So this weekend, I made a trip down to New York City to take in some of the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. Being a natural transit nerd, I decided to make a side trip to Roosevelt Island (aka the Little Apple) to ride the Roosevelt Island Tram (RIT). Much to the chagrin of the...
On this blog there’s a lot of talk about cable as a flexible and adaptable technology for urban transit. CPT can travel above roads and traffic, go through buildings, and cross rivers and gorges. But for all that to work there needs to be space for towers and stations, too. So what happens when a...
Thanks to Julia for finding this: We know we’re making progress when a Cable Propelled Transit system makes its way into Google Earth 3D. Apparently the Roosevelt Island Tram can now be found in Google Earth by selecting to show all 3D Buildings. Towers, stations, cables and cabins included: I love living in the future....
The new Roosevelt Island Tram (RIT) is likely to generate renewed interest in cable transit and urban gondolas. What it may also do is demonstrate to the wider transit planning community that Cable Propelled Transit is an “open” platform and not (necessarily) subject to the issue of proprietary technology. Let me explain: The Roosevelt Island...
Gareth Long is an artist in New York and one of my oldest and dearest friends. Sadly, due to the two-headed monster known as Geography and Life, we rarely get to see each other. But given the recent reopening of the Roosevelt Island Tram, it seemed like a logical opportunity to work together and see...
On Tuesday, New York’s Roosevelt Island Tram reopened after a 9 month, $25 million refurbishment. The rebuild, conducted by Poma, transforms the system from an Aerial Tram to a Funifor-type system. That means vehicles will operate independently of one another. When one vehicle is taken out of service, the other can still be operational. This...
The other day I was pretty hard on Aerial Trams for being obsolete, expensive and inefficient members of the cable transit family. Because of their place in history, however, many of the most iconic and important cable transit systems ever built were Aerial Trams, a point I failed to mention. Here are 6 of them:...
Aerial Trams are the granddaddies of cable transit. They’re big, they’re aggressive and what they do, they do really well. Problem is, they can’t do much. They’re a completely antiquated technology due to their lack of detachability. Like BDG or 3S systems, Aerial Trams use one or two stationary ropes for support while a second or...
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?
I recently wrote an article for the Architectural League of New York‘s urbanism-themed website Urban Omnibus. The article, titled Off the Road and Into the Skies (click to read it), should provide you with a decent history of New York City’s Roosevelt Island Tram and some analysis of Santiago Calatrava’s botched cable transit proposal for...