Cambridge considers monorail-like system

While unanimously rejecting the region’s current proposals for rapid transit, Cambridge council is showing interest in exploring new options for mass transit.

Community Renewable Energy Waterloo Region (CREW) made a presentation this week, urging Cambridge council to consider its “aerorail” proposal, similar to a monorail system, that would move passengers along a system of suspended train cars.

CREW’s Derek Satnik admits overcoming the “futuristic” concept is one of the group’s biggest hurdles.

“The beauty of how it’s so simple is that it drives the cost down, too, and you can install the whole thing with remarkable speed and it works really well,” Satnik notes.  “The only thing that’s fancy about it is the way it looks.”

Satnik was hopeful of finding some sympathetic sets of ears at Cambridge council given that the city has always felt left out of the region’s rapid transit debate. Mayor Doug Craig and others have long complained that the system as proposed by the region today, which would provide trains to Kitchener and Waterloo but only buses to Cambridge, is inequitable.

Councillor Karl Kiefer’s motion to that effect passed by a unanimous 8-0 vote on Tuesday. He’s hopeful that the vote sends a clear message to regional council as it prepares to make a final decision on rapid transit next month.

Satnik says the region briefly considered elevated transit technology in the early days of its rapid transit deliberations, but quickly dismissed the concept. He insists that the technology is not only feasible but less expensive and he remains convinced it deserves a second look.

Satnik also found the open ears he was looking for on Cambridge council.

“(Aerorail) could turn out to be as expensive (as light rail) and then it’s a non-starter because taxpayers are saying they don’t want to foot the bill,” says Cambridge Ward 4 councillor Ben Tucci. “But unless you do your homework and unless you review it and take a look at this thing and cost it out to see if it’s feasible, I think you’re doing a disservice to the region.”

Tucci won’t go so far as to say that aerorail is the right option for Cambridge or for the region as a whole but he’s insistent that the technology warrants further investigation.

Cambridge council will likely introduce a formal motion to discuss an aerorail system at a future meeting.