than what public transit has on offer. It isn’t better for everyone, but it’s better for most. That might change in the future, but right now, that’s the game.

You want to get people out of their cars? Provide a better alternative, full stop. That doesn’t (necessarily) mean cable, it just means provide something that’s cheaper, more pleasant and more convenient than the private automobile. The technology/mode choice is somewhat irrelevant. Just do one small thing right.

Or design your cities so you don’t need public transit or the private automobile (unlikely, and a matter for a post in the future).

For the last generation we’ve been building transit lines ad nauseam in North America and little’s changed (to a lesser extent, the same holds for Europe). Car use increases, transit ridership stagnates (or decreases), communities sprawl and commute times increase. Traffic and delays have only gotten worse.

There’s a problem here and same-old-same-old solutions aren’t working. Until we’re willing to admit that, nothing’s likely to change.

Analysis
7
Comments
24
Aug

2010

Six Common Uses For Steel Cables (That Are Perfectly Safe)

What if the cable snaps?

It’s as common a question as how does cable handle winter?

I can somewhat understand the concern about a snapping cable. After all, not only would it endanger those online, it could be devastating to the people on the ground.

And yet, it’s a concern that history judges to be somewhat invalid. The cables used in aerial ropeways almost never snap. It is such a rare and uncommon occurrence, it’s barely worth noting. That doesn’t mean they’re invincible, it means that proper care, maintenance and replacement scheduling will eliminate virtually all such concerns.

Nevertheless (and just to reassure everyone) here are six fairly common everyday uses for industrial-strength cables. They’re uses we think nothing of and all are perfectly safe:

Suspension Bridges. Image by law_keven.

Construction Cranes. Image by Samuel Stocker.

Elevators. Image by Thomas Hawk.

Roof Supports. Image by howzy.

Cargo Derricks. Image by Sebastian W.

Tightrope Walking. Image via flickr user, Perrenque.

So why again, should we be so concerned about gondolas? (Okay, maybe tightrope walking between the World Trade Center Towers isn’t exactly safe, but that has nothing to do with the tightrope itself. Incidentally: If you haven’t seen the documentary Man on Wire, where that photo comes from, you absolutely must.)

Analysis
8
Comments
14
Aug

2010

Inflexible Inventory

Ultimately, the problem with public transit is one of economics. Our current transit systems have no ability to adjust the supply of their inventory levels (seats) to match a given demand (ridership) at a given time of day. Its inventory is completely inflexible:

  • Rush Hour: Too much demand, not enough supply.
  • Late Night: Some demand, no supply whatsoever (typically).
  • All other times: Far too much supply, not enough demand.

The problem is compounded by the unidirectional nature of the demand versus the bidirectional nature of the supply. During the morning commute, riders need to go from Point A to Point B. Point A being home and Point B being some form of central business district, whether that be a financial core or a suburban office park.

But for a standard transit technology to satisfy that need it must move from Point A to Point B and then back to Point A in order to service more riders. Trouble is, that means vehicles and drivers spend fully half their time traversing a route with near empty vehicles which are not generating revenue only additional costs. Too much demand in one direction, too much supply in the other.

So long as transit vehicles are expensive and drivers costly and necessary, these problems won’t disappear.

Solution: Drive down the cost of returning vehicles to origin so that it’s marginal rather than almost half. Far easier said than done.

Analysis
20
Comments
21
Jul

2010

The Topography of Traffic

Far too often people talk about cable as a convenient technology for tackling topographical challenges. But that’s where it ends. It’s a niche technology, they claim, nothing more.

In other words: Cable’s ability to avoid physical obstacles is used as an argument against it. How much sense does that make?

The great irony is that topography is far less challenging to deal with than traffic. Mountains don’t tend to move; rivers don’t suddenly switch their direction of flow; ravines don’t come out of no where.

In other words: Topography is simple. What isn’t so simple is human beings and the traffic they generate.

Traffic is far more complex than topography. And if there’s one thing we’ve seen in the last 50 years, standard transit technologies such as buses, streetcars and light rail are miserable at dealing with traffic challenges.

But if you think of traffic and topography as one and the same – that is, they’re both physical obstacles that impede movement – you quickly realize the only way to deal with traffic is to treat it like topography: avoid it.

Go above it, below it or around it. Just don’t try and tackle it head on.

Analysis
0
Comments
12
Jul

2010

Thick Around The Middle

Have you ever noticed that the front-most and rear-most cars in a train are typically underused – indeed, sometimes empty! – even at the height of rush hour? Smart and experienced transit riders walk those extra 50 meters to the end of the subway platform and get a seat, while everyone else just crowds (miserably) into the middle.

Same thing with buses, streetcars and trams. Front’s packed solid, back’s often empty. What percentage of capacity does that empty space represent? Five percent? Ten? Twenty?

It’s illogical and irrational. But then again, so are humans.

When transit agencies report the offered capacity of a line, they report what’s theoretically possible assuming every square inch of space is taken up and every seat is filled. They assume that every space on the train is thick instead of assuming it’s just thick around the middle (or front).

It’s a poor assumption which ignores the fact that humans use transit, not equations. Transit engineers and planners, unfortunately, don’t seem to be taught that.

Include the human factor, and suddenly your transit line is probably carrying far fewer people than you actually think.

I don’t believe there’s a name for this phenomenon, but there should be. Any suggestions?

Analysis
8
Comments
18
Jun

2010

12 Trends That Work To Urban Gondolas’ Advantage

I’m sure there’s plenty more trends that work to Urban Gondolas’ and Cable Transit’s advantage, but these are the first 12 I could think of. Feel free to contribute your own in the comments.
  1. The Rise of The Private Automobile. As the price of cars decrease rapidly due to Chinese and Indian manufacturers, private car ownership is likely to increase dramatically the world over. In turn, street level traffic will become even worse than it already is now. Street level transit solutions like Buses, Streetcars, LRT and BRT will be just as stuck in (and contributing to) this traffic, thereby offering no competitive alternative to the car.
  2. Western Democracies are Broke and Getting Broker. As governments around the world grapple with the conflicting and urgent needs to increase transit infrastructure and tackle crippling budget deficits/debt, lower cost transit solutions become a necessity.
  3. The Rise of Conspicuous and Convenience Consumption. 75 years ago people would accept a streetcar every 15 minutes and adjust their schedules to meet their transit service. But that was well before the world of iPods and “I Want My MTV.” Today, however, people are fixated on their own schedules and needs. Transit that can offer reliable on-demand service or LT1M wait times are at a distinct advantage.
  4. Growth in Telecommuting and Off-Peak Commuting. As more and more people choose to work from home (either part-time or full-time), and micromultinationals become normalized, the need for mass capacity transit into Central Business Districts will become less and less relevant in all but the most important financial centers. The construction of underground Subways and Metros have already ground to a halt in Western Democracies, and these new commuting patterns are likely to hasten this trend. Massive capacity transit will become obsolete.
  5. The Continued Failure of PRT. Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) has often been idealized as public transit’s future savior. Yet, despite more than 50 years of attempts, PRT has never been implemented. Could it sometime? Yes, but not in the near future. Cable Propelled Transit (CPT), however, offers many of the attributes of PRT, but is actually on the ground, in operation. Those who’ve been frustrated by PRT’s lack of progress may find themselves gravitating towards CPT.
  6. New-Urbanism and The Rebirth of the Town Square. Despite 60 years of the onslaught of suburbia, suburban communities are beginning to grow denser. The rise of telecommuting, increasing gas prices, and New Urbanist ideals are likely to spur the creation of villages within cities. People will, however, still need to get around those villages and low-cost, medium-capacity circulator systems will likely fill that role.
  7. Master Planned Developments and Incorporated Towns. Multi-billion dollar “Master Planned Developments” and incorporated towns that function more as businesses than as cities are not yet common, but they do have a noticeable presence in North America (check out Las Vegas CityCenter, Celebration Florida and Sandy Springs Georgia). As towns and villages are structured as investment ventures instead of as towns and villages, public transit becomes a selling point to potential customers. But as public transit would be nothing more than a line in a balance sheet, investors are likely to look towards more cost-effective and eye-catching solutions.
  8. Free Public Transit. Is this one a trend? I don’t know, but the movement towards Free Public Transit is catching people’s attention. Should Free Public Transit catch on, transit operators will be under intense budgetary pressure to deliver services in a more cost-efficient manner from both a capital and operations & maintenance perspective.
  9. The Cost of Labour & Union Strength. Bus drivers in New York can’t be outsourced to China.  And since labour is one of the largest budgetary items in any transit operator’s balance sheet and as transit unions ensure that cost continually rises, it’s reasonable to expect moves by transit systems towards automation, and driver attrition via retirement.
  10. The Mainstreaming of Environmental Concerns. Cable is thought to be one of – if not the – most energy efficient public transit systems in existence. Should peer-reviewed research demonstrate this fact categorically, expect to see the environmental movement adopt the technology.
  11. Continued Advances in Cable Technology. In less than 10 years time, cable has doubled its capacity; increased its speed; added numerous amenities; and driven down costs on a per rider basis. There’s no reason to believe these advances won’t continue, making the technology all the more appealing for cities around the globe.
  12. Immigration, The Internet, Globalization and Mass Tourism. Good ideas move quickly nowadays. 800 years ago you needed Marco Polo, two decades and a Caravan of Merchants just to get the idea of pasta from China to Italy. Today, you’d just look it up on Wikipedia and Flickr. Even 20 years ago, cable didn’t have much of a chance, but due to the internet, that’s all changed. Great ideas now spread like wildfire.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Analysis / Urban Planning & Design
5
Comments