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