Cable-Propelled Transit

Via Houston Strategies, I found this article about modern cable-propelled transit systems very interesting.

Say the words “cable car” and most people think of trolleys being towed up and down San Francisco’s hilly terrain. Most view them as a charmingly antiquated heritage system for the tourists, not as modern mass transit. But cable cars are making a comeback.

Today, cable cars are one of a family of technologies collectively called Cable Propelled Transit (CPT). New generations of CPT not only include cable cars, but aerial trams, gondolas and funiculars as well.

When I read this I couldn’t help thinking of a couple places that it might be ideal as a connector between the new light-rail stations and nearby destinations that are a stretch to reach on foot. One in particular really stands out in my mind: the north end of the Post Oak light-rail line.

Between the Uptown Park station and the Northwest Transit Center station there are a number of meaningful destinations, namely the Post Oak Park area (east of 610), the Riverway area, and Memorial Park. However, the current Light-Rail plan doesn’t serve any of those very well, because in that portion of the corridor it’s dealing with a very constrained right-of-way.

In planning transit service, we know that most people aren’t going to walk more than half a mile to their destination, and most people won’t cross anything they perceive as a major obstacle. In this case, Riverway is a little too far, and both the Post Oak Park office complex and Memorial Park would require crossing under 610 to access. Therefore, those places are not going to be very accessible with the currently planned light-rail system.

A gondola line, which can easily navigate the constrained ROW in the area, might be a great supplement to the planned light-rail. In fact, it might be such a good supplement that it would justify taking one station (memorial) off the current light rail plan, serving that stretch with several gondola stops spread between Northwest Transit Center and Uptown Park instead.

Here’s what that would look like on a map:

Now, I’m not an expert on cable-propelled transit, so there may be some problems here that I’m not familiar with. If any gondola experts read this and see an issue, please let me know.

On the whole, however, I would say this is an idea worth exploring. If this kind of connector system could potentially provide top-quality access to areas that were previously unreachable from the planned light-rail, then it would logically result in a significant increase in the usefulness of the light-rail. The more useful the transit system is, the more people will use it!

I’m very interested to hear other’s thoughts on this issue, so start the conversation by leaving a comment below!