Godrey still wants to play with aerial gondolas in Ogden...

Portland_Strtcr_GoBy3
Originally uploaded by RACTOD

Apparently Mayor Godfrey up in Ogden is still dreaming of that wonderful urban gondola project instead of looking at what the best transportation options for the city is.

First here is some reading material:

Weber council weighs Ogden transit plan

Weber County Forum Responds

Gondola Comparison

Now let’s take a look at the Gondola comparison prepared by the city of Ogden. The first thing you will notice is that the only project that has been built that even comes close to what Godfrey wants is down in Columbia. Other than that all the other urban gondola projects are pipe dreams.

One thing that is not mentioned anywhere in the comparison is what happens to the urban fabric between the gondola stations.

The first gondola mentioned is the Roosevelt Island Gondola in New York City. This was built before Roosevelt Island had a subway station which opened in 1989. One thing to note is the ridership. Our two TRAX lines carry the same number of passengers in less than two years than the Roosevelt Island gondola has in its 30 years of existence. Also there is no comparison to the urban fabric since the Roosevelt Island gondola primarily travels over the East River.

The next gondola project talked about was MART which was part of the New Orleans Worlds Fair. This is another gondola that traveled over water so had no effect on the urban fabric it passed over. An interesting point about this gondola is that there was plans to continue operating it after the fair but that last less than six months and was later torn down on the orders of the Coast Guard. Another interesting facet is that ridership during the fair boom was less than half of what projected by the backers of the system.

The next one compared is Telluride Colorado which travels from the historic city to the Mountain Village area. Once again it is hard to compare as this one is designed to carry people from the historic town which is located in a narrow valley up to the village which sits 1800 feet higher than the historic village. Once again there is no real urban fabric that the gondola travels over.

The third gondola compared is the only one that comes close to what Godfrey is trying to build and that is the urban gondola in Medellin, Columbia. This one is designed to take people from a poor section of town to the main transportation hub. Of course the gondola like Miami’s Metromover travels over city streets and does little for the urban fabric is passes over.

The fourth project talked about once again is a poor comparison to Godfrey’s dream which is the Portland Ariel Tram. Like the telluride situation this gondola is designed to carry passengers from the waterfront area up a steep incline to the Oregon Health and Science University which is located on a cliff area to the west of the waterfront area. As a side note this does not replace a streetcar route but connects the Portland Streetcar to the University area.

The line does travel along Gibbs Street which lies between the cliff and Interstate 5, but once again because the gondola travels over this isolated area, it is doing nothing to help this neighborhood.

The next couple of gondola’s mentioned join Godfrey’s as pipe dreams which includes proposals in Baltimore, Maryland and Camden, New Jersey.

What it comes down to is a gondola is good for point to point transportation especially for situations that involve huge elevation changes. What it is not designed to do is blend into the urban fabric of a community. How will 25^th Street benefit from the Gondola? Instead imagine a streetcar traveling along the street bring people from FrontRunner to shop and dine in Ogden.

What Godfrey should be working on is bringing a new vision to the city, one that focuses on the character of the city, provides the opportunity for independently owned retail stores and restaurants which would give residents of Salt Lake City an alternative to the chain stores and restaurants of Gateway and other developments. Ogden could build something really unique that would cause people to want to travel to the city. Between the river walk, 25^th Street, and Washington Blvd Ogden has an outstanding opportunity to develop a unique destination that will bring new life to the city.

Or will Godfrey take the opportunity that Ogden has and squander it on some pipe dream?

Trolley Buses for Ogden? No not those type of Trolley Buses

Yellow bus
Originally uploaded by Field of Light

According to the Weber County Forum, Mayor Godfrey is looking to purchase a couple of faux trolley buses to run as a downtown shuttle. These are not real trolley buses but are instead regular buses that are essentially a bus made somewhat to look like an old streetcar. For those who remember, UTA used to run a fleet of these around the Salt Lake area from 1981 until the late 1990's.

The only problem with this faux trolleys is that they generally are a waste of money. Its as the designers of these things actually think people will be fooled into thinking it was some type of old trolley.

To make matters worse these things are very uncomfortable to ride in which is why they are used only on shuttles and relatively short operations. The seats are made of wood although they do offer cushions to make the seats more comfortable.

The problem with these buses is they do not attract any more passengers than a standard bus. The Spokane Transit Authority uses these buses on their Arena Shuttle. As part of making Wall Street a pedestrian mall, the decision was made to use these faux trolleys. However, except for a few novelty riders, ridership remains static even when regular buses had to be substituted for the faux trolleys for an extended period of time.

The Faux Trolley is money better spent in other more important transportation endeavors.

Transit Articles from Yesterday...

UTA FrontRunner Train Testing in Salt Lake City
Originally uploaded by jmdspk

Here is some transit articles that appeared yesterday.

UTA gives awards promoting transit alternatives

New rail era: Operators honoredto go from bus to train

Is new train on right track?

Also, here is a blog entry from the Weber County Forum discussing Ogden mayor Godfrey willing to use transit money to evaluate alternatives only if money for a proposed Ice Tower is allocated.

Another Humdinger of a Reportorial Expose From This Morning's Standard-Examiner