State Rep. Proposes Gondolas For Orlando

[Doctor_K]

I would prefer a cannon and a giant net to a gondola.

LoL.  or a giant, cartoon-sized slingshot!

[BridgeTroll]

A cannon and a giant net would be cool too... of course you may not enjoy the view as much while carreening thru the air...

[Dog Walker]

Rode one on the approach to Mt. Fuji.  Fuji is surrounded by an area of unstable ground full of hot springs.  It is a volcano after all.  The gondola spanned a really long distance.  A couple of kilometers if I remember correctly.

Ock would have loved the little, narrow gauge railroad that ran from the train station to the station for the gondolas.  It zig-zagged up a really steep slope by reversing course at the end of each traverse.  It would pull into the end of the traverse, a switch would be thrown and then it would reverse up the next traverse and so forth.  Very ingenious and I have never seen one like it before or sense.  Everybody else seems to use funiculars.

[Ocklawaha]

Can they be operated in a lightening storm?

Taipei has constructed a duplicate of the Medellin Systems, in a storm prone area. According toTaipei Rapid Transit Corp., the cable car will run from 9:00 a.m. to 22: 00 p.m. on weekdays, and will begin operations a half hour earlier on weekend and holidays, in accordance with the opening hours of the Taipei Zoo, one of the cable car terminals.

In a report on operational drills of the cable car system, which runs from the Taipei Zoo to Muzha's Maokong tea-production area, TRTC officials said at the meeting that thunder storms in Muzha were the greatest challenge facing the new transportation system.

When thunder strikes, all 144 cabins of the cable car system must stop running and all passengers be evacuated as soon as possible. This is particularly troublesome as it is difficult to accurately predict thunder storms, the officials said.

We don't have thunderstorms in Medellin, except for VERY rare occasions... About like snow in Jacksonville. But the fix looks easy enough. We should watch this to gauge how well it works.

To address this problem, the TRTC has consulted with the Taiwan Power Company on how to detect the occurrence of lightning strikes and the movement of thunder storms, while planning to purchase a lightning detection system, the officials said.

In an attempt to assuage public concerns over the cable car safety, Yang Hsi-an, deputy secretary-general of the city government, said passengers in the cabin will not be affected by thunder storms because the cable care system is equipped with lightning conductors.

We'll see...


OCKLAWAHA

[JeffreyS]

Road them in Austria even in terrible weather the ride fine.

[Bostech]

Gondola or better yet skyway type of car was my idea originally.
I wanted to serve both as tourist attraction and public transport.Make it real high with see-thru cabin for people to experience cool ride and view of river and downtown Jax.
As tourist attraction it could bring both people from outside and suburban part of Jackosnville.
Idea is to have cheap yet unique attraction or symbol of city that would attract people.

Jacksonville needs something unique and unusual that can interest people all over US and world to come.That will bring people to downtown more then any other project/bar/restaurant/hot-dog cart or convention center.

I am surprised more people didn't think of such idea.

People do it all over world,in southern bosnian city Mostar they made statue of Bruce Lee and another one was opened next day in Hong Kong.
Cheap,simple idea like that is brining tourist (no they are more attractions in city) to city,that more cities copied idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostar_Bruce_Lee_statue


We could create attraction in Jax that would be unique and bring people again and again.
There you have starting point for urban city.

[Ocklawaha]

Anyone, and i do mean ANYONE, that thinks Jacksonville's citizens are old south slow, ignorant, GOB, tobacco chewing, booze swilling, idiots when stood next to citizens of "real cities," should have to go and read the Orlando Article linked in this story.  If you want some real belly laughs check out the brilliant responses to the Representatives plan.  These people are not thermonuclear dumb asses...  Hell they are not smart enough for that! From this day forth, I hear-by proclaim Orlando, the sovereign domain of the species known as "A Clockwork Dumbass."

Some gems?

"People will throw rocks onto cars and people down below"

"Muggers and thugs will wait until the cars close then rob the riders"

"For the price of this thing they could build more FREEways"

" rape! Lots of rapes!" (Okay so I just made that one up to make up for a little weakness in their arguments)

"Florida has wind, everyone knows you can't run a cable tram in the wind"

"30 miles per hour is far too slow, we (Orlando) should just buy more buses"

"They're not allowed to run them in a storm, so they will be parked forever"

"What good is this going to do when you won't have any connecting buses at the stations"

"We don't need Gondolas, we need Monorails"

"The passengers will get wet in the rain, so they will have to enclose these things, but then they will get too hot in the sun, so they will have to air condition them and THAT will make the system cost too much"

"Who paid for the representatives trip to Colombia"

"They only hold 10 people, this is just an amusement park ride paid for by the tax payers"

"This is the most hairbrained idea I have ever heard"

ETC...  funny!  VERY FUNNY! Leaves me wondering what these folks have that keeps the right side of the skull from falling inward against the left side of the skull?

Mental Mice? Ooh My!


OCKLAWAHA

[Dog Walker]

I've got to admit that when first reading the title of this thread I had visions of tourists being sculled around Orlando's lakes by opera singing Italian boatmen.

Isn't there a gondola line that runs from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island in NYC, too?  Something like that that went from the Laura St. pocket part to the restored Freedom Fountain Park would really be a neat and the element that would tie the north and south bank Riverwalks together for pedestrians.  At night the view of the restored, multi-colored fountain from that height would be amazing.

Neat idea!

Evidently in Orlando, if it's not part of a theme park it shouldn't be done.

[Ocklawaha]

I've got to admit that when first reading the title of this thread I had visions of tourists being sculled around Orlando's lakes by opera singing Italian boatmen.

Isn't there a gondola line that runs from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island in NYC, too?  Something like that that went from the Laura St. pocket part to the restored Freedom Fountain Park would really be a neat and the element that would tie the north and south bank Riverwalks together for pedestrians.  At night the view of the restored, multi-colored fountain from that height would be amazing.

Neat idea!

Evidently in Orlando, if it's not part of a theme park it shouldn't be done.

Honestly, I've only rarely heard the words "Gondola's" used for the Mass Transit version.  Aerial Tram, or Aerial Cable Car, Cable Way, and another 20 or so combination's. Seems to me the Gondola's (while still a proper name) refer to the actual suspended car.  When referring to the whole system I'd say the use of Gondola's is pretty much limited to high mountain cable trams such as Sandia Peak in Albuquerque NM, or Aspen Mountain, Winter Park CO, etc...  Flatlander's hang names on the mystery's of the mountains, and this is a case of someone getting too much rum from the ski-dogs. "Venice at 10,000 feet?" So don't sweat the small stuff, Aspen calls theirs "Gondola's".

Laura would be nice, but me thinkith it too close to Hogan. It's better to spread the resources over a broader area when creating our matrix. Perhaps Main St. especially since Newnan seems destined for streetcar would make for a fine route.  We'd get more great PR by sending it into the Sports Area, and over the river into Arlington, Southside, and over the Fuller Warren!  Think of these trams as a Skyway, without the concrete. Y'all might also think about altitude and the fact that these cars can sail above normal breakdowns.


KEELER. Worried about weight limits? How about thousands of tons and 100 years?


CERRO GORDO


KEELER CALIFORNIA ON OWENS LAKE (Owens Dry Lake Today)


COLORADO FLAT/CERRO GORDO (access via 4x drive and 44 mag.)


KEELER SHIPMENT UNDER GUARD


CARSON AND COLORADO PASS / BECAME PART OF SOUTHERN PACIFIC, known as the "Slim Princes" and said to be built either 300 miles too long or 300 years too soon!


INTO KEELER NEAR SUNSET.

The historic system which ran between Cerro Gordo and Keeler California, about 100 miles north of my desert place connected two towns that are today, mere ghost towns.  The tram moved buckets of ore, down from a high elevation in the Panamint Mountains, to a lakeside shipping dock at Owens Lake in Keeler. Steamers took the ore over the lake (more like a medium size sea) where they were shipped on to Los Angeles via rail. I've heard they finally took the buckets down, but they hung there for about 100 years.


OCKLAWAHA