Quote:
Originally Posted by RyLucky
Gondola
Capital: $100-200M
Operating Cost: $1.7-3.5M/yr
Shortens trips between Westbrook-Foothills by 17-18 minutes
Shortens trips between Westbrook-UofC by 3-4 minutes
Shortens trips between Foothills-UofC by 3-4 minutes
Ped/bike/bus bridge
Capital: $100-200M
Operating Cost: $1.5-2M/yr
Shortens trips between Westbrook-Foothills by 3-4 minutes
Shortens trips between Westbrook-UofC by 3-4 minutes
Shortens trips between Foothills-UofC by 0 minutes
Also shortens trips between other destinations in the NW and SW that gondola wont, plus it benefits cyclists and pedestrians, and it may be upgradable to rail one day.
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A gondola is a very pedestrian friendly form of transit that turns a very long walk (that not many people are likely to do in poor weather) into a quick scenic ride over the river to a stop that allows for a quick walk into the Foothills or university. A gondola could fairly easily be built to allow bikes to also be brought on board to allow for the merging of biking and a gondola trip.
My condo is in Spruce Cliff and when I was going to university I can guarantee I would not have walked to University even with a bridge that went straight out of Spruce Cliff (there is already a pedestrian bridge under Crowchild). I definitely was not going to take the LRT due to the transfer and extra time investment, and I am not a fan of busses so that was out. I most certainly would have taken a gondola trip though, just as if I lived in Spruce Cliff still and worked in DT Calgary I would definitely take the LRT to work.
In the world of transit busses have a stigma, people are a lot more likely to take the LRT or a well built gondola trip that would never consider taking a bus. It might not be right, but that is certainly the reality for many people.
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