Editor:
Re: SFU student lobbies mayors’ council over gondola, NOW, Feb. 21
The proponents of the cable car claim service time to and from SFU will be improved.
I suggest that total door-to-door trip times may be longer by cable car, especially for people commuting by bus from the northeast and northwest. Proponents may be overlooking the five (or more) minute uphill walk from the remote upper cable car station to the centre of campus.
The proponents claim that operating costs will be reduced as bus operations are scaled back. I suggest that continuation of local community bus services both within the SFU campus and in the residential neighbourhoods at the foot of Burnaby Mountain will offset most of the alleged cost savings.
While bus service is curtailed on a few snow days annually, gondola operations might be curtailed on many more windy days that are becoming more frequent from global atmospheric warming.
Gondolas are at risk of accidents and breakdowns as buses, but don’t offer backup capability.
Would the proponents be so enthusiastic if TransLink were to impose a $5 add-fare on gondola passengers leaving the mountain in the same way they are recovering the cost of the Canada Line to Vancouver International Airport?
The true justification for this aerial mode of transportation was revealed by the former mayor of Burnaby, who said that it would be a “spectacular tourist attraction.” Expect a viewing tower and revolving restaurant at the upper gondola station.
Derek Wilson, Port Moody
