SFU/Burnaby Mtn Gondola | Proposed

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by madog222

The environmental screening review has be added to the project page and has a few bits of fresh information.
Towers will be up to 100m tall, for comparison the Peak 2 Peak’s tallest tower is 65m.
Also, for the report they are assuming standard lattice towers but do state “Innovation in tower design is being considered to minimize at-grade footprint effects.”

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/tra...ing-review.pdf

good to see this project keep progressing. such an easy, cheap (relatively) project that should have been done back in 2009. so many benefits.

lets hope it gets funded by that 2025 they note in the report. 3yrs of construction is what theyre expecting it seemed.

would be nice to have Langley SkyTrain, Broadway Subway, SFU Gondola all open by the end of the decade.

UBCx maybe by mid-2030s. probably not.

[chowhou]

It's a little bothersome to me that such a no-brainer project hasn't even gotten to the planning stages yet.

The capital cost is extremely low for a transit project.
The construction process is pretty trivial compared to other transit projects. (Terminal stations + a couple of towers)
BC has probably some of the most experience world-wide building and working with gondolas.
The project will take busses off the road reducing emissions, maintenance, and driver salaries.
The gondola will be able to operate in all conditions as opposed to busses.
It will be a tourist attraction.

But I guess $200m is too much to ask for for all those benefits?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Until 2018, TransLink was up against ex-mayor Derek Corrigan siding with the NIMBYs and questioning the cost-benefit. After 2018, they were up against the NIMBYs directly. They could be shovel ready by 2026.

[CanSpice]

In TransLink's current financial shape, what are the odds that this gets pushed back substantially?

[Metro-One]

Can some crazed billionaire who attended SFU at one point just step up and say, "Fuck it, I'll pay for it, let's get this started today."

Seriously, the endless lack of movement on this most obvious, simplest, most straight forward project is the perfect example of everything wrong with our system.

[Helvetia]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

In TransLink's current financial shape, what are the odds that this gets pushed back substantially?

It's a capital expense, yes, but it would actually save operating funds in the long term compared to running buses IIRC.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

In TransLink's current financial shape, what are the odds that this gets pushed back substantially?

It is a provincial election year. I have a feeling we’ll see a new funding model for Translink promised by the NDP.

[BaddieB]

Gondola to SFU seems like the easiest campaign promise the BCNDP could do.

Although my theory is they're going to announce the North Shore to Metrotown Skytrain instead, on a new second narrows bridge with 3 or 4 car lanes too. A bridge helped them win in 2017 so they might try that strategy again. It just seems like a project that has been long overdue. Same goes for the federal Liberals as they would want to keep their North Shore seats.

And if that project happens, it's going to cost a whole lot more and take funds and attention away from SFU.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

Gondola to SFU seems like the easiest campaign promise the BCNDP could do.

Although my theory is they're going to announce the North Shore to Metrotown Skytrain instead, on a new second narrows bridge with 3 or 4 car lanes too. A bridge helped them win in 2017 so they might try that strategy again. It just seems like a project that has been long overdue. Same goes for the federal Liberals as they would want to keep their North Shore seats.

And if that project happens, it's going to cost a whole lot more and take funds and attention away from SFU.

A firm promise of the Purple Line combined with a new expanded Iron Workers' Memorial Bridge would be nice, but that is far too down the pipeline and in the very early stages of study and far far far too ambitious for this NDP government to be on the table. Honestly, since they took office all they have gotten off the ground is a six station subway extension that wont open until 2027 now and the 8 station Expo Line extension that has yet to officially begin construction, and both were projects long in the the planning before the NDP took power.

At best they will promise the second phase of the Broadway Extension to UBC, which I guess will have an opening date as far away as 2032 at this point, with a vague promise of assessing the Purple Line after that.

Oh, and they will promise the George Massey Tunnel replacement, again, and we are now 2 years after what would have been the completion of the new bridge, interchanges, and centre lane rapid bus system with dedicated free flowing ramps had it not been cancelled.

As for the SFU Gondola, it feels like a carrot that is used every election cycle but is never given firm action. So again, I expect the same.

In short, the full extension to UBC is the only firm promise I'm expecting transit infrastructure wise in the province.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

A firm promise of the Purple Line combined with a new expanded Iron Workers' Memorial Bridge would be nice, but that is far too down the pipeline and in the very early stages of study and far far far too ambitious for this NDP government to be on the table. Honestly, since they took office all they have gotten off the ground is a six station subway extension that wont open until 2027 now and the 8 station Expo Line extension that has yet to officially begin construction, and both were projects long in the the planning before the NDP took power.

At best they will promise the second phase of the Broadway Extension to UBC, which I guess will have an opening date as far away as 2032 at this point, with a vague promise of assessing the Purple Line after that.

Oh, and they will promise the George Massey Tunnel replacement, again, and we are now 2 years after what would have been the completion of the new bridge, interchanges, and centre lane rapid bus system with dedicated free flowing ramps had it not been cancelled.

As for the SFU Gondola, it feels like a carrot that is used every election cycle but is never given firm action. So again, I expect the same.

In short, the full extension to UBC is the only firm promise I'm expecting transit infrastructure wise in the province.

Don't forget all of these projects you mention are contingent on the federal government kicking in their portion of the bill, which for the GMT and the new 10-year transit plan (which includes funding for UBCx and the SFU gondola), hasn't happened yet.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

i wouldnt count on federal funding for projects out west. the federal liberals are going to be concentrating on the east, where they will try to buy seats.

we just dont have enough seats for them to want to try and buy us off, unlike ontario and quebec.

[BaddieB]

Trudeau tried to buy out Surrey and Langley with SLS in 2021. But yes, we get less attention.