Gondola Project reader Sean sent me a link to the above image. It dates from the 1950’s and comes from Vancouver’s regional transit authority, Translink, and was plucked from their archives. Even 60 years ago transit authorities recognized the need for grade-separation and rights-of-way for transit: “freeing the limited street space for commercial vehicles and...
A strong report on the Caracas Metrocable by Global Post. Unfortunately, the report makes the mistake of conflating the price of the cable line itself with that of the community-based infrastructure that’s co-located in the stations. This is a problem I previously highlighted and suspect will continue to dog the system. Nevertheless, try to keep...
A quick look at some of the things that make your cities work (or not) Happy Family Day!: Family Day: Statutory holiday Occurrence: 3rd Monday in February First Canadian province to enact Family Day: Alberta 2nd: Saskatchewan 3rd: Ontario Percent of Ontarians still working on Family Day: 40 Average family size in Canada: 2.5 people...
Not much to “roundup” this week, so instead, take a look at what the rest of the net is saying about delays to the London Thames Cable Car: The BBC summarizes how the London Thames Cable Car wound up in its current safety probe. 853 profiles the campaigners who halted the cable car. Transport for...
A Thought Experiment: For the last two years CableRailGyroCopter Inc. has developed projects in 10 North American cities. Each were to be purchased by the public sector for the purpose of providing public transit. For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume each of the projects is two kilometers long and will cost $100 million USD...
The big news in transit planning circles yesterday was Florida Governor Rick Scott’s rejection of $2.4 billion (yes, billion) in federal funding for the Tampa-Orlando high-speed rail line. While Florida would only have had to come to the table with an estimated $280 million to realize the project (approximately 10% of the total cost), Scott...
Plans for a new Perth Waterfront redevelopment have been released by the State Government with a $440 million (AUD) price tag. Among the highlights? A gondola. Not too much information, but apparently the $30 million gondola system would connect the foreshore to Kings Park. Decision on whether or not to build the gondola will occur...
A great documentary report from Deutsche Welle on the Medellin Metrocable. Not only does it focus on the time-savings of the system, but also how Medellin’s system qualifies for carbon-trading schemes to offset O&M costs. Thanks to Günther Ecker for passing along this link!
Any man who finds himself on a bus over the age of 30 can consider himself a failure in life. The above quote is generally attributed to former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. And while the exact wording is up for debate, the sentiment remains: The use of public transit represents failure. It is a mode of...
A quick look at some of the things that make your cities work (or not) Happy Valentine’s Day!: Transit geek and single?: Kærlighedssæder (Danish love seat) Best dating site for single middle-aged transit riders: Charlottetown transit Need help bagging that commuting cutie of yours?: Tips Submitting a love story on Calgary Transit: Free monthly transit...