Edmonton Gondola Rendering. Image from CBC.
In the last few weeks, interest in urban gondolas has skyrocketed as two major proposals simultaneously made headlines in North America. In Canada, the Edmonton River Valley Gondola was selected as the winner of a local design competition while the Boston Seaport Gondola proposal was revised and re-released for public consumption.
As part of the general discourse, Gondola Project’s founder, Steven Dale, was recently featured and interviewed by Laura Lynch on CBC Radio. In the eight minute conservation, Steven gives his insight on the state of Cable Propelled Transit (CPT) and why a gondola in Edmonton might make a lot of sense. In addition, you can also hear project proponent, Amber Polyquin’s thoughts on how the proposal was developed.
For those new to the website, please feel free to browse around, ask questions and explore why the idea of using gondolas as urban transport might not be as wacky as you think. In the links below, we’ve compiled a few posts and articles to get you started:
- Perhaps the best place to start is our Learn the Basics page.
- Our original blog post on Medellin and Caracas contains a lot of great background information on the evolution and growth of urban cable cars.
- The world of ropeways can be confusing at first. Take time to learn about the differences between an MDG gondola, a 3S gondola and an Aerial Tram. While these technologies share similarities, their performance capabilities can vary considerably.
- Understand that we’re not gondola zealots. We don’t see gondolas as the be-all and end-all of public transit. We simply see it as one among many transportation tools. You’ll find us to be highly critical when we need to be.
- New technological innovations and achievements are constantly being made in the ropeway industry. For instance, the world recently saw the opening of the world’s longest 3S gondola (7.9km) in Hon Thom, Vietnam while Stoos, Switzerland built the world’s steepest funicular!
- We’re not the biggest fans of PRT, but we’re pretty positive on Google’s driverless cars.
- And lastly, be sure to check out how the Edmonton gondola won the competition in the YouTube video below