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Aug 24, 2018
Economics, Installations, Just For Fun, Timang Beach Gondola

Timang Beach Gondola — World’s Most Exciting and Expensive 30-Second Ropeway Ride?

As early as 250BC, ropeways have been used to transport people and goods across difficult terrain. Even today, as many parts of the world are rapidly modernizing, some places are still reliant on simple cable systems. In the Yogyakarta region of Indonesia, locals have strung together a rather precarious-looking cable car over the treacherous waters...

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May 23, 2018
Economics, Thoughts

Should Urban Gondolas be Integrated into a Public Transit Network?

In a recent article, a Swiss transportation planning professor from the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil, suggested that to maximize its usefulness for passengers, urban gondolas should be fully integrated into a city’s transit network. While Professor Büchel does not precisely describe what he meant by integration, it seems logical to think that he is...

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Jan 22, 2016
Economics, Maokong Taipei

Fair Fares – Maokong Gondola

The Maokong Gondola (Taipei, Taiwan) announced last December its intention to raise fares in the new year. These plans were officially confirmed by the city government in a news release this week. Depending on the number of stations a passenger travels to, fares will increase by 130-150%. This might sound like a lot, but in reality...

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Aug 19, 2013
Economics, Education

Marginal Station vs. Marginal Length Cost

(Note: It’s been a while since I’ve posted on The Gondola Project. It’s been a busy summer with lots of changes to our company and our site. We’ll let you all know about the details in the coming months, but in the meantime, I’d like to extend a big thanks to Nick and Charlotte for...

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Jul 17, 2012
Economics, Safety

What Can We Learn From The Pakistan Cable Car Accident?

As we’ve demonstrated before, cable cars, ropeways and gondolas are amongst the safest transit technologies in the world. But that doesn’t mean accidents don’t happen. A few days ago in Pakistan a cable car system snapped, sending 8 passengers plunging into the swollen Indus river below. No survivors were reported. A similar incident occurred last...

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Jul 04, 2012
Economics, London Cable Car, San Francisco Cable Cars, Uncategorized

What Can The San Francisco Cable Cars Teach London?

  If nothing else, the London Cable Car raises an interesting question: When should a transit line be fully fare-integrated into a transit network and when should it not. For those unfamiliar, an additional fare is required for people to ride the London Cable Car despite it, ostensibly, being a part of the overall Transport...

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Jun 06, 2012
Economics

Dutch OV-chipkaart. Does it make transit more or less equitable?

A Thought Experiment: You live downtown and you’ve got to travel a distance of 1.5 km, drop off a package and return home. If you lived in Toronto (as I do), the trip would cost you $6.00 round trip by subway. Would you pay it? A great many people would probably say answer ‘no’ to...

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Jan 03, 2012
Economics, Thought Experiments

Thought Experiment: The Cost of Multi-modality

Whether we’re talking about Light Rail, Urban Gondolas, Monorails or PRT systems, I’ve recently begun to hear an argument against multimodal transit systems that I’ve yet to hear before: The cost. From a transit agency accountant or city finance perspective, multi-modality is nice in principle but incredibly costly to implement. Let’ s walk through this...

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Sep 27, 2011
Economics, Thoughts

Should It Be?

A strange thing happened during yesterday’s discussion of the spiralling costs of the London Thames Cable Car: Like any time before when the topic of urban versus resort installations comes up, the de facto response is: Well, duh, of course it’s more expensive to build in cities and for government. You’ve said it. I’ve said it....

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Sep 26, 2011
Economics, London Cable Car

Exploring the Thames Cable Car Costs

Over the weekend it was announced that the estimated project cost for London’s Thames Cable Car (Gondola) has ballooned to an estimated £60m. For those interested, that means the system will cost roughly $100m USD per kilometer. With the possible exception of the Caracas Metrocable (whose finances are discussed here), the London Thames Cable Car...

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