Which one would have been better all around between cost, down time and and operations? I’m starting to lean towards 2 new monorails and new beam tracks.
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Cost for expanded Monorail route vs Skyliner
- Thread starter THEMEPARKPIONEER
- Start date
John park hopper
Well-Known Member
Good question but is the company that made the monorail still in business? Are there other companies that would be able to build it now? With all the new technology i would think if they could build them they would be so much better.
Creathir
Well-Known Member
Bombardier did the most recent versions of the monorail. Yes they still exist. Yes they could have built it.
RScottyL
Well-Known Member
I would have liked to have seen them add more monorail routes instead of this, however I assume the monorail routes would be more expensive!
I guess Disney so generous to the customers they couldn’t afford a monorail system expansion
DuckTalesWooHoo1987
Well-Known Member
I've talked to monorail CM's about this quite a bit and they've told me that one of the problems is that where the ground is so swampy that it makes it really hard to do and there was once a few years ago where someone said it was in the millions for just a very small distance of track. I'm sure it all boils down to money. What's funny is we're members at BLT and pretty much only use the monorail if we're going to eat at Poly or Grand Floridian and never use it to go to or from the MK. I've also been stuck on it for over an hour between Contemporary and the TTC and it SUCKED! BAD! It was super hot and I can't imagine how those people felt being stuck in those gondolas for almost 4 hours! Ridiculous!
starri42
Well-Known Member
The Las Vegas monorail, which uses the same system from Bombardier, cost $150 million per mile in 2004. That's about $200 million adjusted for inflation.
That one mile is almost as much as the entire Skyliner, if memory serves. And construction would probably take at least five years.
That one mile is almost as much as the entire Skyliner, if memory serves. And construction would probably take at least five years.
Trackmaster
Well-Known Member
Honestly, Disney should just be investing in more Magic Buses. And maybe make a more logical system where all the buses run directly or with minimal stops to hubs to ensure more rapid access to them with the expectation that people transfer at the hubs. The excessive waits stem from the fact that people are getting too many options, so they can't afford to run some of the options often. Fewer options, and the more consistently a route can be ran so wait time will be less.
At the end of the day, this is why so many hotel guests just end up renting cars. Its easy to cart a family around with your own wheels than rely on Disney's transit. There's no real traffic on site anyway, and its only a few mile drive, so driving really isn't that bad.
At the end of the day, this is why so many hotel guests just end up renting cars. Its easy to cart a family around with your own wheels than rely on Disney's transit. There's no real traffic on site anyway, and its only a few mile drive, so driving really isn't that bad.
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Yep the elevated Skyliner with very few towers would involve a lot less groundwork compared to a light rail or monorail system therefore with Florida's swampy ground the fewer towers that need building the cheaper the install would be.
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
As soon as you have budgetary control of Disney transportation, feel free to do so.
Epcot_Imagineer
Well-Known Member
It'll take me forever to find, but I know someone did compile a comparison of Monorail v Skyliner in the some-thousand page long Skyliner thread...
stratman50th
Well-Known Member
I saw an article awhile back that said approx. $6 million per mile +/-.
I doubt they would sink that kind of coin into a monorail. If they were going to you'd think they would have already done it years ago as the hotel footprints were expanding. Those monorails were pretty beat up the last time I was there and there's only two loops. Imagine keeping up with another one or two loops and the associated trains.
I doubt they would sink that kind of coin into a monorail. If they were going to you'd think they would have already done it years ago as the hotel footprints were expanding. Those monorails were pretty beat up the last time I was there and there's only two loops. Imagine keeping up with another one or two loops and the associated trains.
Trackmaster
Well-Known Member
I also don't think that monorails really solve a problem at a place like Disney. In very dense megacities, they're great for whipping workers around a city or getting city dwellers around a city. But people are OK with being pushed, cramming themselves into small spaces, there's no crowd control (other than to jam you as tightly as possible like Asia) and nobody's holding your hand delicately. There's no strollers or wheelchairs or scooters. Everyone's standing and jammed into their like sardines, and people are relatively fast and efficient.
At Disney people expect to have their hands held, everyone has a stroller or scooter, and you can't just push people in or hurry them up. They all want to take their time, and a high level of safety is expected.
If people were more used to riding mass transit and weren't all bringing little kids it would make sense and be more efficient. That being said, Disney just needs systems that work for tourists who want to take their time and not be whipped around the city like they're late for work.
I think that the Magic Buses make a lot of sense. I think it would be a lot better to just get picked up from your car from the TTC and dropped right off at the front gate. Instead of taking a tram to the monorail, trudging over, waiting in line, and then taking the monorail, trudging out to the gate, and then going in.
As I was saying before, there's a reason that a lot of tourists will fly in, and then just rent a car to get around all week instead of even bothering with Disney's transit.
stratman50th
Well-Known Member
We've been going to WDW for a little over 30 years. Except for one trip, we always drove. The thought of driving to the parks never dawned on us as the buses always worked fine. I also have never gone to the TTC, except walking to the monorail station from the Poly so I had no idea how it worked. Somebody in another thread named Katiebug was complaining about having to use a tram etc. People were saying that if she's been going for years she should have known. (I sat that one out as I had been going for years and didn't know either LOL). The monorails were put in the original design because it was modern and a new wave transportation system. I think they were ok in the beginning as the got you from the few hotels on property to the only park on property. As things grew, the monorail was not expanded past EPCOT. They may have been thinking cost vs effectiveness even back then. Buses were cheaper. Their infrastructure, roads, were already in place. They have a smaller and less specialized energy load than a monorail. The monorails have been relegated to a transportation novelty. The boats seem to work well except in very bad weather.
John park hopper
Well-Known Member
Is there a reason why the monorails have to be built up in the air, can't they be built at ground level at a much lower cost? Asking as i am not an engineer. Eliminate some of the bus traffic
They can technically be built at any elevation. The reason they and many other forms of mass transit are elevated it to get them above vehicular traffic. This allows them to move at speed without having to contend with traffic.
There is also the undeniable fact that trains and cars don't play well together and elevating the tracks removes that interaction.
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less than half.
wdw71fan
Well-Known Member
Jinx.
I have the numbers thanks. Or rather the spreadsheets.