If this really happens, if it really makes money, if it spurs a lot of related development, expect Gondolamania – the urban streetcar of the 2010s.
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It’s a pie-in-the-sky idea: stringing a sky gondola from Seattle’s waterfront to the Convention Center. But Hal Griffith, the Pier 57 owner who erected a waterfront ferris wheel last year, has made it official. He’s moving ahead with the project, aiming to open it immediately after the viaduct comes down in 2016.
Is this really gonna happen? By 2016, the same year the University expansion of the Light Rail would open? (And that project was proposed during the Bush administration.) It’s not impossible. Hal Griffith and Associates managed to build the city a new landmark in only a few months, and Kyle Griffith notes that they’ve already spoken to each city council member about the necessary design review and right-of-way issues.
I think the biggest roadblock could be if there are any condos along that street.
Gondolas move a lot slower than elevated trains
– so anyone passing by in a gondola would have a long gander into your suite.
The problem with a gondola is that it most efficiently serves only two endpoints. The great thing about a gondola is that is efficiently serves only two endpoints.
There are places (like SFU) where there are no midpoints, just the bottom of the hill and the top, where a gondola makes so much sense it’s a wonder that we aren’t already celebrating the 20th anniversary of one.
Uh, look at the map in the article. There is a midpoint station.
Yeah, the gondola to SFU would be amazing.
It makes so much sense and has a solid business case. It nearly pays for itself (but not quite).
The arguments against it incense me. They are generally a combination of:
“Gondola? That’s stupid!”
“People inside will be able to look at my house!”
“F**K TRANSLINK!”
So we won’t see it for another 20 years I assume. Sometimes people in Vancouver are so small-minded and parochial I find it unbearable.
As already stated above, gondolas travel very slowly, and passenger capacity is limited. They also impede view corridors.
All of the above is schlock in my opinion.
Your typical small detachable Gondola, like on a ski hill can move over 1,800 people per hour per direction. They generally travel just under 20km/h, which is faster than a trolley bus averages in Vancouver.
The Peak2Peak gondola travels at 27km/h. Which is about as fast as a B-Line averages. The overall speed would be a little slower since you have to factor in station dwell, but the headways are so short you would likely end up with a faster end to end time.
It wouldn’t be that hard to get capacities over 3000 pphpd, which is firmly into LRT territory. Bigger cabins, bigger doors, tighter headway.
Something similar has already happened in Medellin where it is connecting difficult to access neighbourhoods (and a national park( th the rest of the city. it is so well done they have also become tourist attractions.
http://www.poma.net/en/project/index/view/id/5
I don’t think that this will have that much of an impact for locals. It is mostly to take conventioneers to a waterfront tourist attraction. The route is less than a kilometre and perfectly walkable. But even as a touristy thing, there are condos along this road that will make construction complicated. Folks aren’t going to want gawkers outside their windows.
What I don’t understand is, why can’t people walk seven or eight blocks? That’s all we’re talking about here according to this map. It doesn’t even look that steep.
What’s clear here is that this isn’t serving a real urban transportation need. It’s kind of a Disney Land style transportation project for visitors, and that’s why I don’t think it’s going to lead to an urban gondola renaissance. It certainly shouldn’t be compared to the SFU gondola, which would actually serve a transportation need, connecting a major transit destination to the skytrain, and do so more efficiently and more quickly than buses, and more cheaply than rail, and without the need for a right of way that a funicular would require.
You’re not the only one who thinks the gondola is Disneyland-style extravagance aimed at lazy tourists.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023084449_westneat09xml.html
The also have funiculars in places like Salzburg up to the castle or Paris up to Monmatre, or a gondola over the East River in New York. A niche solution for a niche demand. Like a gondola to SFU. It has its place in isolated instances.