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By mdrejhon (registered) - website | Posted November 10, 2015 at 12:32:18 in reply to Comment 114780
An example of an inexpensive 4-person open-air gondola at Blue Mountain:
They operate pretty slowly (roughly twice walking speed), have rudimentary non-luxurious stations, with minimal wear and tear on cable, very low operating costs; in some locations are staffed with only 2 people (above/below).
With low power consumption, even a batch of car batteries (UPS) is enough to power it in an emergency for 3 minutes to empty the lift during an electric power outage -- the motors are really tiny for short lengths (less than 10 kilowatts -- the electric power needed to start a car)!
This isn't luxury stuff or overkill, just a cheap open bucket lift, with space big enough for 1 wheelchair, and a super-short length of approximately 500 or 750 meters connecting the corners of two parks above/below in a short 3-minute ride.
It will undoubtedly increase #HamOntStairs traffic, by the sheer increase of cross-escarpment pedestrian traffic, and stairs are available if you can't afford the fare both ways. And there are people like going down the stairs, but often hate going up the stairs. (Older people, families, etc). It is a great public transit enhancement, community enhancement, and brings more people outdoors in general, given the walking needed to gondola stations anyway; and the great opportunities to connect the upper/lower BIAs, etc.
Now you can bring your baby stroller, family, enjoy the parks (a "Family Destination"), and live up to being a great place for families. The talking points are a no-brainer for a lot of us, considering the cost of this gondola is barely 4 city buses (if that), but will serve a far greater public transit good -- including Mountain residents visiting TiCats games, reach the future B-Line LRT, etc.
GagePark-MountainPark is an ideal place for a gondola because it's very far away from access roads (it's right in between two major access roads), and Google Transit shows almost a 1-hour public transit ride between Mountain Park and Gage Park, including the far longer waiting time for a bus.
Nothing pretentious, just utilitarian, purely Hamiltonian, something everybody can use, and actually pays for itself operationally far better than a bus (full farebox recovery + funds reserve fund for future maintenance/cable replacement), while providing really cheap fares that could perhaps integrate with existing transit options at the time (HSR/LRT/SoBi/etc)
Comment edited by mdrejhon on 2015-11-10 13:55:47
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