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May 14, 2012
Innovations, Marketing Issues, Thoughts

Why Wheeled Luggage Is Important

Ask yourself a quick question: How long have suitcases, trunks and luggage existed for? The answer – of course – is almost hopelessly elusive. Luggage, in some form, has been around since humans have been travelling. Knowing when the first person slapped together an ancient ancestor of Samsonite is impossible to determine. But we can...

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Mar 21, 2012
Innovations, Public Transit, Questions, Thoughts

Aerial Rapid Transit – Adding Flying Vehicles to the Mix

Over the past week, we’ve received a lot of attention about: Driver Assisted Cars – On the Brink of a Transport Revolution? Yesterday, Christian made an insightful and thought-provoking comment about how some standard airplane technologies, such as the GPS, tend to appear in cars 15-20 years later. But what about the ability to fly… Science-fiction shows have...

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Mar 14, 2012
Innovations, Public Transit, Questions, Thoughts

Driver Assisted Cars – On the brink of a transport revolution?

Ever increasing urban populations are leading cities to focus more heavily on improving public transit infrastructure through the construction of rail, bus, and even cable lines. With such an extensive road network in North America, many cities and states find it difficult to further invest in additional infrastructure. Still, car congestion ensues — an issue...

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Mar 06, 2012
Innovations, Questions, Thought Experiments, Thoughts

Dual Mode Gondolas – Hook and Anchor

Over the past week and half, we’ve discussed two hybrid/dual-mode transit technologies – AutoTram and DMVs. To build on this topic, I was contemplating if such a concept could apply to Cable Propelled Transit (CPT). I asked myself: what if a gondola cabin could be both propelled from above and below? Well, I decided to whip...

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Mar 05, 2012
Innovations, Public Transit

Techno-Squabbles and Dual Mode Vehicles – RailBus, BusRail

Last Thursday, we briefly looked at AutoTrams – an attempt to combine the best (or worst, depending on your perspective) of both worlds in rail and bus technology. We’ve had a fairly robust debate in our comments section on the benefits and limitations of such a configuration. Then I thought, what would happen if you...

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Mar 01, 2012
Infrastructure, Innovations, Other Transit Techs, Public Transit, Questions, Urban Planning & Design

Transit Aesthetics – AutoTram / BusRail

When a city plan is planning a new transit infrastructure project, a lot of time is often spent deliberating over which technology should be implemented. This discussion generally floats back and for between bus and rail (and more recently, sometimes even CPT). For many cash-strapped cities looking for quick wins and cost-effective mass transit solutions,...

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Jan 05, 2012
Innovations, Vail High-Speed MDG

Is This The World’s Fastest Gondola?

(Correction/Update: This is certainly not the world’s fastest gondola. MDG systems routinely eclipse the 6 m/s threshold. For more details click here.) A couple weeks ago I brought attention to a new gondola that’s going to be built in Vail, Colorado. While the system is in no way urban, it did have the curious feature of...

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Dec 20, 2011
Innovations

What Wi-Fi Equipped Gondolas Teach Us About The Cable Industry

Vail Resorts in Colorado just recently announced plans to replace a 4-seater chairlift with a new gondola system. That in itself isn’t particularly exciting or interesting. What is, however, is the plan to equip each and every gondola with a Wi-Fi connection. Why a skier would need such a connection escapes me, but it’s a welcome...

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Nov 28, 2011
Design Considerations, Innovations, Morizo Gondola, Residential Concerns

Privacy and Gondolas – Morizo and Kiccoro Gondolas – Aichi, Japan – Expo 2005

The privacy issue is widely seen as an obstacle (and a legitimate one at that) for gondola installations in urban areas, especially given their proximity to people’s homes. In the past, here at the Gondola Project, we’ve discussed several solutions. One of the more innovative approaches — the “Smart Glass” technology on the Bukit Panjang LRT...

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Aug 12, 2011
Gondola Project Forum, Innovations, Just For Fun, Oddities, Technologies, Thoughts

FORUM FRIDAYS: Gondolas to the Moon?

This week on the Gondola Project forum, in response to last week’s post about the future of aerial transit, there was a video response with the Jetson’s theme song displaying the idea of personalized flying mobiles. This got me thinking about both science fiction and outer space (since everything in that show appears to be...

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