tagged w/ Cable Car
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This is footage from riding an alpine coaster in Mieders, Austria. Riders take a cable car up to the top, then ride alone with a brake handle to slow down as they see fit. This rider decided to go all the way without touching the brakes. It makes for a scary ride. But IT LOOKS SO AMAZINGLY FUN! Good long ass ride down the mountain.This is footage from riding an alpine coaster in Mieders, Austria. Riders take a cable... more
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San Francisco is a city that as my wife once quoted a person from Maine as saying, “Ya can’t get there from here.” Traveling is a difficult task because of the central hills and Golden Gate Park that has caused our transit system to bore holes through the hills to make it easier to get to downtown. The Richmond and Sunset districts occupy approximately half of San Francisco and are divided by the Slot, or Golden Gate Park. Originally, Market street was referred to as the Slot and the SoMA region was called South of the Slot, but today Market St is more of a slit for travelers than a slot.San Francisco is a city that as my wife once quoted a person from Maine as saying,... more
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The Buena Vista and Irish Coffee have become an icon of San Francisco history. While Irish Coffee originated in Ireland, it was refined to perfection at the Buena Vista on the Wharf which is still the best place to sit and enjoy a glass looking out over the bay.The Buena Vista and Irish Coffee have become an icon of San Francisco history. While... more
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Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed plans to open a cable car in time for 2012 Olympics, operating 50 metres above water between the Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks. The cable car is to transport up to 5,000 passengers (cyclists and pedestrians) per hour, between the two Olympic venues (the O2 arena and ExCel exhibition centre). The duration of the trip will be approximately 5 minutes one-way, cars running every 30 seconds. According to the Guardian, the system will be privately funded, costing £25 million provided by a number of potential operators.
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Barcelona, Cologne, Hong Kong, Lisbon, New York and Singapore are amongst the cities
currently employing a cable car. Does TfL feel that London is lagging behind? After the Olympics, will the public want to use the cable car as an every-day mode of transport? Not only does it sound unrealistic to think that the public will choose to “take the cable car” to work, but the route (from one place in the middle of nowhere to another) seems extremely Olympics-centred. Will the cable car be purely used as a way to impress the masses of tourists organisers claim will visit London in 2012? (In fact most host cities experience a drop in tourism during the Olympics) Quoting Tfl analysts, it certainly seems so: “A cable car would bring excitement and iconic importance, which would generate interest in tourist visits.” Let’s go fly a kite.Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed plans to open a cable car in time for 2012... more
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By Max Leonard, le cool London
Short of using the Thames Barrier as giant stepping stones, setting up a zip-line from the top-floor atrium of the Gherkin, or indeed a TFL water-ski link, it’s difficult to know how the powers-that-be could make crossing the river any more exciting, following the London Mayor’s decision to put plans for a potential cable car out for consultation.
The cable car would rise 50m above the Thames and link the Greenwich peninsula to the Royal Docks. Completed in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, it would, says Boris, be a major tourist attraction and a key way for pedestrians to get from the O2 to the disturbingly-capitalised ExCeL – both Olympic venues.
The more down-to-earth TFL, meanwhile, says that there could be a cable car every 30 seconds and that the scheme could carry 2,500 people an hour – the equivalent of 50 buses. It is unclear as yet whether there will be racks to put your skis in on the cars themselves, or chalets at either end serving vin chaud.
The scheme’s very existence is dependent on private finance – public money all being tied up with normal transport schemes such as Crossrail, or being given to bankers – but if it were to go ahead it would cement London’s east as the jazzier destination for river crossing. It certainly positions London’s east as the jazzier destination for river crossing. After all, what happens in the west? Twickenham. Yawn. Kew Bridge – forget it. And dinky little Albert Bridge is potentially closed to traffic until 2012.
East of Waterloo, on the other hand, there is Southwark Bridge, a Dickensian hidden gem, as well as the thrill-a-minute wobbly Millennium footbridge. Further along, there’s Tower Bridge, without a doubt London’s coolest bridge. Then there’s the creepy Greenwich foot tunnel, complete with antique wooden lifts and even more antique lift operators, and, to cap it all, there are the grimy road tunnels at Rotherhithe and Blackwall, as well as the Woolwich car and passenger ferry which is, surprisingly in this most mercenary of times, completely free.
Some would say that a cable car would be a surfeit of excitement upon an already extant embarrassment of riches. To which, I’d say, why not take the slowest crossing? It also happens to be the most cultural: 20 minutes from Tate Britain to Tate Modern on the Tate boat.
Others would say: ‘why even go south?’ But that’s another article entirely…
Pic credit: TFL.
By Max Leonard, le cool London
Short of using the Thames Barrier as giant... more
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lecool
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added this
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1 year ago
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Climb aboard the J-Church Muni Metro to discover San Francisco's diverse dance community and hidden architecture with San Francisco Trolley Dances 2009! $2.00 in train fare is all you need to see the best show in town as Kim Epifano's Epiphany Productions takes audiences out of the theater and into the streets to see some of the Bay Area's most acclaimed companies perform outdoor, site-specific works. 6th annual, don't miss it!!!
October 17th and 18thClimb aboard the J-Church Muni Metro to discover San Francisco's diverse dance... more
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