Last week, in Part 1 of this series, the idea of combining CPT and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) was introduced. Today we’ll look closer at this topic and explore the opportunities ropeway technologies present to TOD. While at-grade cable systems, such as funiculars have similar characteristics to LRT in terms of their impact on the...
How does the trend of increased ridership match up against the local gas prices in Toronto? Stuck between budget cuts and politics no one can ignore the increase in both fuel costs and public transit ridership. So the question is, how many riders will it take to shift attention over to public transit funding, infrastructure...
A quick look at some of the things that makes auto-rickshaws/tuktuks in your city work (or not): Auto-rickshaws/tuktuks: Half golf-cart, half motorcycle Origin: Daihatsu Midget & Piaggio Ape C Top speed: 40km/h Cost: $6,500 Cost of “green” tuktuks: $10,000 Largest producer of auto-rickshaws in world: India India’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit: “They (auto rickshaws)...
A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Regular Gondolas, and Cable Propelled Transit: In case you’re heading to the middle of the Pacific sometime in the future – specifically the Northern Mariana Islands – a tourist gondola system is currently being proposed, by no other than a man named Heinz Staffler, great...
I could recap what’s been happening on the Gondola Project Forum this week … or I could show you this cool Ted Talk about flying like a bird. I pick door 2: [ted id=1195] … and because it wont embed, check it out the intended video here: A robot that flies like a bird...
Most readers understand the concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) – a planning approach that encourages transit ridership through increased development around transit stations. TODs are designed to create higher density, mixed use, walkable communities. In this way the day-to-day needs met by shops, cafes, and entertainment venues are located within the neighbourhood (usually near...
The Bamboo Railway or “Norry” in Battambang, Cambodia is truly a testament to human ingenuity and creativity. In this part of the world, where resources are scarce and government run train service is untimely and unreliable, this informal form of transit is an inexpensive and convenient mobility option for many. For this simple (yet highly...
Food, Clothing and Shelter. All capital letter nouns when uses in tandem. Those are the three things we always presume make up the fundamental needs of a human existence. They are the most basic things we need to survive in our world. But are they really? Food, most certainly, is an essential of life (and...
A quick look look at some stats that make urban chicken farming in your city work (or not): Number of chickens raised annual for meat and eggs: 50 billion Percentage of world’s poultry meat raised using intensive farming techniques: 74 Worldwide chicken to human ratio: 16:9 Number of varieties of domestic chickens: 150 Hours of...