HISTORY Modern Cable Propelled Transit started in Caracas, Venezuela with the Mount Avila Gondola. This system was originally built in the middle of the last century to carry people from Caracas to the top of Mount Avila where the luxurious Hotel Humboldt had been built. Political and economic strife caused the government to leave for...
Everyone’s a Professional nowadays. If you get paid to do something, you’re a Professional. We have Professional Bloggers, Professional Trend-Watchers and Professional Competitive Eaters. Being a Professional is about as common as being a homo sapien. I think it’s the direct result of our culture of credentials. If you’ve got the credentials, you’re a Professional....
(This post was a little late coming in today. So much going on. Please accept my apologies.) It’s been a good week for Cable Propelled Transit and Urban Gondolas:
. . . there was a club for urban planners who just happen to be avid skiers. If there were, then this would be the easiest thing in the world.
As some of you already know, CUP Projects runs a Gondola Project Flickr Pool of images. Problem is, these pools are unwieldily beasts. Ours already has over 800 images in it and if we really put our minds to it, it could reach into the thousands. Very hard to search, very hard to organize, very...
When done right, public transit becomes more than just infrastructure. It becomes a symbol and a form of marketing itself. It becomes famous and accomplishes the same thing as any famous building, landmark or museum. Here then, are eight public transit vehicles/systems that have transcended being merely transportation and are instead signals of sophistication, ingenuity,...
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed something problematic about the Caracas Metrocable: The stations are enormous. We’re not talking about just “big” here. We’re talking about “big enough for Cirque du Soleil to perform in.” This is because the stations themselves are not really stations at all. Whut? Exactly. In actuality, the Caracas...
Like the Medellin Metrocable, the Caracas Metrocable is a MDG system, the most basic of aerial Cable Propelled Transit technologies. It is fully-integrated into the local Metro system, has a maximum operating speed of 18 km/hr, a capacity of 3,000 pphpd and is 1.8 km long. Vehicles can carry 8 sitters and 2 standees. The...
One time, it’s a fluke . . . The Roosevelt Island Tram. Two times, it’s a fad . . . Medellin. Three times, it’s a trend . . . Portland. Four times, it’s a movement . . . Caracas. Five times, it’s a force . . . Next?
That’s what the famous American urban planner Daniel Burnham is often-quoted as having said. Make no small plans. We teach our planning students this edict like its religion. But how many big plans, grand plans, enormous plans are ever actually realized? Few, and rarely as per the original design. Big plans are cumbersome beasts. They...