Posts Tagged: Burnaby

13
Jan

2012

Weekly Roundup: Vancouver’s Burnaby Mountain Gondola

After yesterday’s release of the Burnaby Mountain Gondola Business Case, there were so many articles and commentaries on the project around the internet, we thought it prudent to break from our typical structure and dedicate today’s Roundup exclusively to some of the more interesting reactions to that project:



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10
Sep

2011

Weekly Roundup

A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit:

  • Citizens opposed to the Burnaby Mountain Gondola in Vancouver plan to take their complaints all the way to the provincial government.
  • The Doppelmayr Group announces plans for a €100+ cable upgrade in Mont Blanc. Granted, this isn’t urban in any way, shape, form or description but that’s a sizeable order nonetheless.


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30
Jul

2011

Weekly Roundup: Swiss Gondola Database and Gondola Opposition

This is the Heiligkreuz - Kumme, Binn, Pendelbahn from Switzerland. Am I the only one seeing things? Is that a house?!? Image by seilbahninventar.ch

A few highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Regular Gondolas, and Cable Propelled Transit:

  • We’re really getting spoiled here at the Gondola Project. Another gondola database is released. This time by the Swiss Government and it documents every single cable system in the country. Super awesome!
  • Perhaps another CPT system will soon be in operation. Plans to build a cable car and a monorail? in Aizawl (city in Eastern India) are announced! Let’s hope this isn’t something lost in translation.
  • A Forest Grove resident voices his displeasure with the Burnaby Gondola proposal

 



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08
Jun

2011

Vancouver / Burnaby Urban Gondola: A Sample Of Things To Come?

If the planners are to be believed, the new Vancouver / Burnaby Urban Gondola Transit system will cost $120 million CAD, instead of the $69 million CAD initially reported.

Consider how similar the Burnaby gondola is to – say – the Koblenz Rheinseilbahn or Whistler’s Peak 2 Peak and you realize that $120 million is a steep price to pay for a ski lift.

And as Danish scholar Bent Flyvbjerg has shown us, transit agencies are notoriously bad at under-forecasting capital costs. There’s a good chance this system could cost even more.

So is this a taste of things to come?

There’s no doubt that building for the public transit sector is a lot more costly than building for the private recreation market.

But should the difference be so excessive?

What true added value is a transit agency providing that justifies a price premium of 50, 100, or 150 percent greater than would would typically be paid?

One of the true advantages of cable transit technology over other technologies is that the capital cost of the system is incredibly competitive. But if to build a cable propelled transit system in western, developed nations requires massive scope creep and pork barrel politics, we may see all those cost advantages evaporate.

If this keeps up, urban gondolas may just wind up as expensive as everything else.

 



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20
Apr

2011

Is Gondola Transit Crossing The Rubicon?

Right now, there are two groups looking at urban gondola transit solutions: Developing World cities and Developed World cities. Pretty broad classification, I know, but bear with me.

Curiously, in the Developed World the technology gets little attention from the public sector. Typically it’s the private sector that pushes these systems as little more than touristic attractions. Sure there are exceptions like the Burnaby Mountain proposal in Vancouver, but the proposed Hamburg and St. Louis gondolas are more typical examples.

And yet in the Developing World, governments are all over the technology. This is where the technology’s major growth is coming from. As we’ve said before, the growth in South America is awe-inspiring.

Then there are the hybrids; those systems like the London Cable Car (Gondola) that have been spearheaded by the government but will be paid for by the private sector (presumably).

As I’ve argued before, the London Cable Car (Gondola) isn’t going to be a watershed moment for cable transit. But it may very well be the system that allows cable to cross from being seen in the eyes of western governments as nothing more than a Toy for Tourists and being viewed as fully-integrated parts of their local transit network.

This could very likely be the system that allows cable to cross the Rubicon into respectability and allow the industry to fully realize its first Medellin-esque “silver-bullet” system in the Developed World.

We’ll soon find out; the London Cable Car (Gondola) will be open in just over a year’s time.



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05
Oct

2010

The Vancouver/Burnaby Gondola

Voluntary Disclaimer: While I have had conversations with individuals associated with the Vancouver/Burnaby Gondola, I have no stake within this project. Furthermore, while a report I wrote on the topic of cable was referenced in the original feasibility analysis associated with this project, I have not been consulted on this project whatsoever. The opinions expressed below are therefore my own.

Some background: Simon Fraser University‘s (SFU) largest campus is at the top of Burnaby Mountain, a low 370m hill in suburban Vancouver, British Colombia. The SFU Burnaby has a community of over 20,000 students with the attendant staff a university of that size commands.

Burnaby Mountain is also home to UniverCity, a small mixed-use community located adjacent to SFU. Established in 2001, UniverCity is a residential enclave of 3,000 that envisions up to 10,000 people living there in the coming decades. Despite it’s proximity to the university, UniverCity should not be confused with student housing. It is a stable community of families and young couples.

Suffice it to say, the traffic flows from the foot of Burnaby Mountain to SFU and back again are considerable. The Transport 2040 Document by Translink – the Vancouver public transit authority – showed that nearly half of the 50,000 daily trips to and from Burnaby Mountain are made by bus transit. During peak hours, that number is in excess of 53%.

This should make people’s ears perk up: Over 20,000 bus commuters per day up/down an suburban mountain in Vancouver. In Canada. Let’s just say snow, ice and rain are a serious concern.

While buses have a clear advantage over rail-based technologies when it comes to ascending mountains, they run into similar traction issues when confronted with snow and ice. Conversations I’ve had with stakeholders indicate this to be one of the primary motivators behind the project. Inclement weather shuts down bus service on Burnaby Mountain several times every winter. For obvious reasons, this would not occur with a gondola system.

Among the highlights of the existing studies are the following:

  1. Building the SFU gondola would result in a cost savings of over $170 million CAD over a 30 year lifespan.
  2. Bus services (and their attendant GHG emissions) to and from SFU would be significantly reduced.
  3. Travel times would be reduced dramatically. For example, the #145 bus that currently serves SFU provides a 14 minute trip (not including loading and unloading) assuming no delays. The trip via gondola would be no more than 5-6 minutes (not including loading and unloading).
  4. The system is estimated to cost – all in – $68.9 million CAD.
  5. System capacity is estimated to be between 2,000 and 4,000.
  6. Technology recommendation is the 3S.

The SFU gondola study will be interesting to follow for numerous reasons:

  1. This is a gondola, not an Aerial Tram. Individuals involved in this process and these studies understand the difference between the two – a very uncommon occurrence.
  2. Initial research suggests this will be a fully-integrated system. Both physical and fare integration with the Vancouver Skytrain are likely to be pursued. This would be a first in North America.
  3. Unlike the vast majority of Urban Gondolas proposed in North America, this is decidedly not a Toy for Tourists. While some degree of tourism is likely to be generated by this system, it is not the primary reason for its existence.

I’m incredibly positive on this proposal. It makes sense from every angle. The one concern I have is this: Money.

Like most every government in North America, British Columbia is broke. Finding $70 million dollars to build what could – on the surface – be seen as a frill expenditure could be difficult, politically.

British Colombia Premier Gordon Campbell’s Liberal Party is under intense scrutiny and pressure lately over their controversial move to harmonize the provincial sales tax. While readers outside of Canada probably won’t know what “harmonize the provincial sales tax” means, understand that it has been a very unpopular initiative. So much so, Mr. Campbell is now ranked as the least popular Premier in Canada, with his approval ratings in total free-fall.

Unlike most of the developed world, Canadian cities are subservient to the Province in which they reside. This means that any major capital initiatives are likely to be funded (at least in part) by the Province. Municipal transit project in Canada are rarely, if ever, funded by the federal government. Should Translink and SFU move forward with building the gondola link, they’re likely to require strong support from the deeply unpopular Gordon Campbell.

That these studies come part-way through a provincial election cycle is also of concern. The next BC election is scheduled for May 14th, 2013. Given the glacial pace of bureaucratic processes in Canada, approvals for the gondola are unlikely to occur before then. Even if Translink and SFU gather all the necessary political allies to realize this project, they could find themselves under an entirely new political regime in the next few years. Will that political regime be supportive or hostile towards the idea is anybody’s guess.

Given current studies, the Burnaby Gondola has significant merit. Politics are not, however, a meritocracy. Politics are a blood-sport. Unfortunately, our current transit planning method enables a system where transit projects are determined less by merit and more by the politics of the day.

Hopefully, the Burnaby Gondola can find friends and allies on all sides of the table, so that it doesn’t get lost in what seems like an inevitable political shuffle.



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