[sustran] Re: Metrocable - Re: monorails and other low capacity systems

[bruun at seas.upenn.edu]

I heard rideship figures second hand from someone at University College London
of about 25,000 persons per day. But I won't swear to it. I will ask him
again and report back if I am wrong.

Eric Bruun

Quoting Carlosfelipe Pardo <carlosfpardo at gmail.com>:

> Interesting point. To provide some context, the Metrocable system in  
> Medellín must be better explained to everyone: it is not a monorail,  
> it is a telpher system which feeds into the metro, and was built  
> mainly because the slope of the "comunas" (neighborhoods) it serves  
> are extremely steep. The same is being planned as a feeder system to  
> the Metrocali BRT in Cali (Colombia also), in similar areas and  
> specifically because of the same reason (and because they want to  
> get rid of the informal low capacity jeeps that charge very high  
> fares to go up the hills).
>
> I am not sure about the demand figures of Metrocable (it's difficult  
> or impossible to get their official data), and Cali has not yet  
> finalised planning of the telpher feeder so I cannot comment on the  
> actual comparison of the bus / jeep routes that serve(d) those  
> areas. I am not sure if the Metrocable has comparable demand of a  
> moderate LRT or a bus route... Mr Brunn, do you have specific data  
> on this to illustrate it?
>
> Official website of the Metrocable and some pictures to give  
> everyone a better idea:
> http://www.metrodemedellin.org.co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&id_link=165&parent_link=153&Itemid=165?=es  
> <http://www.metrodemedellin.org.co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&id_link=165&parent_link=153&Itemid=165&lang=es>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Carlos.
>
> bruun at seas.upenn.edu wrote:
>> I want to add that some of the aerial systems have substantial capacity.
>> Metro Cable in Medellin, Columbia is equal to a heavy bus route
>> or moderate LRT route in the US. Eric Bruun
>>
>> Quoting Lee Schipper <schipper at wri.org>:
>>
>>
>>> Let me weigh in on Eric Britton's side here. There are all kinds of
>>> high-flying ideas, called Pods or personal taxis or rail taxis or
>>> personal rapid transit or what-you-have. They are all interesting, but
>>> as Eric says their scale is tiny compared to the access needs of two
>>> billion people in cities around the world.  I remember taking the
>>> Monorail from the Disneyland Hotel into Disneyland in S. California in
>>> the 1950s.  I rode the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal in 1999 and recently
>>> rode the experimental, low-speed Maglev in Nagoya near the site of Expo
>>> 2005. There are serious studies underway in Sweden and elsewhere because
>>> these things have some merit. But so far that's as far as it goes.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> They are fine for those who want to build them and don't care who rides
>>> them, particularly if they are built to shuttle small numbers of people
>>> around fairgrounds, parking lots, etc.  But please let's not waste even
>>> precious OPM (Other peoples' money, i.e., bilateral or multilateral
>>> assistance  funds) or our own funds when a huge need for access for
>>> ordinary folks goes unmet.  For Asian and Latin America cities, we are
>>> looking at corridors requiring over 1 million trips per day and cities
>>> with 20-30 million trips/day at the beginning of development, i.e., less
>>> than 2 trips/day/person.  How will Shanghai provide 50 million trips/day
>>> in 2020? I don't see any evidence that these small systems can provide
>>> much relief except where an aerial tramway or other small system has to
>>> climb a hill for a few hundred people/hour.  The "nostalgic,
>>> semi-underground cog-railway  in Istanbul is a  good example here. But
>>> we have to focus what limited funds we have on moving the masses
>>> cleanly, smoothly, reliably, equitably, and above all rapidly.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Lee
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>