Can cable save Toronto transit?.
Could something like New York City's Roosevelt Island Tram, seen here, come to the City of Toronto? If Cabbagetown resident Steven Dale has anything to do with it, gondolas may one day help solve some of Toronto's transportation issues.
Photo/STEVEN DALE
If Cabbagetown resident Steven Dale has his way, the Toronto transit scene will have a bold new look in the years to come.Dale is the brains behind the Gondola Project (www.gondolaproject.com,) an initiative calling for cable technology to replace at least some of the city's overburdened light rail transit system.Splitting his time between his downtown home and Switzerland, the inspiration hit Dale a few years ago when he was on a ski trip. While traveling up a ski hill in Switzerland, he noticed a truck on the road below him."I realized there's no traffic 25 feet in the air," he said. "I didn't think too much of it until I spent about a month digging through research, and then I realized we could use this here."Since then, he has garnered support from various independent sources and think tanks, who have sponsored his ongoing research extolling the virtues of both gondolas and cable cars.Dale said cable technology is more cost-effective, efficient and reliable than the current technology being used. He estimated that cable technology could cost anywhere from 40 to 60 per cent less than light rail and added that electrical usage would be considerably lowered as well.More than anything, he said, a cable-run system would be far better for transit users."We have an extensive streetcar network that no longer works in this city, and I don't think anyone would argue with that except the TTC," he said. "With cable, you could have less than one minute wait times when we're so accustomed to waiting 20 minutes for a streetcar to show up."He said cable is also safer, with the only safer form of transportation being elevators, which use the same basic technology.Dale acknowledges there is no single blueprint that would serve all of Toronto's transit needs, but he said that could actually be a benefit. Using different types of cable transportation based on what would work best in a given area could actually add to the appeal of the system."You could install something (such as cable cars) on the Don Mills Transit City level that's at street level, but on a line running up the Don Valley, you could be dealing with towers (and gondolas) conceivably," he said.He said a Don Valley line linking Castle Frank subway station with Leaside, Don Mills, the Historic Distillery District and the West Don Lands would be another invaluable important piece in the city's transit puzzle.Dale's plan has, naturally, attracted some cynicism ("everyone at first thinks I'm totally insane," he said,) but he said those who listen to his recommendations in more detail are usually swayed to his way of thinking.He points to cable systems in Portland, Colombia, Venezuela and elsewhere around the world as examples that it can work.Though he is hopeful his plan will open some eyes, he is also pragmatic about the chances his Gondola Project will revolutionize transit in the city."People know what's been done in the past and they'll do it again," he said. "That's probably what will happen. I just want to get people talking so we don't make the mistakes of the past."