Gondolas - A new method to solve mass transit in cities?

[HeyHey]

I was brainstorming the other day on new methods of moving people around cities efficiently, cleanly, and inexpensively. We often hear about light rail, but it is incredibly expensive. Most cities less than a million people or so can't afford it, and if they can afford developing light rail it is only a single line with limited service. It also takes an incredibly long time to plan, fund, and build (probably 7-10 years from the point of serious discussions beginning). I was trying to think of a way to move people that would quicker to develop, cheaper to build, and something that can easily fit into any city.

I remembered back to a few years ago when I travelled out to Telluride, Colorado, for a ski trip. Telluride has a gondola that takes people from an area called Moutain Village to the town of Telluride. The trip is roughly 3 miles and takes 12 minutes to travel to the full length, and you have the option of stopping midway at a transfer station to get to another area of development. The gondolas can comfortably hold four people and are completely enclosed thereby protecting passengers from the elements. These gondolas also slow down to a creeping speed at the stations facilitating easy transfer on/off. I have also heard that there are plans to use a similar (but possible faster) gondola system to connect Breckenridge and Vail.


A system like this in mid-sized cities would be a phenomenal way to travel! Here are some pros to establishing a mass-transit system like this:

1. Much cheaper development costs than light rail. Telluride spent about $16 million on theirs. That's $5-6 million/mile compared to light rail costs of ~$50 million per mile.
2. Land aquisition is much less of an issue since current right-of-way could be used. The gondolas could actually travel directly above traffic with support pillars in the medians or adjacent to the roads.
3. Immediate service. Gondolas come into the station every 30-60 seconds. Missing a bus or train is incredibly annoying when you have to wait another 10 or 15 minutes (at best) for the next one.
4. Increased capacity compared to bus routes or light rail.
5. Quick time-frame for construction. Time-frame of months instead of years.
6. All electric. Could be coupled to solar or wind.
7. Scenic views. The viewpoint from these would be second-to-none.
8. The ability to run these routes over existing right-of-way would enable planners to build routes that are most demanded instead of having to settle for which routes would be most feasible cost-wise.
9. Building an entire system would yield benefits that are more than the sum of the individual parts (5 interconnected lines will bring more passengers than 5 individual lines). This is something that no city has been able to do with light rail.

There may well be plans drawn up for this type of transit, and there may be some factor that is prohibitive. But I thought it was interesting to think about nonetheless. Any ideas on this or reasons why it would or wouldn't work?