Script preview: Urban Gondolas

Hey everyone, here's a rough draft of my latest script. Words in brackets are notes to me about what I want to show on screen. If you read it, let me know if there's anything else you want to know about this topic, or if I got anything terribly wrong (it's possible!). 

Urban gondolas

[Me, to camera]

Hey everyone, I’m in Medellin, Colombia. More specifically, I’m in a gondola on Medellin Metrocable Line K, generally considered the first true urban gondola line, opened in 2004. (How cool is this view?) Since then, these gondola systems have been installed in cities all over the world, particularly in Latin America. In this video I’m going to tell you more about these systems, including the pros and cons, and tell you whether or not this is the future of urban transportation.

[Intro]

[Me, to camera]

Quick note here. I’ve been meaning to do a video on gondolas and cable-propelled transit for a long time, so when gondola manufacturer Leitner-Poma approached me about doing a video on the topic, it was a no brainer. So they sponsored this video, but the views in the video are my own. 

Back to the video. What is a gondola anyway?

[Venice video]

When you hear the word “gondola,” your mind might go to unique Venetian watercraft, the other mode of transportation with the same name. 

[Ski video]

But I’m talking about the transportation technology that might be best known as a scenic way to get up the mountain during a ski vacation. And yes, most of the aerial gondolas are installed at ski resorts. 

[Disneyland video]

Many others serve tourists and have a reputation as a theme park ride. But cities have begun to see gondolas as a valid option for moving commuters.

[More gondola footage]

The gondolas in this video are a form of cable propelled transit. There are actually a surprising number of transit types that use cables. 

[SF cable cars]

The historic cable cars in San Francisco use the same basic technology that gondolas use, the difference is that the cables are below the car instead of above. 

[Video of cable propulsion]

Cable propelled transit is unique because the cars do not have any engines or motors. The cables are pulled at the ends and in the case of cable cars and gondolas, the cars grip onto the cable to move. 

[Portland aerial tram]

Cable-propelled transit also consists of aerial trams, which are different than gondolas. Portland, Oregon built an aerial tram system in 2006. 

[Roosevelt island]

Roosevelt Island, in New York City is also served by an aerial tram. 

[Animation]

Gondola systems have small cars that come at frequent intervals, and are capable of having multiple stations along the line. Aerial trams have larger vehicles that come much less frequently. 

[More Portland]

Portland’s system has only two vehicles that go back and forth opposite one another. While Portland’s aerial tram system is a good fit for its situation, connecting two campuses of a large hospital system separated by a large hill, gondolas are considered better for the urban environment. Gondolas come much more frequently and can carry thousands of people per hour.

[Medellin map]

Medellin’s Metrocable system is the first modern urban gondola system. The first line was built in 2004, they have since built two more, and even more are planned. Medellin’s system has become a model for other systems in Latin America and abroad. 

[Map of the world]

Many cities have built gondola systems or are considering one. Part of the reason it has become such a model is that the Metrocable is strongly associated with the dramatic transformation of Medellin.

[Historic images of Medellin and Pablo Escobar]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Medellin had a reputation as a violent city and a center for the international drug trade. It was home to Pablo Escobar and the Medellin drug cartel. The local government had little control or presence in many of the low-income areas of the city. In more recent years, the government has been able to wrest some power from the cartels and gangs, and Medellin is a safer place. 

[Medellin footage]

After the 1990s, the government implemented a planning strategy to improve mobility, housing, public spaces, and the environment of low-income and unplanned areas of Medellin, a major shift from the neglect of the 1980s and 1990s. In many places the houses were substandard and the roads were unpaved. It was a challenge for residents of these areas to get to the central city. To solve the transportation issues, the city government decided to go for a highly-visible symbol of reinvestment in these areas, and one that was inexpensive when compared to bus rapid transit and rail systems. Studies of the system have shown that the Metrocable lines played a role in the improvement of previously underserved areas, but gondolas alone are not enough to initiate social and economic change. The city also built libraries [more] One study made the conclusion:

“[T]he tenacity of local government in Medellín to face the risks associated with a novel transport solution, particularly in areas with acute social tensions and poverty, is to be praised.”

another stated:

“You can’t use traditional cost-benefit analysis,” he said. “So long as the poor are given access and feel included in the city, that’s what matters.”

[Medellin footage]

Urban gondolas are not the solution to every transportation problem. Gondolas make sense when there is an obstacle at ground level or, in the case of Medellin, significant topography that makes a gondola a convenient, direct route. They can carry a lot of people, 

[Metro footage]

but they do not have the capacity of a heavy-rail metro system. And like other mass transit systems, you need to have significant densities to support the service. 

[Me, to camera]

But there is definitely a niche in the transportation landscape for cable-propelled transit. These systems can be built at lower costs than traditional rail systems, as no bridges or tunnels need to be built. They can also be built relatively quickly. And unlike buses and trains, there is no wait time for a seat. They just keep coming. For all of these reasons, cities in the United States are considering Medellin-style gondola systems.

[Albany images]

In Albany, New York, local officials are seriously considering a gondola system to connect their train station on one side of the Hudson River with downtown Albany and the Capital District on the other. Their motivation isn’t the same as Medellin’s, but the idea of inexpensive, direct, and novel transit is compelling. 

[DC images]

In the Washington DC area, Georgetown commissioned a feasibility study to build a gondola to connect the city to the Rosslyn metro station. Georgetown doesn’t have a metro station and may not get one for decades. A gondola could provide an attractive alternative until one is built. 

[Boston]

There is a proposal for a gondola system in Boston that would run from South Station to the Seaport. Real estate developers Millennium Partners and Cargo Ventures envision a 1-mile gondola system  above Summer Street to connect South Station with 12 acres they plan to develop, and they’re willing to put up the entire cost, $100 million dollars, to build it. This project is interesting because the gondola is not designed to take commuters over challenging geography like rivers or hills. This gondola system would be taking commuters over gridlocked traffic. The Seaport area has limited road access for buses and cars. A gondola system would allow commuters in this newly developed area to rise above the traffic and catch a gondola that would come every nine seconds and transport 15,000 commuters per day. The plan has support of many of the nearby landowners and city officials are keeping an open mind. This is somewhat of a new application of gondola technology, but if its built it could serve as a model for other places with intractable traffic and no easy bus or rail transit solution.

[Me, to camera]

Time will tell if gondola systems will continue to spring up in cities across the globe. It’s clear that gondolas fill a niche for direct, continuous transit in areas with challenges at ground level. Here in Medellin, gondolas are a highly visible connection between the central city and its poorer neighborhoods. In Boston, gondolas could lift commuters above congested streets. As cities confront mobility challenges, it seems like more choices in transportation technology is a good thing.