Courtesy TheMarkNews.com
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.
The
biggest success story is the MetroCable in
Medellin, Colombia. The system has done so well that it has spawned two
additional lines in the city. Transfers between the subway and
MetroCable are free and the connection between the technologies is
smooth. Between 2004 and 2010, the city opened almost 10 km of public
transit cable lines, an impressive accomplishment.
North America
is finally taking notice. Portland, Oregon recently constructed the Portland Aerial
Tram. Yes, the
system suffered from a difficult development process, but it is now an
integral part of the city’s transit infrastructure. The tram has won
numerous architectural awards and ridership is twice what was
originally forecasted. New York’s Roosevelt Island Tram, meanwhile, has
been fully integrated into that city’s transit grid and is being
completely modernized.
Several other major North American cities
have, will have, or are investigating cable’s potential for their own
public transit systems. That’s a good thing.
It’s good because
cable is now competitive with our traditional transit technologies. In
many ways, it’s actually superior. Compared to traditional methods,
cable is a low-cost, high-value technology.
Cable is fully
automated, with vehicles monitored by camera. Stations are attended,
but the movement of the system is computer controlled. This reduces
delays caused by human error. As cable can offer wait times of less
than a minute, transit services can practically guarantee reliability.
All
this, for a fraction of the price of a streetcar or light rail system,
while still providing a similar level of service, capacity, and speed.
Cable also happens to provide a fun, pleasant ride; a quality most
transit operators tend to mistakenly dismiss. When something’s fun to
ride, surely more people will use it.
Sure, it’s odd to say that
technology popularized in ski resorts should be used as public transit,
but that’s no reason not to consider it. How ridiculous must the idea
have seemed 150 years ago when London engineers first proposed putting
a locomotive train underground? Now, subways are considered the
pinnacle of transit infrastructure! Things change.
It’s easy to
dismiss cable because it’s different. But in times such as these, when
transit is more hassle than helpful, shouldn’t different be encouraged?
Public transit is about moving more people for less - it’s that simple.
Cable can do that. It is a cost-effective, reliable, quick, and safe
technology. For those reasons, it deserves further attention from our
public transit authorities.
The Mark is Canada’s online forum for news commentary and analysis.
Top image: Gondola at Sulphur Mountain, Alberta. Used under a Creative Commons license. Photo credit: Chen Siyuan.
