This blog complements Jim Langley's bicycle website. As a longtime bicycle mechanic, cycling author and former Bicycling Magazine tech editor, I get bike baskets full of email. And, whether I'm providing repair help, classic bike info, buying tips, or sharing my bike news & views, you can follow along right here to join the fun. Good reading & riding! — Jim (Email me at jim@jimlangley.net)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Bicycle Lift in Trondheim, Norway
We need these on the many hills here in Santa Cruz to encourage people to start biking instead of driving. But, it should be free and maybe run on solar power.
Here's a good picture of a resourceful use of that bicycle lift in Trondheim, not just limited to bicyclists, as you can see:
http://www.trampe.no/img/gallery/imgfull/19.jpg
That's the website of the manufacturer, Trampe, with lots of other pictures and information. Seems this bicycle lift is a popular subject on the Web, but according to Wikipedia it's still the only one in the world. It was built 15 years ago, in 1993, at a cost of about $300,000 (in 1993 dollars). It's about 400 feet long, so close to $1000 a foot, and probably more expensive now. Perhaps that's why we don't have more bicycle lifts, the cost. And perhaps Norway could afford a bicycle lift because Norway is today the 3rd largest oil exporter in the world (after Saudi Arabia and Russia). So being a large oil exporter may help pay for bicycling improvements, like the bicycle lift.
I looked at a couple of proposals for the UK (Park Street Bristol & Dundas (or Dublin) Street Edinburgh.
WHat Peter hasn't mentioned are the running costs and downtime issues when the slot gets clagged up etc We got a figure which would today be around $1000 per foot per year to keep the thing going.
In Bristol I suggested an alternative of 2 'totally' low floor buses (AKA Paratransit in US) operated along the same pragmatic and practical lines as the Havana Harbour Tunnel bike buses. Essentialy you have a ro-ro bus for bikes, buggies wheelchairs and old or tired folks with wheeled shopping baskets - serves everyone who has trouble going up (and for wheelchairs also going down) the hill - 2 buses in bristol would have provided a practically on-demand service, and buying secondhand would have delivered an instant solution (no roads to dig up or drive system to build and adjust) and at substantially lower cost less than $50,000 secondhand and less than $300,000 with a shiney new pair of buses.
SF does have such a solution - its called the cable cars....
3 comments:
Here's a good picture of a resourceful use of that bicycle lift in Trondheim, not just limited to bicyclists, as you can see:
http://www.trampe.no/img/gallery/imgfull/19.jpg
That's the website of the manufacturer, Trampe, with lots of other pictures and information.
Seems this bicycle lift is a popular subject on the Web, but according to Wikipedia it's still the only one in the world.
It was built 15 years ago, in 1993, at a cost of about $300,000 (in 1993 dollars). It's about 400 feet long, so close to $1000 a foot, and probably more expensive now.
Perhaps that's why we don't have more bicycle lifts, the cost. And perhaps Norway could afford a bicycle lift because Norway is today the 3rd largest oil exporter in the world (after Saudi Arabia and Russia). So being a large oil exporter may help pay for bicycling improvements, like the bicycle lift.
I looked at a couple of proposals for the UK (Park Street Bristol & Dundas (or Dublin) Street Edinburgh.
WHat Peter hasn't mentioned are the running costs and downtime issues when the slot gets clagged up etc We got a figure which would today be around $1000 per foot per year to keep the thing going.
In Bristol I suggested an alternative of 2 'totally' low floor buses (AKA Paratransit in US) operated along the same pragmatic and practical lines as the Havana Harbour Tunnel bike buses. Essentialy you have a ro-ro bus for bikes, buggies wheelchairs and old or tired folks with wheeled shopping baskets - serves everyone who has trouble going up (and for wheelchairs also going down) the hill - 2 buses in bristol would have provided a practically on-demand service, and buying secondhand would have delivered an instant solution (no roads to dig up or drive system to build and adjust) and at substantially lower cost less than $50,000 secondhand and less than $300,000 with a shiney new pair of buses.
SF does have such a solution - its called the cable cars....
Maintenance cost of Trampe is approximately 200 $ per meter per year!!!
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