Despite criticisms, SFSS holds gondola project contest
The SFSS is hoping to bring the proposed gondola project for Burnaby Mountain back into public dialogue. “I Like It On Top: Project Gondola” is a media contest inviting students and members of the Burnaby Mountain community to submit videos, photos or articles for a chance to win one of three cash prizes, valued at a total of $2,000.
According to SFSS External Relations Officer, Meaghan Wilson, “the whole point of the competition is to raise awareness.” Wilson noted that the Broadway corridor and Surrey rapid transit lines are hot topics in the media right now, while there’s a lack in gondola project coverage.
The SFSS hopes that “I Like It On Top: Project Gondola” will help push the gondola project forward and “make it a priority within TransLink, because it is currently on the backburner,” Wilson stated. “We feel as the SFSS that it’s necessary to implement a more efficient means of transit for our students.”
As much as the SFSS hopes to increase awareness for the gondola, TransLink is firm that this project won’t be seriously looked at for many years. “As with all expansion projects, our existing funding does not allow us to pursue this project at this time, but it will be considered for inclusion in future plans, along with rapid transit in Surrey, Broadway and many other regional needs,” Darek Zabel of TransLink Media Relations told The Peak.
In 2010 and 2011, TransLink hired the engineering company, CHM2 HILL, to conduct a business case analysis on the feasibility of the gondola project. According to the business case, the gondola would cost approximately $120 million to build and approximately $3.5 million to maintain every year. “The study concluded the concept had considerable merit,” Zabel stated. Among the benefits, Zabel noted an increase in transit trips, quicker commute times, and a reduction in “greenhouse gases by replacing a portion of the busy bus service to Burnaby Mountain,” to be favorable.
“When you look at the cost that TransLink spends just to employ their bus drivers, they would save a great deal,” Wilson surmised. “You look at the buses and they are not meant to be running up and down a mountain,” she continued. “There would no longer be any more snow days at school.”
Despite these benefits, the project faces opposition from neighbours, particularly in Burnaby’s Forest Grove community, where one of the proposed gondola routes would pass over. “The number one line or number one route that Translink has proposed would be from Production Way Terminal to UniverCity,” explained Wilson.
According to Citizens Opposed to the Gondola, the creators of the website nogondola. org, the gondola “threatens to cause further delays to the Evergreen line, cost taxpayers millions of dollars, and disrupt the peaceful Forest Grove community.” Further concerns are around noise from the gondola as well as privacy for the residents. However, Wilson questioned the negative claims made by the group, stating that the gondola would be much different than the tourist models found on Grouse Mountain.
“This model would be all blacked out and you would only be able to see at the horizon level,” Wilson explained. “Students would not be able to go look down into their backyards, this would be obstructed.”
Wilson also questions the noise concerns raised by the citizens, stating, “From my understanding, the Forest Grove community is right by Gaglardi Way, which is a major thoroughfare up Burnaby Mountain, so it’s a very noisy route with buses rattling up and down.”
At the time of print, Citizens Opposed to the Gondola could not be reached for comment.
