Installations

09
Feb

2012

Where do you put the towers?

On this blog there’s a lot of talk about cable as a flexible and adaptable technology for urban transit. CPT can travel above roads and traffic, go through buildings, and cross rivers and gorges. But for all that to work there needs to be space for towers and stations, too.

So what happens when a city’s simply got no space?

They deal.

Take New York City, for example. The Roosevelt Island Tram’s been dealing with this problem for 35 years by building a tower right over a road. Of course they did, because the system has three towers, two of which are located in Manhattan, the most densely populated New York City borough and the country’s densest county.

The Roosevelt Tram tower sits right on top of 60th St. -- CC image by Flickr user David Berkowitz.

Then there’s a system in Romania, where the city of Piatra Neamt built a cable car system, of which an entire kilometer traverses the city — towers and all.

To do this they built a tower in a road median . . .

Image courtesy of Doppelmayr.

. . . one over a parking lot . . .

Image courtesy of Doppelmayr.

. . . and even one on top of a sidewalk, so as not to obstruct pedestrian traffic underneath.

Image courtesy of Doppelmayr.

Now, we’re not saying this is the best way to go about designing towers. Remember, there are practical designs and then there are pretty designs.

London and Portland have the aesthetics down pat. Both cities dedicated a lot of thought and effort (not to mention a few dollars) to create stunning architectural towers, and in return have (or will soon have) practical works of art, so to speak.

But the adaptability seen in New York and Piatra Neamt should not go unnoticed either. As drab and industrial as the tower designs are, they represent a collaboration that can exist between municipalities and transit planning when both parties add a bit of imagination and ingenuity to the mix.

The important question here is how to blend the practicality of New York and Piatra Neamt with the beauty of London and Portland. That’s the challenge and the opportunity.

Design Considerations / Infrastructure / London Cable Car / Portland Aerial Tram / Roosevelt Island Tram
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06
Feb

2012

Kiel Harbour Gondola (Stadtseilbahn, Kiel)

Jan sends along this interesting lead:

 

The Kiel Harbour Gondola (Stadtseilbahn, Kiel). Image via wikimedia.

I’d like to point you to a tiny CPT that once operated in my hometown Kiel (Germany), as it seems there are no English sources about it and it might be of interest for you.

It was a landmark and attraction in town as it was quite unique. It was installed by the owner of a department store to make a parking garage, that was located on the other side of the Old Harbour, more accessible. It spanned an enormous distance of ~140 meters, had two gondolas for 15 people each and one journey took about 70 seconds.

I suppose its one of the earliest urban CPT’s. It was opened in 1974 and transported nearly 3 Mio. people until it was closed in 1991 for financial reasons, although many people and the city tried to change the new owner’s mind. As it was free, it was quite popular: there are reports of 50m long queues at certain times.

But in the end the owner didn’t want to replace the old cable. And the staff costs were probably to high for the owner, as there was some sort of “cabin boy” aboard.

Thanks so much for this, Jan!

As so many of our readers are from German-speaking countries, it would be great if some of them could help gather more details on this system. Please put any information you find in the comments.

Installations / Kiel Harbour Gondola / Uncategorized
6
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25
Jan

2012

The Rostock/Munich Lift is on a Mountain

Remember the garden exhibition lift that first appeared in Rostock (IGA) in 2003 then was disassembled and reassembled in Munich (BUGA) in 2005?

Rostock 2003 / Munich 2005 gondola

Turns out, immediately following the BUGA show, the system was once again taken down and rebuilt … on a mountain. Yup, 40% of the system was re-used to construct the Imberg gondola lift at the Steibis ski resort in Bavarian Allgäu (southern Germany). And all in a matter of months — the dismantling starting in October and the system was in operation by mid-December of the same year.

The "new" 8-seater Imbergbahn MDG gondola

The Imberg gondola replaced a 54 year old chair lift.

BUGA Systems.
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17
Jan

2012

Happy Cable Car Day

San Francisco Cable Car. Image by Flickr User hdzimmermann.

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Cable Car Day!

On this very date in 1871 (that’s 141 years ago), the first cable car railway patent was bestowed upon Andrew Smith Hallidie. Legend has it that Hallidie invented the cable car after he saw a horse-drawn streetcar slip and fall on San Francisco’s steep roadways (unfortunately resulting in the death of 5 horses).

Andrew Smith Hallidie, Cable Car Extraordinaire. Image by The Cable Car Museum.

After receiving financial assistance, construction began and the first cable car  - aka the Clay Street Hill Railway. The cable car quickly become an icon in San Francisco and was soon implemented in many cities across the US.

A little known fact is that Andrew Smith Hallidie initially named his system the, “endless wire ropeway“. In my opinion, he should’ve kept that name and we would’ve avoided the whole nomenclature disaster that is now associated with CPT.  But at least this gives us a reason to start a Gondola Day!

San Francisco Cable Cars
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10
Jan

2012

Correction: Vail Gondola Most Certainly Not The World’s Fastest Gondola

Last week I discussed the upcoming Vail, Colorado gondola and its promoters’ claims of it being “The World’s Fastest Gondola.” And while I correctly demonstrated how it couldn’t be the fastest gondola, in general, I readily fell for the marketing-speak and accepted without inquiry the idea that at 6 m/s the system could very well be the fastest MDG type gondola in the world.

However, since that post went live I’ve had several individuals inform me that while 6 m/s gondolas aren’t common, they’re not exactly rare either. One ropeway engineer even went out of his way to inform me that he’d build a 6.2 m/s gondola a few years back – though he readily admitted he couldn’t remember where and we’ve been unable to track it down.

To further the embarrassment even more, I stated in that post that the upper limit of an MDG gondola was 5 m/s which is completely and 100% incorrect.

And the evidence that it’s completely and 100% incorrect?

A little website known as The Gondola Project and it’s assertion that the maximum speed of an MDG gondola is 22 km/hr – which coverts into a little bit over 6 m/s. Guess who wrote that post?

Bingo, and I wrote that one about 2 years ago.

So three things to get out of the way here:

Firstly: Please accept my apologies for not taking the time to check my own website to confirm if something a project promotor says is accurate or not. It was hasty and unacceptable.

Secondly:  What’s the deal Vail, Colorado? How are you laying claim to “The World’s Fastest Gondola?”

Thirdly: Very sorry. Again.

MDG / Vail High-Speed MDG
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05
Jan

2012

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 being Wi-Fi enabled – a concept I thought somewhat absurd. I didn’t, mind you, think it absurd to have a Wi-Fi enabled gondola. I thought it absurd that such a development would come initially from a ski resort installation rather than an urban one.

But I digress . . .

Now comes word that not only will this system allow you to update your facebook status while skiing (presumably with something like “hey, I’m skiing!”), but it will also feature an in-vehicle heating system and will be the “Worlds (sic) Fastest Gondola.”

I love superlatives like the word “fastest” as more often than not it’s more a reflection of marketing than of fact. If you dig deeper into the article you realize that this isn’t to be the world’s fastest gondola, but is instead to be “the fastest gondola of its type in the world.”

That’s important and you’ll see why in a minute.

All reports of the new Vail gondola indicate that it will seat 10 people, which immediately indicates the system will likely be a Monocable Detachable Gondola (MDG). Theoretically it could also be a Bicable Detachable Gondola (BDG), but those systems are quickly falling out of favour with both manufacturers and customers. So let’s assume it’s an MDG.

MDG technology generally tops out at around 5 m/s or 18 km/hr. Meanwhile, all reports of the Vail system are of a gondola that will travel 1,200 feet/sec or 6 m/s or 21.5 km/hr. For those counting, that’s a 20% increase in speed and most certainly makes it the fastest MDG system in the world.

But regular readers of The Gondola Project will note it’s still not as fast as the 3S or Tricable Detachable Gondola’s (TDG) current top speed of 7.5 m/s or 27 km/hr. (We could also note that it’s not as fast as the 12 m/s top speed of Aerial Tram technology, but wouldn’t be a fair comparison as Aerial Trams and Gondolas are two very different technologies.)

So yes, the phrase “fastest gondola of its type in the world” is accurate. Fastest gondola in the world, not so much.

Nevertheless, this is a pretty exciting development. The 3S/TDG is currently the heavy duty system of choice for high-speed, high-capacity gondola systems – but it also comes with a higher cost and longer construction times.

Leitner-Poma (the builders of the system) have now provided a new choice in the cable transit line-up by creating a (presumably) low-cost, medium-capacity system with a higher overall speed – making it instantaneously more attractive to many different markets.

They also claim it will have “40% more uphill capacity” but without further details it’s impossible to know exactly how they’re making that calculation and how valid the claim is so we can ignore it for the time being (but should certainly investigate further).

But there’s more to this system, I think, than mere numbers and statistics. My gut says this isn’t just about a ski resort in Vail.

Consider all the trappings of urban transit this system displays; heating, fast speeds and Wi-Fi. It’s also supposed to “establish a whole new standard for comfort in lifts” – suggesting a seating configuration or design different from the standard wooden or plastic benches that are the norm.

In all likelihood, this is probably Leitner-Poma’s answer to Doppelmayr’s Urban Concept vehicles in Koblenz, Germany. This isn’t just a ski lift, it’s a concept system typical of an industry that debuts new technology in their core ski resort markets rather than risk bringing new technologies straight into the urban market.

If this is, indeed, a volley for supremacy in the growing urban gondola market (through the back-door of the ski lift market), we could be at the start of something resembling an arms race between the industry’s two big players; Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma.

And if that’s the case, we may see a whole lot more urban-centric innovations in cable in the coming couple years.

Which would be very exciting for everyone involved.

Innovations / Vail High-Speed MDG
2
Comments
19
Dec

2011

World Class Alpine Resorts Near City = Urban Gondolas?

Since the Gondola Project’s inception two years ago, reception (for the most part) has been overwhelmingly positive with interest in gondola transit rising dramatically. (Thanks again everyone! Keep the emails/comments coming!).

Peak 2 Peak - Whister. Image by Flickr User roaming-the-planet.

While there’s more work to be done, we’ve managed to successfully help bridge the knowledge gap between the institutions of city/transportation planning and urban gondolas.

If we just look within the Great White North alone, half of Canada’s largest metropolitan areas, are in or reported to be in the preliminary stages of planning a gondola system. That’s Vancouver (Burnaby), Calgary and Montreal (Laval).

Rendering of Laval CPT. Image via City of Laval.

In my opinion, this accomplishment is incredible. Two years ago, as compared to today, CPT was a fringe, misunderstood and relatively obscure technology in the North American transit world. Not so much anymore.

But this leads me to ask: What’s the biggest Canadian city that’s currently suffering from the worst congestion but yet to even remotely contemplate CPT?

You guessed it – Toronto.

While lampooning public transit in Hogtown is a favourite pastime amongst Torontonians, I do think they are doing great things in the city (i.e. Spadina Subway Extension, Eglinton Crosstown LRT etc.).

So instead of hating on the city that I love, I asked: Why is cable being implemented in other Canadian cities but not in Toronto?

As I’m currently preparing to go skiing in Whistler this week, I’ve had an epiphany. There’s a crucial factor existent in Vancouver (Burnaby), Calgary and Montreal (Laval) that’s missing in Toronto.

Can you guys think of it?

Can't wait to hit the slopes! Whistler, British Columbia. Image by Flickr User jsigharas.

World-class ski resorts!

Let’s see: Calgary has Lake Louise; Vancouver has Whistler and Montreal has Mont Tremblant.

And Toronto has Blue Moun… nevermind.

I’m sure there’s more to this revelation than alpine facilities, but it’s probably the most straightforward answer. In fact, this surprising fact may not be surprising at all.

Civil Engineers/part-time cable aficionados in the 1980′s, Bondada and Neumann, already found that planners more familiar with cable technology were more likely to rate it higher on a scale of 1 to 10. The question, then, is if mere familiarity with the technology in a ski resort setting is enough to cause planners to consider the technology more seriously. Bondada and Neumann, unfortunately, never addressed that question.

Anyways . . .  happy skiing everyone!

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Calgary Gondola / General / Laval / Peak 2 Peak / Toronto Transit Commission / Vancouver/Burnaby Gondola
3
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