Cable cars – the answer to Toronto transport issues?
January 2, 2010
Adelaide Street by Christopher Woo
Cable cars, not streetcars might be the solution to the issue of Toronto's public transport. That is according to Steven Dale, planner and designer from Creative Urban Projects. He believes that cable technology could significantly decrease costs and be available for more people at the same than the streetcars in Toronto are.
Cable technology can be either embedded under the vehicles (iconic cable cars) or it can be used above street level like gondolas at ski resorts. In the words of Dale, the cable cars system is less expensive, greener and faster that the streetcars. "Light rail, for me, is not the best technology." he said. "It happens to be stuck between a technology we don't like – buses – and a technology we can't afford – subways." Dale admits people might think that cable cars are slow and of low capacity. It is not true, though - he claims they are certainly quite fast if compared to Toronto's streetcars and they can carry about 6,000 people per hour per direction. Also, since they are very, it doesn't take that much energy to move them.
Seems like a good idea from a person experienced enough to know. It is up to political representatives of our city to decide whether they will listen to Dale or not. It should be in the interest of all of us to facilitate the transport in Toronto, no matter if and how often we use public transportation vehicles.
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Steven Dale thought on January 5th, 2010 6:52 am
Hi Elli,
Just want to thank you for your post here. That, to me, is the most important thing about the work I’m doing with Cable transit. This is our city and we deserve a seat at the table.
If Torontonians are so fed up of how the TTC operates, does it really make sense that we let them dictate how our transit system is going to expand in the future?
Steven Dale