[autopov]

I made a side trip to Wuppertal when I visited Köln because I'm a monorail enthusiast.

The system was amazing for its time and its safety per passenger-distance is quite good for rail.

It was full of schoolchildren heading home at a leisurely pace, suspended over the river.

I had forgotten that you have to disembark at the end station so that the cars can be manually pushed onto outbound rail. I got some puzzled looks when I didn't de-train right away.

[erispoe]

Are you a monorail enthusiast because you think monorails are fun or because you think they genuinely have their place in a transit network? And if so, why?

[mulle_nat]

Wuppertal is a basically in a narrow valley surrounded by steep hills (think SF steep). Building a train atop of the river was very space efficient and probably much cheaper than digging a subway on groundwater level. Also it doesn't interfere with other vehicles. Last but not least, the Schwebebahn is just a very enjoyable ride.