In cities with a large elevation difference this is really neat. The system in La Paz (Bolivia) for example is really efficient, almost like a metro, just with cable-cars.
nah, I take one almost every day for work, and it's a 5 minute trip, quicker than trying to walk, bike, drive, or take the bus, and it almost always is carrying 20-30 people each trip
Cable cars certainly have their uses. They are dope in situations where you do not have an existing alternative (like up a mountain) and still want to move a reaonable amount of people. Places where the terrain is not condusive to a straight connection on ground level (like up a mountain). Places where you have a somewhat steady and reliable but not overly huge stream of people (like up a mountain).
But they also have issues: They're not actually that fast. On a level path even a casual cyclist can keep up. While you can have intermediate stops - every gondola has to stop there. You can't have express gondolas that skip it in order to get from end to end faster.
They can also be useful for water crossings or informal developments (e.g., favelas) where it's hard to acquire linear rights-of-way. Tricable gondolas can go faster (up to around 30 km/h) and carry more people (5k to 8k pax per direction per hour), which puts it comparable to a single-lane BRT. But yeah, they're certainly not a replacement for heavy metro or suburban rail for servicing longer distance and/or higher capacity routes.
11 replies
In cities with a large elevation difference this is really neat. The system in La Paz (Bolivia) for example is really efficient, almost like a metro, just with cable-cars.
Nah, to me this is like a typical "train/tram, but more fancy and less practical". But I guess it is better than nothing.
It makes sense some places. La Paz, Bolivia has much of its public transit by cable car because it's so mountainous.
I'm sure it does make sense in some places yeah.
It's a lot more practical? Cheap to build and minimal footprint on the ground so existing buildings can stay put.
nah, I take one almost every day for work, and it's a 5 minute trip, quicker than trying to walk, bike, drive, or take the bus, and it almost always is carrying 20-30 people each trip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvvA_GToc0M
Cable cars certainly have their uses. They are dope in situations where you do not have an existing alternative (like up a mountain) and still want to move a reaonable amount of people. Places where the terrain is not condusive to a straight connection on ground level (like up a mountain). Places where you have a somewhat steady and reliable but not overly huge stream of people (like up a mountain).
But they also have issues: They're not actually that fast. On a level path even a casual cyclist can keep up. While you can have intermediate stops - every gondola has to stop there. You can't have express gondolas that skip it in order to get from end to end faster.
They can also be useful for water crossings or informal developments (e.g., favelas) where it's hard to acquire linear rights-of-way. Tricable gondolas can go faster (up to around 30 km/h) and carry more people (5k to 8k pax per direction per hour), which puts it comparable to a single-lane BRT. But yeah, they're certainly not a replacement for heavy metro or suburban rail for servicing longer distance and/or higher capacity routes.
Except cable cars are not very practical except in very specific circumstances.
how often do those malfunction? I'd hate to be that far off the ground if something goes wrong.