Dear editor,
Re: Student Society says
“We Like It On Top”
The proposed gondola for Burnaby Mountain was spearheaded by the manufacturer looking to make another sale (after installing the Peak2Peak gondola in Whistler).
Rather than ending gridlock, the proposed cable car would facilitate the
speedy development of the UniverCity community. Left unmentioned are the added service vehicle trips on Burnaby Mountain roads to the upper gondola station’s viewing tower, restaurant (and casino) and condos.
A few years ago, in a moment of candor, the mayor of Burnaby, Derek Corrigan, gushed about the financial benefits to the city of the cable car as a tourist attraction (not as a mode of transportation). TransLink’s budget allocation to build and operate the gondola would in fact take away from traditional transit service for private profit.
A key argument claimed in favour of the proposed Burnaby Mountain cable car is that it will cut the travel time in half between Production Way Station and SFU campus. But it is the door-to-door trip time that really counts.
Leaving my home around 7:30am on a weekday, TransLink’s Trip Planner web site informs me that it will take about 34 minutes to reach the central plaza on campus. With the proposed cable car, the same trip from home to campus may take about 36 minutes. One quarter of this time is walking uphill in the rain from the upper “Town Centre” gondola station to the central campus plaza.
A TransLink information sheet advised that bus operations on Burnaby Mountain are interrupted or delayed on an average of about 10 days a year. Can we believe that a mid-air cable car will be more reliable in icing conditions, electrical storms, or gusting winds?
The proposed cable car is a tourist attraction and property development bauble but it may not be a public transportation improvement. Cable cars are simply “lipstick on a pig” of poor urban development..
Sincerely,
Derek Wilson
Concerned Community Resident
