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Dec 01, 2015
Doppelmayr, Marketing Issues, New Ideas, Uncategorized

What Would a Ropeway Look Like in Your Hometown? Try Doppelmayr’s Ropeway Configurator

Last year, Doppelmayr introduced a “ropeway configurator”, which anyone can sign up for and try out. It’s a simple suite of online tools you use to visualize key elements of a virtual cable car system. The configurator’s utility is limited but it does provide a great way to begin conversations about creating real ropeways. In...

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May 06, 2015
Marketing Issues, Marketing Public Transit

Transported or Transmuted? The Other Side of Marketing Public Transit

Last week I talked here about the need to rethink public transit. This week, we return to the subject but from a different perspective. As a lifelong writer of advertising and marketing materials, I’ve always been interested in how people and industries are marketed (aka presented in the media). Advertising people like me are typically...

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Jan 07, 2015
Emirates Air Line, Marketing Issues, Thoughts

Emirates Air Line: Success or Failure? It Depends

Over the holiday season, the British media picked up on the story that, apparently, the number of commuters on the Emirates Air Line has literally dropped to zero. Numerous publications (such as here, here, and here) argued this was evidence of the folly of the project and proof of how much of a white elephant...

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Mar 04, 2013
Marketing Issues

Gears of War: Judgement – Video Games and Gondolas

Public transit and gondolas just never seem to catch a break. And when we thought we’ve seen it all — the Roosevelt Island Tram being attacked by the Punisher, the Sugarloaf Cable Car having its propulsion cable severed by Jaw’s teeth and an LA bus rigged with a ticking time bomb — we find out...

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Jan 09, 2013
Cable Transit Industry, Design Considerations, Innovations, Marketing Issues

User-Controlled Smart Glass (Electrochromic Shades) on Boeing 787 and Lessons for Aerial Cable Cars

Throughout our time on the Gondola Project, we’ve seen many transport systems install smart glass windows (i.e. Morizo Gondola in Japan and Bukit Panjang LRT in Singapore). However, these systems did not offer users the ability to control when the glass becomes “frosted” nor the amount of “frostiness”. Enter Boeing’s newest aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner. These planes...

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Nov 27, 2012
Just For Fun, Marketing Issues, Roosevelt Island Tram, Safety

The Punisher Attacks The Roosevelt Tram

In our never-ending quest to document how the world of Hollywood fiction views cable cars and all mass transit as a mortal threat to your safety, we give you this:

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Nov 22, 2012
Just For Fun, Marketing Issues

Flash Mob on Copenhagen Metro

Just imagine if commuting via public transport was always this pleasant, there’d be no reason to ever drive again.

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Nov 20, 2012
Just For Fun, Marketing Issues, Public Engagement & Community Outreach

Most Successful Transit Advertisement Campaign Ever?

If you haven’t seen it already, Melbourne Metro Trains just launched one of the world’s most successful transit safety awareness campaigns ever – that’s 11 million Youtube hits in 6 days! Whether or not it will reduce accidents remains to be seen. However, there’s one thing that’s certain, I can’t get this song out of...

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Nov 19, 2012
Marketing Issues, Thoughts

100% True Story

I was recently at a friend’s 30th birthday party back in Toronto and I was flying solo. I was at a table of old friends. Maybe I should rephrase that. It was a table of people who were old friends of each other’s. I was the odd man out. They didn’t know me, I didn’t...

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Nov 08, 2012
Design Considerations, Marketing Issues, Research Issues

World’s Cutest Transit Vehicle: Hello Kitty Tram & Transit Ridership/Marketing

Over the years at the Gondola Project, we’ve probably seen some of the world’s most awesome-looking and unconventional transit vehicle designs. However, when it comes down to the world’ most kawaii (Japanese for cute) mode of transport, the Hello Kitty Trams seen around the world is by far the clear winner (I challenge you to find a...

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