Why Call It The Gondola Project?
Why call it The Gondola Project if it’s about Cable-Propelled Transit?
This is a bit of a tricky question, but we have a few answers:
Firstly, introducing a standardized term such as Cable-Propelled Transit (CPT) is difficult. While the term has some uptake in industrial and academic circles, it is by no means a commonly known term. Calling it the CPT Project would doom the work to failure right from the beginning. Sometimes we have to be marketers even if we don’t want to be.
Secondly, our research suggests that the most commonly known term used to refer to CPT is Gondola. It makes sense, we think, to use this word so that people can have a first encounter with the work on their terms rather than on mine.
Incidentally, the second most commonly used reference to CPT seems to be Cable Car. If you prefer to, feel free to access this site using cablecarproject.com. We took care of that one, too.
Thirdly, almost every transit technology has it’s share of nicknames. For example, Heavy Rail Transit (HRT) is commonly called subway, underground or metro and Light Rail Transit (LRT) is commonly called a tram, streetcar or trolley.
It’s important to be technical but not to the extent that it ignores the common language of the general public. After all, we plan for the general public and should engage with them in language they intuitively understand.