A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas and Cable Propelled Transit:
- According to a report from Rio Times Online, it appears that Rio is planning to build a second Urban Gondola system. This system would serve the Rocinha favela and should connect with a future metro line. This is a major development and one we’ll investigate further.
- Metropulse gives provides a history about one of the “Seven Ancient Wonders of Knoxville,” the unknown and lost-to-history Knoxville, Tennessee Cable Car.
- Mayor Ron Clarke is expected to announce a new cable car for Australia’s Gold Coast.
- EcOasis Properties Limited announces the December 23rd opening of Canada’s first resort-neighborhood with dedicated and private gondola service.
- A team of students from Carnegie Mellon University present an Urban Gondola plan to Pittsburgh City Council. No word yet on what Pittsburgh thought of the idea.
- Despite concerns from the national design review panel, CABE, the London cable car “bosses” are confident it can cope with demand.
- An Oakland blogger continues to lament the Oakland Airport Connector.
- Demonstrating how much work The Gondola Project still has to do, the Victoria Times Colonist calls the Wuppertal Schwebebahn “the most famous” Aerial Tram. For those interested, an Aerial Tram is this and the Wuppertal Schwebebahn is that (the train, not the elephant).
- And lastly: Speed Flying is a sport that combines high-altitude skiing, paragliding, base-jumping and sky-diving (because, really, why not?). Last week, speed flyer Antoine Montant took to Chamonix, France and decided to ride an old gondola system in an entirely unheard of – and probably lethal – manner. Enjoy:
1 Comment
The overall urban plan presented by the CMU team has gotten a lot of positive attention, including from City officials. Unfortunately, the cable component seems to have been received more as a novelty than as a serious attempt to address transit needs in Pittsburgh, and that is basically how it was presented.
Nonetheless, I’m hoping raising the topic may at least help move the conversation forward a bit–the big opportunity right now is that Pittsburgh is in the process of developing a long-range city plan, including a transportation plan. A serious, well-informed discussion of CPT in that context could lead to an actual investment in the future.