Toronto Toronto Zoo Ongoing Projects | 13.5m | 2s | Toronto Zoo | Zeidler

Richard White said:
Realistically however they would need to rebuild the infrastructure. I walked along the guideway in 2012 and it is deteriorating in spots. All the electrical bits have been removed and I believe the guideway was built to work with the trains. It is an RT style trains where you would need trains to fit the guideway if you wanted to reuse it.
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Indeed. I wonder how long the guideway will remain standing. It's not very useful for any new purpose, though I'd love to see part of it fenced and turned into a trail for views over the East Rouge Valley, also providing a second entry/exit to the Canadian Domain area, which is very isolated compared to the rest of the zoo. .
 
ShonTron said:
Indeed. I wonder how long the guideway will remain standing. It's not very useful for any new purpose, though I'd love to see part of it fenced and turned into a trail for views over the East Rouge Valley, also providing a second entry/exit to the Canadian Domain area, which is very isolated compared to the rest of the zoo. .
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There are some remarkable views from the guideway BUT it is isolated. There would be major safety concerns turning the guideway into a trail. When we walked it in 2012 as part of a Janes walk we encountered many areas in the valley that were so very very isolated. In some parts you could beat someone to a pulp and leave them to die without anyone hearing them scream (I am not joking, it is that isolated). A prime example of this is the guideway in the remote corner of the zoo in the Canadian Domain area alongside the Rouge River. It is all forested there and goes along a section inaccessible to the public just past the waterfowl in the Canadian Domain.

This isolated section is one of the reasons for the Canadian Domain ride, it was designed to get people into these areas when they could not do so by other means. It would be nice to have it open as a trail but I can think of a million reasons why they would not.
 
innsertnamehere said:
^as are the vast majority of ravine trails in this city?
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Not really comparable. The ravine system is heavily used and have multiple entry/exit points. In this section of the Toronto Zoo there is only one way in or out and you are far from the rest of the zoo or other people.

The ravines are usually close enough to other homes or buildings that you can be relatively safe. This section of zoo is well forested, surrounded by trees and a large cliff. It is quite isolated.

As I said, I have walked along this section of the guideway in 2012 and live near a ravine. This section of the zoo is far more isolated than any ravine.. it is really only comparable to Morningside Park. I would not go there at night or when the sun is going down.
 
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maxt797 said:
Love it.... Screw the LRT or subway... Go straight to maglev... go Scarborough..
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Scarborough finally gets to be the envy of the world in rail transportation technology.

Here's a quote from the future:
Stephanie Ford a few decades from now said:
The people of Scarborough won't accept straddling buses.
Maglev, Maglev, Maglev
Pneumatic pipes, pneumatic pipes, pneumatic pipes
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Some more details from the Star:

But the Toronto zoo proposal would glide visitors past animal enclosures at a sedate 10 km/h, accelerating to no more than 30 km/h between five stops.
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The project would show investors and potential clients that Magnovate technology, with cars carrying 10 to 15 passengers running independently or in clusters, darting into a station on demand while the rest of the cluster keeps moving, is viable for bigger urban commuter uses, says Corns.
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https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...nys-pitch-to-build-maglev-floating-train.html

Could be interesting as an application of a semi-personal rapid transit system.
 
Approved by the Zoo board, now let's see if it ever gets off the ground, or disappears into vaporware:

Toronto Zoo directors are on board with a proposal to magnetically float visitors between animal exhibits.

The board of the city-owned zoo voted unanimously Thursday to signal its willingness to host a magnetic levitation “people mover” system if Edmonton-based Magnovate Technologies can get the proposal off the ground.
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Magnovate must now raise $25 million in funding, through its own equity plus grants and private investment. It also needs to secure city and conservation authority approvals and negotiate final terms with zoo staff before an agreement can come back to the board for final approval.
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After the vote, Corns told reporters he expects lining up financing will take at least a year, meaning the earliest the maglev ride could open, if everything goes perfectly, would be around 2022.
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https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...er-to-reality-as-board-approves-proposal.html
 
$12?

Compare with Walt Disney World or Disneyland. See link.

For comparison, in 1971, the entry fee for the Magic Kingdom was $3.75. Ride tickets ranged from A tickets at 10 cents to E tickets at 90 cents. There was an "8 Adventure Ticket Book" (contained 1-A 1-B 1-C 2-D and 3-E) that sold for $5.75 for adults and a "12 Adventure Ticket Book" (contained 1-A 1-B 2-C 4-D and 4-E) that sold for $6.75 for an adult.
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I think that this Maglev train actually opens up a roadmap for the future of the Zoo. Concrete urban zoos have fallen out of favour and Toronto is in a unique position to provide an antidote to that. Our zoo is connected to our ravine system.

I'd like to see the Toronto Zoo become a series of naturalized animal habitats spread out throughout the Rouge National Park, connected by a silent Maglev. Rather than tickets to a place, visitors would purchase a pass that allows them use of the Maglev to travel between these habitats and to get off at viewing areas or just view animals from the train without getting off.

Humans would be put in the boxes, not the animals. Animals would roam "free" within their naturalized fenced off areas while the humans would be in glass boxes at the base of Maglev stations. Imagine elephants and giraffes roaming in large natural areas. Perhaps the more dangerous animals like big cats and gorillas would still need to be in more controlled environments with moats but many of the animals could roam in what would appear to be open areas with the Maglev flying over.

The main zoo grounds would be maintained as a welcome area with educational pavilions and interaction with small animals but most of the zoo would be naturalized and merged into the park.

I love the idea of treetop hotels in the valley. You could wake up in a treetop hotel within near reach of giraffes or go to sleep with monkeys in the trees. This has the potential to generate far more revenue than selling tickets does today, allowing limited access to the zoo to be free to the public from the trails in the periphery. People would still pay to ride the Maglev to easily tour all the exhibits with better views.

Whatever the case, the era of enclosed concrete zoos is coming to a close with millennials mounting online opposition to imprisoning animals in exhibits.
 
MetroMan said:
I think that this Maglev train actually opens up a roadmap for the future of the Zoo. Concrete urban zoos have fallen out of favour and Toronto is in a unique position to provide an antidote to that. Our zoo is connected to our ravine system.

I'd like to see the Toronto Zoo become a series of naturalized animal habitats spread out throughout the Rouge National Park, connected by a silent Maglev. Rather than tickets to a place, visitors would purchase a pass that allows them use of the Maglev to travel between these habitats and to get off at viewing areas or just view animals from the train without getting off.

Humans would be put in the boxes, not the animals. Animals would roam "free" within their naturalized fenced off areas while the humans would be in glass boxes at the base of Maglev stations. Imagine elephants and giraffes roaming in large natural areas. Perhaps the more dangerous animals like big cats and gorillas would still need to be in more controlled environments with moats but many of the animals could roam in what would appear to be open areas with the Maglev flying over.

The main zoo grounds would be maintained as a welcome area with educational pavilions and interaction with small animals but most of the zoo would be naturalized and merged into the park.

I love the idea of treetop hotels in the valley. You could wake up in a treetop hotel within near reach of giraffes or go to sleep with monkeys in the trees. This has the potential to generate far more revenue than selling tickets does today, allowing limited access to the zoo to be free to the public from the trails in the periphery. People would still pay to ride the Maglev to easily tour all the exhibits with better views.

Whatever the case, the era of enclosed concrete zoos is coming to a close with millennials mounting online opposition to imprisoning animals in exhibits.
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You know, there is a lot to be excited about, now that a maglev train is coming to the zoo by 2022, which the zoo won't have to fully pay for.
 
^ Yes, I like the direction that the Zoo is taking but I'd like to see it move more quickly away from artificial exhibit-like enclosures and more towards naturalized habitats where humans are visitors with minimal disruption of those habitats. Flyover Maglevs and treetop viewing areas are a couple of ways to do it. We have a lot of space in Rouge Park, there's no reason animals should be contained to such a small area. Monetize the ease of travel between habitats and better views rather than access to a centralized and closed off zoo.
 
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