Alternative methods of transportation for Toronto

[victor]

An urban planner is floating an unusual solution to Toronto’s transit woes that would transform your commute into an experience you’d expect at the ski slopes.

Designer and planner Steven Dale of Creative Urban Projects believes cable technology could be the key to cutting costs and moving more people on the ground or above the streets, according to a published report.

Dale says cable cars, similar to gondolas used at ski resorts, or ground-level vehicles like the ones used in San Francisco, are greener, more cost-effective and would carry greater numbers of commuters in less time.

Full article on CityTV.com

I can imagine riding that on a windy day!
Definitely, each of this car should have a plenty of airsickness bags in stock.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Seems kind of crazy if only because the TTC doesn't need another type of technology to maintain. But it would be kind of cool to see a waterfront cable car up in the air that goes to Toronto Island.

 

[Agram]

At one time TTC use to operate the ferry service in Toronto.

Transit in Zagreb Croatia I believe also operates ther cable cars

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=451807

They have some fantastic looking streetcars.

 

[Second_in_pie]

Somewhere, I saw this crazishly cool regional transit idea which would be to use medium-sized blimps running on routes set up by wires. They could run on electricity, would go fast, and could navigate harsh terrain quite well. Stations would be at the tops of high rise buildings, so building a station would already include densifying an area!
It's a crazy idea and it wouldn't work here in Toronto, but it might work someplace like Vancouver.

As for cable cars, that might actually make sense if the cars were really big, like ferry capacity. But it'd require a pretty screwed up terrain to make those viable over rail transport.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

This could be an idea for relief on the Yonge line from early morning until early evening. They pull out of Union, hit elevated stations at King, Queen and Dundas then off to the next station at Bloor, fly up to St. Clair then terminate and complete a return route at Eglinton and head back down to Union.

Perhaps they could also be an alternative as a direct line from Union to Pearson's terminals with one stop on the BD line.


Print story in today's Toronto Star

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/tra...it-time-for-toronto-to-finally-get-cable?bn=1

 

[Jonny5]

Catapaults. They could transport you anywhere in the city. They're cheap to.

 

[Second_in_pie]

Catapaults. They could transport you anywhere in the city. They're cheap to.

Upkeep for catapult pods would make it unviable in the long run. Instead, we should subsidize hang gliders from the CN Tower. You could probably get to NYCC if you rode the thermals well!

 

[sjc]

Seems kind of crazy if only because the TTC doesn't need another type of technology to maintain. But it would be kind of cool to see a waterfront cable car up in the air that goes to Toronto Island.

And by law, if the TTC doesn't want to do it, noone else is allowed to either.

 

[rbt]

And by law, if the TTC doesn't want to do it, noone else is allowed to either.

TTC is forced to serve a very large number of money losing routes. In exchange for this, they get exclusivity on the few money making ones.

Pretty standard type of agreement actually, both here and in cities around the world.

I have no problem with packaging off groups of routes (one profitable and a handful that are not) with minimum service standards.

 

[kettal]

What exactly is the benefit of a cable pulled streetcar over an electric?

 

[wyliepoon]

I'm not exactly sold on the idea of gondolas as a method of public transport for Toronto. Two recently opened systems in Asia (Ngong Ping 360 in Hong Kong and the Maokung Gondola in Taipei) have been plagued by operation problems, including emergency stops on both systems causing people to be stranded in the gondolas for 2 hours. On Ngong Ping 360, an accident occurred where an empty car came off the cable and crashed, while on Maokung, mudslides compromised the stability of one of the pylons holding up the cables, which led to the closure of the system since October 1 2008.

I simply can't trust the TTC operating such a high-maintenance piece of technology, considering its track record with subways.

 

[M II A II R II K]

This is their official website.


http://gondolaproject.com/

 

[jwill]

I can only imagine what will happen when a problem shuts down the gondola network for a couple hours. "Hang in there everyone!"

 

[LAz]

I think this is just as stupid as building a second level of highway over the current highway.

 

[M II A II R II K]

Take the Gondola To Work


Mar 11, 2010

Steven Dale

Read More: http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1083-take-the-gondola-to-work

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Another bottle of booze won’t cure alcoholism any more than an extra credit card will cure indebtedness. So it is with public transit. For years, Canadian transit systems have seen increasing budgets and rising fares while service has become less and less reliable. This is particularly the case in Toronto. And yet, as Canadian cities prepare to expand their urban public transit systems, they are opting for buses, subways, and streetcars – the very technologies that got them into trouble in the first place. Why not try something different? How about something called cable propelled transit?

For those unfamiliar, cable transit is a family of technologies where passive vehicles are pulled by a moving cable. Vehicles can operate on aerial lines, underground, at street level, or on elevated guideways. If you’re thinking of ski lift gondolas or the San Francisco trolleys, you’re on the right track. It’s a safe, fast, and environmentally friendly form of transit. What’s more, it’s proven.

Unlike theoretical concepts that have been analyzed to death with little real progress (personal rapid transit, for example), cable propelled transit has a proven track record. Cities around the world have installed cable systems that are fully integrated into their public transit networks with remarkable success. Most are modest, point-to-point systems, but others are multi-stop lines with stations that are underground, at street level, or elevated in the air.

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