The Monorail Project - Overall Network Design Strategy

[Note: This was originally posted on April 7th, but due to a technical issue related to the tables, I had to repost.]

Given the Convenience Scores for each resort in the previous post, I am able to determine the Score/Mile of the existing system and some potential monorail alignments. Before I do this, I should assign Convenience Scores to the non-resort station locations. Otherwise, monorail lines that connect theme parks would show lower scores, even though connecting the resorts to theme parks is the whole point of this project. So, for the sake of creating some sort of score, I arbitrarily assigned a score of 100 to theme park stations and 75 to water park and activity center stations. Using this scoring system, the existing monorail network has the following characteristics:

The existing monorail system and the locations of all the possible resort and activity center stations is shown above. The backbone of the expanded monorail network id dictated by Goal 3 from the Monorail Project Goals and Assumptions, which calls for all hotel-to-park trips to be possible with only one transfer. The best way to accomplish this is to have a monorail line that stops at all four theme parks.

The Park Connector monorail line would use the existing Epcot Express line as a base. To get to the Magic Kingdom (if capacity allows) the Epcot Express line could be combined with the Magic Kingdom Express line. If capacity does not allow for the Magic Kingdom Express line to be combined, there may be a need to create a third monorail beam around the Seven Seas Lagoon.

A new monorail alignment would need to be constructed to connect Epcot to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Most of the alignment would probably follow existing roads like the Hollywood Studios entrance road and Osceola Parkway. But there is also the opportunity to stop at the Blizzard Beach water park. Below are two potential alignments, one that stops at the water park and one that does not.

The table above includes Station Scores and Station Scores/Mile for the total proposed alignments and for just the new alignment segments. Note how both Park Connector alternatives have higher average Station Score/Mile than the existing Epcot line. I believe that this points to these alternatives having at least as much usefulness as the existing Epcot line, even without additional resort hotel connections.

At this point, I do not know if it is better to include a stop at Blizzard Beach on the Park Connector, even though the Station Score/Mile is highest for that alternative. It will become apparent whether this station should be a part of the Park Connector line or a resort line after I put together the possible overall resort network combinations.

I will describe some of the possible monorail routes that would connect additional resorts in the next post, along with a way to determine which combinations are worth further investigation.