(Photo from Translink)

A few days ago, an article about a new transit system in Anaheim, California came across my screen. Apparently, a gondola system is being considered that would connect all the city’s tourist traps, which got me thinking about a similar project back home.

Burnaby Mountain is getting a gondola sometime in the (realativley) near future, and if you asked me what I thought about the project a year ago, I’d probably tell you it’s stupid waste of money. I, like many, assumed that gondolas were associated primarily with tourist attractions, such as ski resorts. Even Disneyland had its own gondolas at one point. But, to my surprise, gondolas are more popular than I thought. According to TransLink, there are over 20,000 ropeway systems in use around the world, only one of those being at a Disney resort. So they might be a better idea than I initially thought, but what exactly makes this new system so exciting?

Efficiency is the name of the game. There’s an entire city on top of Burnaby Mountain, UniverCity, which is home to one of BC’s most prominent universities, SFU. Most of my friends are students there, and I’ve travelled with them on their morning commutes several times. From what I can gather, I’m not exactly jealous of them. It’s a mess of traffic, buses and commuters clogging the roads, and when there’s a single snowflake in the air, things become borderline apocalyptic. So what does a gondola offer?

For starters, TransLink says the capacity of each cabin is about 30 people. When I envisioned this project, I pictured those Disneyland Skybuckets I mentioned earlier, which had a capacity of about 5—quite the upgrade. Cabins would depart every minute during peak hours, so almost 4,000 people could get up the mountain every hour. Sounds good, right? Well, kind of. SFU Burnaby has about 30,000 students, which doesn’t seem to bode well for the gondola. However, one must consider that A, the ride up is about half the length of a bus ride, B, there’s no traffic, and C, not everyone on the mountain commutes to the student residences up there. The gondola isn’t meant to be a replacement for buses or cars, merely an addition.

Ecologically, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that cable cars are also better for the environment, producing 60% fewer emissions per passenger than even electric buses. I’m evidently pro-gondola, but what are the negatives? Well, if you happen to live anywhere near or along the route, the view out your window is going to change significantly. It seems some Burnaby residents are opposed to the gondola for the simple reason that giant cable towers aren’t exactly their idea of “picturesque”. I understand the criticism, although I’d prefer looking at a sky highway than the massive concrete girders of the Skytrain any day. And of course, buses have a higher capacity overall, but unlike a gondola, the system doesn’t become a death trap in snowy conditions quite as easily.

At the end of the day, a gondola on Burnaby Mountain isn’t a massive concern for me, considering I’m not an SFU student, nor do I often trek up to UniverCity, so that begs the question: what do they think about all of this? I talked with a third-year student at SFU about the issue. Here’s what he had to say:

“I think that’s the best idea they’ve ever had. It would make the commute up the mountain a lot better, as the buses are really slow and use a lot of gas. A lot of my friends who transit up the mountain all believe that it would be a great benefit.”

The student requested to remain anonymous.

There are no exact details on the project yet, not even a construction timeline, so who knows when the thing will begin operations. However, one thing’s for sure: I’m going to enjoy joyrides on Metro Vancouver’s only gondola as often as I can.