A few highlights from around the world of urban gondola transit systems and Cable Propelled Transit: National Geographic profiles the Perugia Mini Metro. More concerns about how the London Thames Cable Car may be affected by increased usage of London City Airport. Kuriositas profiles a handful of Amazing Aerial Tramways of the World. Archinect discusses...
A thought experiment: Imagine if we created financial incentives for people to experiment professionally with transit? For example: What if, for a transit agency to receive federal/state/provincial funding they had to dedicate at least 5% of their total annual budget to research and development? How would that change things? My recent flaying at the hands...
A discussion in the comments of a recent post got me thinking about the Rostock gondola. Built for the BUGA festival in 2003, it’s a system that’s mostly been forgotten and I have to assume the reason for this is that it no longer exists. It was designed and built as a temporary installation. The...
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is a technology that’s been dreamed about in transit circles for roughly the last 60 years with little to no progress. For those unfamiliar, the concept of PRT is based around the following 4 principals: Small, automated vehicles with seating for 2 – 8 people. Vehicles available on demand at stations...
Yesterday I asked people to consider the implications of two images of relatively obscure gondola transit systems, the Madrid Teleferico and that Ocean Park Gondola. These systems reinforce the idea that “stacking” or “doubling” of a gondola line is possible. The implications are the very same I outlined in a previous post about the Sugarloaf Double...
Feel free to discuss the implications of these images (none of them were photoshopped):
A quick look at some of the things that make your cities work (or not) Happy Chinese New Year Edition!: Year on Chinese calendar: 4708 2011: Year of the rabbit Annual ritual before Chinese New Year: Chun Yun Chun Yun: Family reuniting for celebrations Largest human migration in the world: Chun yun Number of people...
A few highlights from around the world of urban gondola transit systems and Cable Propelled Transit: Haven’t we heard this story before? A polish PRT engineer says that his system would provide a cheaper alternative to the proposed Simon Fraser University gondola in Vancouver/Burnaby. All approvals appear to be in place for the London Thames Cable...
The other day in the comments, Sean suggested using the term “Aerial Rapid Transit” to describe urban gondola transit technology. Good idea. It’s not the first time I’ve heard the term and I know of at least two different proposals floating around that are using it. I’m a fan because it makes logical sense. While...