We love gondolas and what they can do, but make no mistake, Whoosh® is quite different from a conventional gondola system. The big differences are with infrastructure and passenger movement. With a conventional gondola, cabins are attached to a moving ropeway. The only way to move the cabins is to move the cable and this creates inefficiencies in the system. For example, moving the cable moves every cabin attached to the cable which takes more energy and doesn’t allow the system to adapt to adjusting rider needs. Additionally, the gondola ropeway is largely restricted to straight paths, pulling a clothesline of cabins between two fixed points with little option for a customized route. By contrast, Whoosh® uses a flexible and expandable network of cable and rail as a static guideway. Whoosh® vehicles are autonomous and move independently throughout a variety of route possibilities and offline stations by navigating the stationary network structure. In addition to being more flexible in terms of their route selections and options, Whoosh® also reduces energy usage and emissions by only operating the minimum number of vehicles to meet fluctuating ridership demands.
Embodied Carbon
Whoosh® replaces a world of concrete with simple infrastructure combining cables and minimal steel. For added reduction, stations and stops can be designed using materials with less embodied carbon like cross-laminated timber.
Whoosh® Guideway / 100 m span
Tower and track 16.6 T of CO2e
Cable 0.4 T of CO2e
Whoosh® Foundation / 100 m span
Concrete and piles 1.4 T of CO2e
184 T of CO2e / km for Whoosh®
Compare that with the findings of a recent study on embodied emissions in rail infrastructure. That statistical model found that overall ~941 (±168) T of CO2e are embodied per kilometer of rail at-grade, and tunneling has 27 (±5) times more embodied GHG per kilometer than at-grade construction.
Energy Used
Lightweight Whoosh® vehicles move only on-demand, transporting people using ⅙ the energy required of a typical bus or rail system in the U.S. – equivalent to an 84% reduction in energy used.
Whoosh® creates personalized, point to point transportation for passengers or goods travelling in smart electric vehicles on a light and flexible elevated cable and rail network. In conjunction with the use of multiple smaller offline stations and larger hub stations, Whoosh® ensures high throughput of vehicles while still providing a point-to-point on-demand service.
Vehicles can use cable sections to span over geographic obstacles without interference to the area below. The vehicles can change elevation or turn after transitioning from cable to rail, creating countless route options throughout a location. Additionally, the system is flexible and easy to implement in tight spaces. When existing structure is available, Whoosh® can use it as support for the network, decreasing construction cost and disruption. Whoosh® is also electric with low energy needs and zero emissions.