The working theory amongst city builders whenever a group of NIMBYs (NOMBYs?) pipe up about any given development in an urban environment is that people simply don’t like change. That’s nonsense. People love change. If you get a sought-after job, a new girlfriend/boyfriend, a first car or win a million dollars your life is going to...
A few weeks ago we learned about the I Like it On Top contest held by Simon Fraser University. Through submissions of their own work, students were invited to help raise awareness about the merits of the Burnaby Mountain Gondola. The contest ended on April 7th and last week Zied Masmoudi was declared the winner. Congrats!...
Regular readers of The Gondola Project are familiar with the difficulties the Burnaby Mountain gondola has experienced getting off the ground (pun intended). The proposed system – which is to serve the student, faculty and resident population of Simon Fraser University (SFU) – while having significant merit, has hit a couple of roadblocks along the...
Nick Smith of Vancouver offers an interesting take on Vancouver’s planned Evergreen Skytrain Line and it’s impact on the shelved Burnaby Mountain Gondola plan. His basic thesis is that the Evergreen Line will cause an increased need for the gondola and dramatically increase the benefit-cost-ratio of the system. As Nick says: “What this all amounts...
Last week Translink finally released the Business Case for the Burnaby Mountain Gondola Transit proposal. There were two main findings in the study: Firstly, that the construction of the system would provide enormous benefits to transit riders, Translink and Simon Fraser University. After attaching a dollar figure to those benefits, the benefits could be valued...
The long in-gestation Burnaby Mountain Gondola Project Business Case has been released by Translink as well as the Alternatives Analysis. The two documents, combined, are roughly 110 pages and as it’s been available for less than 24 hours, we’ve yet to go through it all. As such, we’re going to save our comments for next...
Since the Gondola Project’s inception two years ago, reception (for the most part) has been overwhelmingly positive with interest in gondola transit rising dramatically. (Thanks again everyone! Keep the emails/comments coming!). While there’s more work to be done, we’ve managed to successfully help bridge the knowledge gap between the institutions of city/transportation planning and urban...
(Voluntary Disclosure: This past summer I was retained by Translink – at their behest – to meet with stakeholders in Vancouver associated with the Burnaby Mountain Gondola proposal; tour the proposed route of the gondola; and give a presentation to select staff of Translink and CH2M Hill on best practices in Cable Propelled Transit systems....
(Voluntary Disclosure: Last week I was retained by Translink – at their behest – to meet with stakeholders in Vancouver associated with the Burnaby Mountain Gondola proposal; tour the proposed route of the gondola; and give a presentation to select staff of Translink and CH2M Hill on best practices in Cable Propelled Transit systems. The...
(Like yesterday’s post, this one is going to be a long one. My apologies to anyone whose not overly interested in Vancouver, Burnaby Mountain or its urban gondola transit system.) Yesterday I discussed the issues I had with how Translink chose to communicate their decision-making process to the public as they prepared for a series...