Yeah, this is what I was going to mention. They can have intermediate stops…
The wiki article mentions it takes about 17 minutes to go about 3 miles, and can carry about 3,000 people per hour per direction. It’s probably better than driving or taking a bus.
We visited Santorini in Greece this summer, and saw, but did not ride, its cable car, which transports people from the port 220 meters up to the town of Fira. Before it was built in 1979, the only way up was to walk the serpentine road or ride on a donkey. (The donkeys are still there, but animal rights organizations are urging tourists not to use them.)
The cable car has a capacity of 600 per hour in each direction, and when we were there, at the peak of the tourist season, with at least five large cruise ships in the harbor, people had to wait hours in 100F heat to get down after their tour of the island. We were glad we had taken a excursion that didn’t involve the cable car.
That one looks like a pulse lift gondola which is a low capacity system which works more like a tram, and a way to get higher speed lifts at the expense of capacity. No wonder it wasn’t working for them.
Heh heh. Mule.
There is a ferry, which is how we got there the first time we went. Leaves from Wall Street and stops off at Long Island City also. (And another stop I can’t remember.)
In Sicily, there is a cable car between the mountain village of Erice (elev. 2,460 ft.) and the port city of Trapani.
Wuppertal in Germany has had its Schwebebahn or aerial tram for over a century, and it works as regular public transport. It follows the line of the river running through the city, where (I’m guessing) road-level transport would clog up narrow streets and underground trains would be too expensive. But it not a thing of great beauty and looks pretty intrusive if you live on the upper floors of the houses it passes. Which may explain why it’s the only one of its kind AFAIK
There are several cities that have inclines/funiculars that take you between areas on different levels: Pittsburgh; Tiblisi, Georgia; Bergen, Norway; and Aberystwyth, Wales.
Tiblisi has both a funicular and and a cable car. There are also cities with municipal elevators: Oregon City, Oregon and Mojacar, Spain among them
They used to run trolley cars across the Queensboro bridge. There was a stop in the middle with an elevator to Roosevelt Island. The trolley ran on the outside where the walkway is now. There was a terminal at each end of the bridge.
I think bringing it back would move more people that a cable car. And I moved out of NYC long before there was a subway stop.
Very interesting, and unique. It’s like an inverted “El” from Chicago, but for buses. I don’t think its ugly but yeah it’s intrusive. I cannot see something like that as practical or acceptable in most cities, and in the US at least, there would be massive opposition to something running over a river lengthwise like that. I’d ride it if I were visiting there, tho.
Technically that isn’t an aerial tram but a suspension railway. An aerial tram is supported by cables, not tracks.
My family on my mother’s side was originally from that area, and we had photos and postcards of the Schwebebahn from the early 20th century. So when we returned for a visit in 1996 we made a point of riding it.
It’s a wonderful form of transportation, because it travels over the river, so the views are lovely, and hanging under the rail, it swings to bank through the turns, which is a fun experience.
The Schwebebahn is one of my favorite forms of transportation, right up there with San Francisco’s cable cars.
BTW, back in 2018 my wife and I rode a privately owned and operated aerial tram in Estes Park, Colorado, near Rocky Mountain National Park. But I’ve just learned that it closed last year after the last family member died.
And Dubuque, Iowa:
And Quebec City - https://www.funiculaire.ca/copie-de-accueil
Hong Kong doesn’t have a tram to get you up the hill - it has a really long moving walkway/escalator.
Singapore has an aerial cable car.
Note however that most of the Mi Teleférico lines are just four stops long before a change is required. So a hypothetical trip between two endpoints that would be a one or two seat ride in a subway, streetcar/tram, or bus, would require changing three or four times. Also, 2,000-4,000 passengers per hour is basically equivalent to a single automobile lane. Those are about 2,000 vehicles per hour regardless of speed, and it would match the tramway with just one or two passengers per vehicle. Not very good capacity, frankly.
Take a guess why an aerial tram was selected for this instance instead of an automobile lane or a subway.
To prevent this, the Roosevelt Island tram will be closed the week between Christmas & New Year’s Day as I use up the rest of my PTO & will be out of the city
Disney World near Orlando FL has the Skyliner. It has two lines with a total of 6 stops, including two theme parks and a handful of hotels. It’s actually quite convenient.