The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) announced their preferred transit alternative is the gondola for Little Cottonwood Canyon. 3S gondolas, also known as tricable detachable gondola (TDG), are highly reliable because they can handle harsher weather conditions. A 3S has two track ropes with the sole purpose of stabilizing the cabins and one propulsion cable. It’s estimated...
Recently we reported Doppelmayr’s contracts to construct new ropeways of record-breaking lengths and heights. Before that, we wrote about the company’s apprenticeship program. According to Ekkehard Assmann, Doppelmayr’s Head of Marketing and Public Relations, the two stories are more closely related than you may think. He attributes much of Doppelmayr’s recent successes and wins to...
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...
A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit: Perhaps the world’s most luxurious gondola cabin is set to debut in Zillertal, Austria. Select cabin interiors are fully decked out with a BMW 7-Series inspired theme which includes leather seats, massage...
Last month I toured Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak cable gondola system. This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on the system. Click on the following links to view Part 1 and Part 2. Most aerial cable systems offer a smooth ride. What little friction there is, is rarely felt by the rider. Except,...
As I mentioned yesterday, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency announced on Thursday that the Oakland Airport Connector would be a Cable Propelled Transit system. This was a major breakthrough by a cable technology as it competed head-to-head with two other self-propelled transit technologies and won. One of the reasons cited by BART for...
I’m traveling today and am out of internet contact (why can’t more airlines fix that problem?), so we’re going to watch a video (like when your high school history teacher was sick with strep throat) It’s short, it’s in French, and it should inspire the transit wonk in all of you (especially starting at 0:56)....
In the interest of honesty, let me state plainly that I have, in the past, provided planning services for the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of Cable-Propelled Transit (CPT) in the world. I maintain a relationship with them to this day. Should this fact cloud your opinion of The Gondola Project or Cable-Propelled Transit?...