SFU/Burnaby Mtn Gondola | Proposed

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

^^^ if they do they better make it easier to use than the one in Portland

tried to use that one but they only take credit cards or exact change and there was nowhere to get change from in the area its located

Ya the one in Portland is great, except I didn't like how the fares weren't integrated with their overall system. In that situation, again, it wasn't the transit authority building it, but the university.

I sincerely hope that separate entities like the SFU Community Trust or the COV are able to fund and build their own mini transit systems like the gondola or streetcar - and then have TransLink operate the system with proper fare integration.

I don't get what's up with the TransLink lady. "Oh, we don't get involved in gondolas". Well that's because we don't currently have any in the system!

[officedweller]

Remember the CP and Air Canada gondolas at Expo 86?

[djmk]

omg. i had totally forgotten. thanks

[officedweller]

Another pic from the Canadian Encyclopedia:

[ravman]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Another pic from the Canadian Encyclopedia:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Remember the CP and Air Canada gondolas at Expo 86?

wow... i was "non-existant" ( i dont know how else to put it... preborn?) then but i can only imagine if it were here today.... it would have rocked if they kept it....

[lightrail]

Originally Posted by ravman

Project Fast Facts

• During peak hours buses depart every 90 seconds between Production Way SkyTrain station and SFU; Gondolas can leave as quickly as every 15 seconds.

• In ideal conditions it takes buses 14 minutes to get to SFU; the gondola will take six.

• Two-thirds of SFU students and use transit to get to the university and 40 per cent of UniverCity residents do as well.

• It is expected the 19,000 who currently travel to SFU daily will increase to 37,500 by 2030

• On approximately 10 days each year, bus service to SFU is either severely hampered or cancelled due to weather conditions, impacting as many as 20,000 rider trips for each day of impacted service.

• Loading and unloading of the Burnaby Mountain gondola would be universally accessible due to the very low speeds in the terminal buildings and a level threshold with no step, and gondola cabins would be outfitted with flip seating to accommodate wheelchairs, strollers and bikes.

So bus capacity (articulated) is about 120 people every 90 seconds, or 4,800 people per hour.

Gondola, like Whistler, capacity is 22 people every 15 seconds, or 5,280

So the Gondola could theoretically carry more passengers than the current buses.

[LeftCoaster]

I wonder if you could fit more in the transit gondola as they dont need to be designed for people with skis and boards or if that is the maximum weight the cars can hold.

[wrenegade]

I'm pretty sure the capacity of the Peak2Peak cabins is 28, but the frequency is every 49 seconds, not 15. Of course, an SFU gondola could have more cabins to achieve the higher numbers. Probably was considered and that's a contributing factor as to why the price tag is higher than the Peak2Peak. Didn't really think of that until now. Whoops.

[mr.x]

^ Peak2Peak's capacity is 2,002 passengers per hour per direction. With a 15-sec frequency, using more cabins supported by more towers, that would double an SFU gondola's capacity to more than 4,000 pphpd.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i thought that land was already all bought up by a developer planning something like 45,000 homes ??

Sounds like your thinking about Burke Mountain in Poco.

What im pointing at is NW Port Moody, Imperial Oil holds 270 hectares of develop able property up there. Infact its among the largest if not the largest chunks of undeveloped land in the region. A good portion of the land housed a oil refinery until 1995 when it shut down. there is also a thermal power plant there still running as far as i know but its years are numbered(im dont think it even runs at capacity anymore and the GVRD plans to fully shut it).

Anyways the problem with the area is connections to the rest of the region, Anmore is backwards and they wont allow and road expansion through their town and Port Moody has one road connection and thats Ioco road which is congested and virtually impossible to expand. This means Port Moody isnt allowing any significant and high density developments there.

Now if you build the gondola all the way there create a solid plan for a new bridge to the area at some point then you could significantly upzone the land and probably take a nice chunk for yourself as payment for the tram connection and the eventual bridge.

Right now from what I understand Northern Port Moody has plans for a additional 10,000 people, with this just the Imperial Oil lands could hold 50,000+ people easily.

Here is a old Vancouver Sun article

Imperial Oil plans big redevelopment
Petroleum company could reap millions on its massive real estate holdings around the former Ioco oil refinery
Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

ANMORE I A property developer hired by the giant Imperial Oil Company is having a private meeting today with councillors from the tiny village of Anmore about Imperial's plans to start redeveloping its massive land holdings around the former oil refinery at Ioco.

Canada's largest petroleum company owns 263 hectares of industrial-zoned land and forest in Anmore and Port Moody.

It's an area that would cover two-thirds of 400-hectare Stanley Park -- a real estate empire that could give Imperial Oil many millions of dollars in profits if the two municipalities rezoned the land for high-end houses or medium-density condominiums with sweeping views of Burrard Inlet.
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A new subdivision at the northern edge of Imperial's land illustrates how much some people are willing to pay for a new house in a forest without any ocean view.

Property search records show that someone bought one of the "luxury executive residences" at Crystal Creek at White Pine for almost $1.5 million in January, although the 2008 assessed value was $744,000.

The developer making an in-camera presentation to Anmore council this evening is Michael Geller, who managed the creation of the UniverCity community next to the Burnaby Mountain campus of Simon Fraser University. Two thousand people now live there; about 10,000 eventually will.

Geller, who said Imperial hired him because of his work at SFU, has a large template to work with.

"This is probably the largest undeveloped properties, outside the Agricultural Land Reserve, in the region," he said during an interview before the meeting. "I get pretty excited about what might happen one day, but it's also quite possible that nothing will happen there for another 10 years."

Anmore Mayor Harold Weinberg said he's waiting to see what Geller proposes and whether it fits with the official community plan. "But there's a hiccup to this whole thing," Weinberg added. "Any development has to occur in collaboration with the city of Port Moody."

Port Moody planning director Tim Savoie wouldn't disclose whether Geller is also knocking on that city's doors, because Savoie said all talks with property owners and developers are confidential until a development permit is filed. But if Imperial does seek Port Moody's green light, Savoie pointed to some conditions. One was the construction of a new road or bypass to take traffic away from Ioco Road -- a two-lane road that's already overwhelmed with traffic.

"In the summer, I can't even get of my driveway," said Ann Hulbert, an Ioco Road resident and former Port Moody councillor who wants a bypass built before Ioco is redeveloped.

gbohn@png.canwest.com

[Spork]

What is the capacity of the current transit system at SFU? Certainly it has to be less frequent than every 90 seconds because there is VERY little layover space. Every 3 minutes maybe? Total hourly capacity of 2400 people?

With cabins the same size of Whistler and 15 second frequency (stated by the article that Ravman posted), that would give the gondola a capacity of 6720 people per hour. With a 6 minute ride to the top (assuming 30 seconds each end for unloading/loading), this would require only 52 gondola cars at max capacity.

This seems like a VERY feasible idea given the ultimate possible capacity increase, decrease in trip time, and negligible extra cost incurred.

Additionally, they were filming a story about this up at the SFU loop while I was waiting for the bus, talking about it and interviewing students and such. It should be on Global tonight.

[twoNeurons]

Killer view AND a tourist attraction.
from google images:

[crazyjoeda]

This is such an awesome idea.

[hollywoodnorth]

great idea cornholio

[deasine]

I like it too... TransLink and SFU should actually partner with the developer in order to make that happen properly.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by tintinium

Killer view AND a tourist attraction.
from google images:

thats a pretty long walk from SFU

[jlousa]

This project will completely depend on what safety regulations will allow.
Translink would save money if they are only required to have 2-3 people at each station, instead of over a dozen drivers. not to mention the electric bill
would be must less then the current diesel bill.

The downsides are if they are required to have an attendant in each car that will kill the project right off the bat. The other downside I can see is it's not scalable, you can't add capacity during rush hours or take it away during quiet periods.

[SpongeG]

yah but ridership could be staggered - not all classes start or end at the same time and people would adjust if they knew they would have a long line up to wait they might linger longer on the campus or whatever

[LeftCoaster]

Why not? most of the high speed detatchable gondolas these days come off quite easily, I dont see why a custom design couldn't be engineered to allow for quick removal and addition of cars.

[nname]

Originally Posted by jlousa

The downsides are if they are required to have an attendant in each car that will kill the project right off the bat. The other downside I can see is it's not scalable, you can't add capacity during rush hours or take it away during quiet periods.

Edit

I guess I got Aerial tram mixed up with Gondola... but I haven't seen a Gondola that has attendant, even in Canada..