North Texas City Wants High Tech Gondolas To Ease Traffic Issues
No one likes sitting in traffic so, one Texas city is looking at flying folks over it.
Yep, that's the plan. The city of Plano, about 20 miles north of Dallas, can't figure out how to get through or around traffic congestion so they're trying to bring in some super, high tech gondolas.
Plano is the first city in that area of Texas to apply for these things. Apparently, probably after watching what El Paso did, they passed on streetcars. Good for them.
The gondolas are made by a company called Swyft Cities, founded by former google peeps. According to the their website:
20th century gondolas, meet 21st century technology.
Our solution combines an autonomous cabin with a lightweight, fixed cable infrastructure to move passengers at a lower cost per mile with fewer carbon emissions than conventional transportation alternatives
On the surface, this sounds like a good idea. Comfy, quiet, smooth commutes ... though, during our crazy windy season, I don't know that I'd ride one around here ... and they seem to be much "greener" than buses, trains, etc.
If the supports are far enough off the roadway and protected somehow from severe impact, this seems pretty cool. People may even ride them just 'cuz, when they aren't really going anywhere.
If the peeps that designed El Paso's streetcars get hold of this idea though, the gondolas supports will be in the middle of the street and they will only travel from downtown to Cincy street and back ...
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