Gondola is best transit option between downtown and Old Strathcona, advisory board says

The Edmonton Transit System advisory boardis setting its sights high when it comes to grappling with how to best transport residents across the city's iconic river valley.

In a report, the board suggests a gondola would beuniquely well-suited to connect commuters with downtown and Old Strathcona.

"We saw there was a very large challenge in getting people directly from Whyte Avenue to downtown and also linking both of those destinations to the river valley because of the geography," said board chair Sean Lee.

"That formed our interest in gondola."

The idea of an urban gondolawasselected winner of the industry-sponsored Edmonton Project in March, but it's something the advisory board has beenstudying since 2016.

• Rising to the top: River valley gondola winner of Edmonton Project

In late April the boardendorsed the concept as a fast, reliable and cost-effective transportation option in a geographically-challenging space.

"Really, for this to work and make sense, you have to have a couple of very high demand locations that people want to get to and from all the time," Lee said.

"So that's whyWhyteAvenueto downtown makes sense," he said."It's on that commuter corridor and if you can link in theRossdalearea of the river valley at the same time, that's an even greater benefit."

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Coun. TimCartmellsaidhe's keeping an open mind on the idea.

"I have read and reviewed the report on urban gondolas. I believe we should never be afraid to put all ideas on the tableand consider all options to get the best possible solutions for our city," he said in a statementFriday.

The board considered threeroutes, butsettled on oneconnectingdowntown toOld Strathcona, with an interim station in the Rossdale community.

The report outlined several benefits of an urban gondola, including:

• Gondolas can accommodate between 4,000 and 6,000 passengers per hour in each direction, transporting the same number of people per hour as 2,000 cars or 100 buses.
• Gondolas alleviate traffic congestion.
• Gondolas transport people at roughly the same speed as a conventional bus when stops are factored in.
• Gondolas are extremely reliable with a better safety rating compared to other modes of transit.
• Gondolas are one of the most environmentally friendly modes of transit using roughly 0.1 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity per kilometre per passenger, and would have the smallest impact on the ecosystem of the river valley.
• Gondolas offer minimal wait times for passengers and easy integration with existing transit.
• The prefabricated design means gondola construction is often completed in under 12 months.

On the other hand, the report pointed out, limitations with the technology include:

• Passengers are limited in the number of places they can get on and off and the route.
• Once built, the route is fixed and can't easily be changed.
• Most gondola systems can only operate when wind speeds are less than 70-100 km/h.
• Gondolas have lower maximum speeds compared to other modes of transportation.

While the report doesn't include a cost estimate for the project, it does say it would be a fraction of other transit solutions, like anLRTline.

ButCartmell acknowledges there are many other municipal projects that deserve priority funding.

"I have heard loud and clear that now is not the time to spend any public dollars on an urban gondolawhen we have a budgeting shortfall related to [Municipal Sustainability Initiative]fundingand key priorities including Terwillegar Drive that are desperately needed,"he said.

"If a solution could be generated to have private industry completely fund all construction and operating costs, I could possibly be supportive."

According to the board, other cities around the world have reported thecosts of building a gondola system could be up to $25 million per kilometre, depending on the design.

The report will be discussed further at the urban planning committee meeting on Tuesday.