12
Jan

2012

Burnaby Mountain Gondola Project: Business Case Now Available

Post by Steven Dale

The long in-gestation Burnaby Mountain Gondola Project Business Case has been released by Translink as well as the Alternatives Analysis.

The two documents, combined, are roughly 110 pages and as it’s been available for less than 24 hours, we’ve yet to go through it all. As such, we’re going to save our comments for next week where we’ll dedicate at least a few days to further analysis.

Until then, enjoy:



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Vancouver/Burnaby Gondola
8
Comments

Comments

  1. stu glue
    January 12, 2012 – 10:34 am
    so, it's a no go?
  2. Julia
    January 12, 2012 – 1:02 pm
    No, I believe the idea has been "shelved" at the moment -- it has "considerable merit" and will be considered in the future.
  3. Matt the Engineer
    January 12, 2012 – 1:23 pm
    Seems like this line in the Executive Summary of the Business Case says a lot: "The ground-based systems offered little to no improvements in travel time, were more expensive, and had the greatest negative impact on conservation and residential areas. Among the aerial systems, the 3S and Funitel gondolas fared best." And these: "Over 25 years, this combined for a life-cycle cost of $157 million – approximately $10 million (net present value) more than the estimated costs of maintaining and expanding the bus service. Longer-term capital costs were estimated to be lower than diesel buses." "The total value of these benefits, over the 25-year life-cycle, totalled more than $500 million, creating a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 3.6. A BCR greater than 1.0 indicates that benefits surpass costs."
  4. Matt the Engineer
    January 12, 2012 – 1:37 pm
    Exhibit 2-14 in the Business case is pretty messed up. MGD is labeled the same cost as a 3S. It beats buses in every way except Financial (barely) and Social (?), and ends up being ranked the worst. I can imagine the MGD failing due to wind concerns (though I don't know the wind profile there), but because of a factor called social? Are they talking about NIMBY backlash, or the ability to chat with neighbors while riding?
  5. Matt the Engineer
    January 12, 2012 – 1:48 pm
    I don't see that in the reports - though I certainly haven't read them all the way through. Here's the secton on Investment Recommendation: "Investment recommendations around benefit cost analysis usually require the BCR be higher than 1.0. The preceding analysis indicates that the project would achieve economic benefits well in excess of costs and so represents a beneficial investment. This result holds true under all sensitivities tested. Consequently, there is a strong economic justification for proceeding with the project."
  6. Sean Turvey
    January 12, 2012 – 2:33 pm
    BC news sources are basically saying that it has been shelved. I think if they continued with it right now, there would be too much backlash from people with interests in other projects that have been in limbo for a lot longer than the gondola. http://bitly.com/yKGBau http://bitly.com/z5UKtZ http://bitly.com/AeS3hG
  7. Julia
    January 12, 2012 – 2:44 pm
    That was information I just heard online, not from the report. And yesterday Translink tweeted: "CBC' s on-line story says TransLink has 'nixed' the Burnaby Mtn gondola. Not so! It's great candidate for a future transportation plan."
  8. GiorgioXT
    January 13, 2012 – 6:06 pm
    Probabily they refer to the fact that an MGD would run much lower increasing the view/privacy problem.

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