Monorail rumor

google says 3 million a mile up to 15 million a mile for a new gondola system. The pattern I outlined is 3 miles. That would be 9 to 45 million which is a pretty big swing.
Google also indicates a monorail train is around 2 million per train. 7 trains, puts it at 14 million.
Those are internet guesses, so they are about as reliable as the current monorails operating performance.

Light rail for point of comparison is 36 million per mile for a fresh build.

Monorail costs are per car for 2 million, so its 12 million per train. If it was 14 million for 7 new trains we would already be riding MarkVIIIs.
 
Monorail costs are per car for 2 million, so its 12 million per train. If it was 14 million for 7 new trains we would already be riding MarkVIIIs.
Thought it seemed a bit low. 7 trains for the main line if I recall correctly. So that is 84 million for just the choo choo part of the monorail.
 
google says 3 million a mile up to 15 million a mile for a new gondola system. The pattern I outlined is 3 miles.

I think the existing project is about 3 miles as well (EPCOT, Riviera, CBR, POP, AA and DHS) and 6 stops.

Wouldn't that be about the same at MK? About 3 miles and 6 stops (MK, CR, WL, TTC, POLY, GF).

Although much more work removing cement beams (eventually) and trying to "tie in" to the resorts better like the monorail did.

Wonder what the existing project is costing.
 
google says 3 million a mile up to 15 million a mile for a new gondola system. The pattern I outlined is 3 miles. That would be 9 to 45 million which is a pretty big swing.
Google also indicates a monorail train is around 2 million per train. 7 trains, puts it at 14 million.
Those are internet guesses, so they are about as reliable as the current monorails operating performance.

Light rail for point of comparison is 36 million per mile for a fresh build.

Wonder what the costs are of building support towers on rock versus swamp. Obvious you don't need the power required to ascend thousands of feet.
 


Wonder what the costs are of building support towers on rock versus swamp. Obvious you don't need the power required to ascend thousands of feet.
I would say that the cost to build in a swamp would be 3 to 4 times more than they would be on rock maybe even more than that. Actually, even when you are ascending thousands of feet the power requirements aren't huge because you have almost as much weight coming down as you do going up. The weight of the people is minimal compared to the weight of the cable, gondolas, etc.
 
Most people have no problem riding a train. Lots of people are afraid of heights and wouldn't want to step foot in a gondola. You can't make gondolas a primary mode of transportation for that reason alone, and nobody making the "replace the monorail with gondolas" proposal has taken that into account.

You also simply can't replace a system with one that can't match the throughput of the existing system.

I actually wouldn't mind a way for a fairly straight line walk from from the TTC to MK. Perhaps via a series of pedestrian bridges over the east side of Seven Seas Lagoon. It would certainly be faster and less stressful than waiting for the transportation crush at park closing.
 
Most people have no problem riding a train. Lots of people are afraid of heights and wouldn't want to step foot in a gondola. You can't make gondolas a primary mode of transportation for that reason alone, and nobody making the "replace the monorail with gondolas" proposal has taken that into account.

You also simply can't replace a system with one that can't match the throughput of the existing system.

I actually wouldn't mind a way for a fairly straight line walk from from the TTC to MK. Perhaps via a series of pedestrian bridges over the east side of Seven Seas Lagoon. It would certainly be faster and less stressful than waiting for the transportation crush at park closing.
Gondolas are constant whereas a monorail isn’t. A monorail is like a bus in the air just larger. So while an individual gondola doesn’t have the capacity of an individual monorail when all things are taken into account I don’t believe their hourly capacity is that far off.
 


I actually wouldn't mind a way for a fairly straight line walk from from the TTC to MK. Perhaps via a series of pedestrian bridges over the east side of Seven Seas Lagoon. It would certainly be faster and less stressful than waiting for the transportation crush at park closing.

I would LOVE a pedestrian path between TTC/Poly and MK!!! And it should decrease the crowds for the monorail and other transportation.
 
Gondolas are constant whereas a monorail isn’t. A monorail is like a bus in the air just larger. So while an individual gondola doesn’t have the capacity of an individual monorail when all things are taken into account I don’t believe their hourly capacity is that far off.

Monorails capacity is 365 per train. It would take ~6 minutes of max capacity gondolas to move the same number of people.

The speed difference might come into play. The monorail's top speed is 40mph which is over twice as fast but I have no idea how much they hit that.
 
When I worked in monorails years ago, I asked about new track and the team leader told me that it will never happen, she also said it was a million dollars a mile for the track (but that was 10 years ago). I was really disappointed because I would love the monorail going to all the parks and more resorts.
 
true, but I am sure they spend a lot on upkeep of the existing monorails, so that annual cost vs the ammortized cost of a new fleet might not be that much of an increase

I've always considered the monorail going throughout the property less of a cost to build issue and more of a what happens if it is closed issue. If the monorail does go across the property Disney would still need a fleet of buses to transport guests if the monorail goes down. They would still have to staff licensed bus drivers to drive them. That's the real cost. Anyone can be trained to operate the monorail, only so many people have the correct license to drive a bus.
 
I've always considered the monorail going throughout the property less of a cost to build issue and more of a what happens if it is closed issue. If the monorail does go across the property Disney would still need a fleet of buses to transport guests if the monorail goes down. They would still have to staff licensed bus drivers to drive them. That's the real cost. Anyone can be trained to operate the monorail, only so many people have the correct license to drive a bus.

Yea buses are on the way out, or at least being diminished going forward IMO.
 
I would LOVE a pedestrian path between TTC/Poly and MK!!! And it should decrease the crowds for the monorail and other transportation.

Same, those bike sharing plans would be nice but I suppose just too many all at once, be a cluster.
 
I've always considered the monorail going throughout the property less of a cost to build issue and more of a what happens if it is closed issue. If the monorail does go across the property Disney would still need a fleet of buses to transport guests if the monorail goes down. They would still have to staff licensed bus drivers to drive them. That's the real cost. Anyone can be trained to operate the monorail, only so many people have the correct license to drive a bus.
Don't you need an engineers license to drive a monorail? Not sure but can't be easier than getting a commercial drivers license.....
I know all the boat captains have captains licenses......
 
Don't you need an engineers license to drive a monorail? Not sure but can't be easier than getting a commercial drivers license.....
I know all the boat captains have captains licenses......

I don't think there is a human driver on them anymore.
 
Don't you need an engineers license to drive a monorail? Not sure but can't be easier than getting a commercial drivers license.....
I know all the boat captains have captains licenses......

Let's say monorail drivers do need a special license. So WDW has 12 trains with lets say 2 pilots on duty for 24hrs a day 3 shifts a day, this covers breaks etc. So thats 75 pilots to cover the monorail operations nonstop, lets call it 100 to be safe.

WDW has 30 hotels on property, 3 buses per park 2 per water park, 2 for DTD, 2 misc. Thats 20 buses a hotel meaning +600 total, 3 people per bus for 24hr service and you're at +2000 employees to operate that Disney would still have to employee even if it expanded the monorail to all the resorts to meet current needs.

That's why i don't think monorails are a viable option because they need to still employee bus drivers if a mode of transportation goes down and those need to be used.

As far as needing a special license to operate a monorail? I won't link because i don't know if it's against the rules but below is a quote from one of the other Disney forms.

"said:
I was wondering how I could land myself this awesome job. Do you need experience? Is it only attainable by promotion?

I was a Monorail Pilot for a year and a half. Basic job requirements are that you must be at least 18 years of age, and have a valid drivers license with a decent record. You must also have a brain, posess common sense, and a strong passion for the job. You should also realize that a good majority of the day is spent out on the platforms. You only drive maybe 1hr per day, depending on shift and rotation."
 
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