The Caracas Metrocable, Introduction Imitation, they say, is the greatest form of flattery. And if that’s the case, then Caracas is clearly smitten with Medellin. Inspired by Medellin’s incredibly positive experience with Cable Propelled Transit, Venezuela has embarked on their own CPT campaign, beginning first in the capital city of Caracas. Like Medellin, Caracas exists...
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?
One of the little-considered, but no less useful value-added features of Cable Propelled Transit is the ease with which headways, speed and capacity may be adjusted. Throughout any given day, capacity and headway (and to a lesser extent, speed) needs on a specific transit line will fluctuate. That’s why we have terms such as “Crush...
My absolute, all-time favorite aerial cable technology is a little-known configuration called The Funitel. The technology was originally created by Lift Engineering, Inc. an American company (that mercifully no longer exists) with one of the worst safety records in the industry. While the concept behind the Funitel was ingenious, the engineering wasn’t. It wasn’t until...
At the request of one reader, here’s a map of Metro Medellin including Metrocable lines and their transfer points to the Metro system as a whole.
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...
Beyond the obvious, here’s a few things I think transit should be: Free. Or close to it. Most businesses would pay millions of dollars for a captive market of individuals who predictably use the same two stations twice a day, five days a week. Transit operators should make their money not off of transit, but...
Medellin’s third and most recent Cable Propelled Transit line is Linea L – Cable Arvi. It is only a few weeks old and transports the people of Medellin up through the mountains and all the way to Parque Arvi (pronouned “Ar-bee”), a new nature preserve a few kilometres from the city. The park and transit...
LINEA J Unlike Linea K of the Medellin Metrocable, Linea J is much more actively involved in Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Linea K served an existing and extremely dense neighborhood lacking in transit. Linea J serves the barrio of Vallejuelos and the La Aurora development that is in the process of building and expanding. This...
We interrupt our regularly-scheduled Medellin/Caracas Photo Essay with this shameless bit of self-promotion: The Mark News recently posted an interview segment on Cable Propelled Transit with myself and Dr. Eric Miller of the University of Toronto Cities Centre. Here it is: The Mark also posted a related op-ed piece I wrote on the matter. Read...