Uphill Climb: Cities Push Gondolas on Skeptical Commuters - WSJ

12/5/2018 Uphill Climb: Cities Push Gondolas on Skeptical Commuters - WSJ

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/uphill-climb-cities-push-gondolas-on-skeptical-commuters-1465237251

AHED Uphill Climb: Cities Push Gondolas on Skeptical Commuters Aerial gondolas for cities face a tough climb; the Icarus problem

La Paz, Bolivia's urban gondola system, known as “Mi Teleférico,” transports around 60,000 passengers a day. The network consists of three lines stretching over 6 miles. DOPPELMAYR

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By Josh Zumbrun June 6, 2016 220 p.m. ET

The ﬁrst challenge in building an aerial gondola system in a major American city is convincing people that, yes, this is a completely serious proposal.

Cities across the U.S. are enthralled with gondolas. Aerial cable-propelled transit systems are being considered in Brooklyn, Washington, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buﬀalo, Baton Rouge, Austin, Tampa Bay and Miami.

Whether the gondolas are for commuting or tourism, advocates hope they can persuade cities to approve the ropeways and people to take to the skies.

Gondola enthusiasts, such as Steven Dale, president of Creative Urban Projects, which consults on aerial-transit initiatives, admit it can be an uphill climb.

“It’s the ﬁrst question we always get, whether from a government agency or the public,” said Mr. Dale. “Is this just a totally stupid idea?” https://www.wsj.com/articles/uphill-climb-cities-push-gondolas-on-skeptical-commuters-1465237251 1/4 12/5/2018 Uphill Climb: Cities Push Gondolas on Skeptical Commuters - WSJ The technology is simple enough: Pods clamp to a steel cable that moves between two stations. Towers along the way hold the cables aloft. If systems are in the hands of competent planners, they can traverse diﬃcult terrain with much less infrastructure, and thus less cost, than new bridges or subways.

Many Americans have ridden gondolas, or their cousins, aerial trams and cable cars, at ski resorts. They are mostly unfamiliar in U.S. cities, but aerial transit is gaining popularity internationally. South American and Middle Eastern cities are building longer networks. La Paz, Bolivia, for example, has a six-mile commuter system.

Some make short hops up a hill or across a river, like London’s aerial cable car that opened in 2012. Portland, Ore., and New York City’s Roosevelt Island have short urban lines, too.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is considering whether a large medical center near the congested fork of two highways could use a gondola.

To introduce the idea to the community, the foundation sent cryptic invitations for a presentation about the future. No mention of gondolas. It didn’t want people getting preconceived notions, said Beverly Moore Haydel, a foundation oﬃcial.

“You should have seen the looks on their faces when we said, ‘We’re going to talk to you about gondolas in Baton Rouge,’” she said.

Eric Dexter was in the audience. “When they started talking gondolas, the majority of the room was confused,” he said. “We don’t have trains. Most people get everywhere in a car. So to talk gondolas sounds like a very far-fetched Jetsons-type of idea. A knee-jerk reaction was: We don’t have the money to pay for anything like that.”

The presentation warmed him to the idea, at least somewhat. He lives near the medical center where the gondola was proposed. “It’s like Frogger, with doctors and nurses dodging across the street just to get lunch,” he said. “People get in their cars to cross the street.”

Jared Ficklin, a gondola advocate, presented a variation of his TED talk about proposing a system called “the Wire” in Austin.

When he ﬁrst started talking about Texan gondolas, people asked him: “Why do you want to ﬂood the streets?” Most Americans hear “gondolas” and think Venice, he said.

“It’s Icarus and Daedalus, man,” said Mr. Ficklin. “People’s minds automatically make those primal connections—man isn’t supposed to ﬂy.”

There aren’t comprehensive international statistics on gondola accidents. In 2006, New York’s Roosevelt Island Tramway stalled in midair because of a power outage. Unlike passengers on a broken-down bus, the riders couldn’t just exit out the door, so they dangled there for hours. Nobody was harmed. Research from the National Ski Areas Association said lifts—including more-precarious open-air ski lifts—have one-ﬁfth the fatality incidence of elevators.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uphill-climb-cities-push-gondolas-on-skeptical-commuters-1465237251 2/4 12/5/2018 Uphill Climb: Cities Push Gondolas on Skeptical Commuters - WSJ Several U.S. systems are inching toward reality. The Chicago Skyline, which would link Navy Pier to the Chicago Riverwalk, was designed by architect Steven Davis, who created the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

See Aerial Gondolas Being Proposed for U.S. Cities A number of cities are considering aerial cable-propelled transit systems. Here are some renderings of what they would look like.

In New York, the proposed East River Skyway would transport commuters (and presumably some tourists) back and forth from the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, waterfront to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. EAST RIVER SKYWAY

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To help generate public enthusiasm, Mr. Davis sought to design a “gossamer” system that echoes Chicago’s architectural history. After all, he said, the city was home of Modernist architectural master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, of Daniel Burnham’s “White City” and the original Ferris wheel.

Chicago’s system, an estimated $250 million project, has been proposed entirely with private ﬁnancing, as has the East River Skyway from Brooklyn’s waterfront to Manhattan.

Markus Schrentewein, chief executive of Doppelmayr Cable Car, one of two main gondola manufacturers, said until recently he was often described as the guy who “did the ski lift at Vail.” (Both Doppelmayr and its main competitor, Leitner Poma, are based in the Alps.) In the last 18 months, U.S. cities have begun to take the systems more seriously, he said.

In transit communities, projects that sound complicated and unnecessary go by the German epithet “gadgetbahn.” If early gondolas are successful, advocates hope gondolas can shake this label.

Will Handsﬁeld, transportation director of Georgetown’s Business Improvement District, has won funding for a feasibility study linking a Metro station in Arlington, Va., to Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Around 3 p.m. on a recent rainy day, Mr. Handsfield huddled under the awning of a gas station at the foot of the traffic-jammed Key Bridge, watching a dozen hardy pedestrians trek across the bridge. https://www.wsj.com/articles/uphill-climb-cities-push-gondolas-on-skeptical-commuters-1465237251 3/4 12/5/2018 Uphill Climb: Cities Push Gondolas on Skeptical Commuters - WSJ “Look at the traffic,” he said. “It’s not even rush hour. And look how many people are still walking across the bridge in the rain.”

The gondola would carry riders over a highway interchange in Virginia known to locals as the “intersection of doom.” The Georgetown gondola station could have entrances at the top and bottom of a cliﬀ currently climbed only by 97 stairs known as the “Exorcist Steps” because a priest in the horror ﬁlm plunges down them to his death.

On the other side of that route, skeptics remain because of recent “boondoggles and vanity projects,” said Christopher Slatt, chairman of Arlington County’s Transportation Commission. Arlington recently built a single bus stop that cost $1 million (and still had a leaky roof). In Washington, a short streetcar route opened this year, four years behind schedule and tens of millions over budget.

“I have deﬁnitely heard from some citizens that the very notion of a gondola is too ridiculous to even be considered,” said Mr. Slatt. “Why give transit critics ammunition by advancing something that may turn out to be a waste of time and eﬀort?”

Corrections & Amplifications: The gondola systems in Chicago and New York have been proposed entirely with private financing. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said they would be publicly financed. (June 6, 2016)

Appeared in the June 7, 2016, print edition as 'Here’s a Transit Plan That’s Hard to String Along.'

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