The Gondola Project

03
Jun

2013

Introducing The Sponsor’s Corner

Post by Steven Dale

Today we’re happy to announce our new Sponsor’s Corner initiative on The Gondola Project.

In tandem with our Essential Guide To Gondolas (thanks again, by the way, to everyone who has already purchased a copy), The Sponsor’s Corner is a strategy aimed at making this site sustainable for the foreseeable future — and believe us when we way it was a decision we wrestled with for a long time. Let me explain . . .

Over the last while, it’s come to our attention that people interested in the topic of urban cable cars and gondolas often have an equivalent interest in the people who supply this industry. But unlike people readily familiar with the ski lift industry, those suppliers are unknown and opaque. Advertising, obviously, can help solve that problem. We wanted, however, to avoid littering the site with a constant stream of pop-ups and banner ads because no one likes those things (including us).

We therefore designed a workaround — The Sponsor’s Corner.

Our primary goal with The Sponsor’s Corner is to ensure that this site’s mission of being an education and information resource remains intact. Were this site to become nothing more than a billboard for the cable transit industry, that mission would be defeated.

As such, we’ve chosen to concentrate information on manufacturers, suppliers and major developments in a single space on the website where it can be properly managed and controlled — hence, The Sponsor’s Corner.

Having said that, space and content within The Sponsor’s Corner is, as the name suggests, sponsored. Make no mistake, companies that choose to occupy space in The Sponsor’s Corner will be there because they’re paying to be there. It is space they’re renting to tell their stories free from our influence and commentary.

The rest of the site, meanwhile, will remain completely and 100% independent.

We will continue to be critical and analytical about the industry and the technology. We will not explicitly or implicitly endorse third parties in exchange for advertising, nor will we allow advertising to influence editorial content. We will maintain complete and absolute ownership over all editorial decisions and oversight.

That’s our promise to all of the regular readers who’ve helped grow this site into what it is.

So if you’re engaged in the cable transit industry and wish to learn how to participate in the Sponsor’s Corner, either read this page here or send us an email at info (at) creativeurbanprojects (dot) com and we’ll be sure to be in touch.

Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the one of the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

Comments

31
May

2013

Weekly Roundup: Cerro San Cristobal Cable Car to Soon Begin Construction in Lima, Peru

Post by Nick Chu

Route alignment for Cerro San Cristobal Cable Car. Image from http://www.americatv.com.pe.

In 2-3 months, construction may start for the Cerro San Cristobal cable car in Lima, Peru. While its built in a city, this system will not be used for mass transit purposes, rather it will serve a purely tourist function. If everything goes according to schedule, the cable car will be available for use by summer 2014.

More news to come out of Peru: Peruvian president – Ollanta Humala – announced that the government will pursue and implement an initiative that supports the construction of more cable cars for both urban transport and recreational use. By working closely with regional governments, this program seeks to improve accessibility and mobility in all areas throughout Peru.

Rouen is reportedly one of newest French cities to study the feasibility of an urban gondola. The idea is apparently not new for the city as some proposals date back to almost 20 years ago. Rouen follows in the footsteps of other French municipalities such as Brest, Toulouse and Marseille who are now looking into CPT technology.

Another article documenting the profound changes that the Teleferico do Complexo do Alemao is having on the favela neighbourhood. It appears that the cable car has sparked an entire tourist industry where many locals are now setting up shops and acting as tour guides for curious tourists.

Weekly Roundup

Comments

29
May

2013

Cabin Design: A Blast from the Past – UFO Style Cabins

Post by Nick Chu

Today as there are basically only two major CPT consortiums left, general observations seems to indicate that cabin designs are rather limited — especially in urban MDG systems. While current passenger carriers are both functional and practical, it appears that most (not all) urban MDGs built by Doppelmayr and Leitner/Poma typically feature the Omega style cabins and Diamond Line cabins respectively.

Omega cabins (left) and Diamond cabins (right). Image by CUP.

Omega cabins (left) in Caracas Metrocable and Diamond cabins in Medellin Metrocable Linea J (right). Image by CUP.

But if you look carefully, there was once a time when cabin designs were quite diverse and varied. One of the most interesting cabins that jumped out at us were the carriers built by Carlevaro-Savio. According to Chairlifts.org, this company was located in Turin, Italy and was known for their, “futuristic gondola cabins”.

UFO gondola cabin. Click on picture for more. Image from Chairlifts.org.

Pod cabins. Click on picture for more. Image from Chairlifts.org

The spaceship and pod cabins above are just some of the many neat examples of what was found several decades back. It is not entirely clear at this time why cabin designs are not as varied as they were in the past but my suspicion — and I’ve yet to have any substantial evidence to back this up — is that it likely boils down to costs. Quite simply, customized cabins are more expensive whereas standardized cabins are much more economical.

However, as more cities — especially ones in industrialized nations — become interested in implementing CPT and are seeking to build world-exclusive systems that stand out from the crowd, my guess is that one day we will begin to see more distinctive and unique cabins once again.

Anyhow, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think cities should pursue more customized carriers or do you think utilitarian cabins are enough? Post your comments below.

Design Considerations / Infrastructure

Comment

27
May

2013

Station Design: In-Mountain Station, Huashan Xifeng Cable Car, China

Post by Nick Chu

From our time on the Gondola Project, we know that gondola station design is incredibly flexible and can be built in almost any scenario and setting. Let’s take a quick recap:

Skyscraper station? Check.

Underground station? Check.

Light and airy station? Check.

And today, thanks to one of our readers, we can now add “in-mountain cavernous cliff-side” stations to the list.

The cable car station is literally carved into the side of the mountain. Image via news.cnwest.com.

The cable car terminal is literally carved into the side of the mountain. Image via news.cnwest.com.

This station is part of the newly inaugurated Huashan Xifeng Cable Car (华山西峰索道) in China’s Shaanxi province. Reports in Chinese indicate that it took more than ten years of feasibility study and four years of construction before the 4.2km system was opened to the public in April 2013. This is likely due to the historical, and religious significance of the site in which the cable car is connecting to (i.e. Mount Hua).

A look inside the in-mountain station. Image via news.cnwest.com

Another view of in-mountain station. Image via news.cnwest.com

The cable car line is capable of transporting 1500 people per hour to the peak in 20 minutes. The system is likely a welcome sight to the famous Mount Hua tourist area as it is one of the most visited and famous sites in China.

Infrastructure / Stations

Comments

24
May

2013

Weekly Roundup: New Urban Gondola for Ankara, Turkey

Post by Nick Chu

Ankara Cable Car Rendering. Image from Leitner.

By 2014, Ankara will soon be home to another urban gondola. This 3.2km system will have 106 cabins with a capacity of 2,400 pphpd. Once opened, it will serve the Şentepe neighbourhood and will be located near Yenimahalle metro station. Based on renderings, the stations may be one of the most architecturally stunning urban CPT lines yet.

Swiss article discusses why the country has yet to fully embrace urban gondolas as a viable form of mass transit. This is particularly surprising as it is considered a country with the highest per capita usage of cable cars.

Reports suggest that the La Paz Cable Car system will be ready for passenger usage starting in the first quarter of 2014. It is not entirely clear at this time which of the 3 lines will be operational first. However, it seems that locations for some towers have yet to be finalized and officials are still looking to find the appropriate solutions to minimize impact on traffic and land use.

Here’s a new idea for urban cable cars: the Emirates Air Lines is starting to introduce school lessons for children on board the system. Kids can learn a variety of subjects including regeneration, sustainability and the Olympic legacy.

Weekly Roundup

Comments

22
May

2013

Essential Services vs. Essential Services

Post by Steven Dale

Image via flickr user eti.

You can talk about “Essential Services” in one of two ways:

The first way is as a commodity, as a necessity of society or as a basic provision of life. More often than not, these essential services take the form of monopolies and organized cartels. They’re necessary and useful, but rarely ever pleasant.

The second form of essential services are seemingly unnecessary services that go so far above and beyond the call of duty, that improve your well-being so greatly, that raise the bar so high; they become necessary accoutrements—they become an essential part of your life.

An emergency room, a public transit system and the police are essential services in the first sense that they are some of the bare minimum of services any responsible society needs to function.

Dropbox, on the other hand is an essential service in the second sense—it makes our lives infinitely easier, better and more pleasant to the extent that it becomes a regular part of our world; that it becomes essential.

Too often, public transit is the former, and not the latter.

That occurred to me on a recent business trip. As regular readers know, I spend a fair amount of time in Switzerland for personal and professional reasons. And when there, I use a prepaid cell phone.

On a recent morning sprint to the train station, I realized that—owing to a long weekend where all the stores were closed—I hadn’t topped up my phone and was desperately short of credit. As a foreigner, my provider’s online web portal doesn’t accept my credit card, so I was used to going to the supermarket to top it up.

Now normally that wouldn’t be a problem, except I was travelling to a city I had only been to once (three years ago) and had no idea what my train connections were and had not time to go to the ticket counter to request a schedule.

How wonderful, then, to learn that the train ticket vending machine also allowed me the option to purchase credits for my cell phone on the network of my choosing. And here’s the kicker: Instead of issuing a confusing receipt with a seemingly endless code to add credit to the phone, I instead received a simple text message informing me that my phone had been credited as per my request and the balance would be charged to my credit card.

In other words, the train station method of buying cell phone “guthaben” (as the locals call it) was a more pleasant, convenient and intuitive method than other more traditional means. It’s also a heck of a lot more convenient than standing in line at the grocery store.

There’s nothing “essential” about a train station ticket vending machine that allows you to buy cell phone “guthaben.” Life goes on without it and I’m sure I could’ve managed enough mangled German to figure out how to get where I was going. But here’s the thing:

The service was so good, so useful and so surprisingly intuitive that it became, for me, essential in the time it took to complete the transaction (roughly 15 seconds). That’s an Essential Service of the second variety.

Public transit needs to stop thinking of themselves as essential services of the first variety (read: monopolies) and instead start reimagining themselves as Essential Services of the second.