Are aerial cable cars the transportation solution Oakland has been waiting for?

Aerial cable cars from Botanica to the airport. Built in a few years for a fraction of the cost of light rail. With minimal disruption during construction and use. With a low emissions footprint and a high fun factor.

Is this the transportation solution congested Oakland has been waiting for?

So thinks the Austrian company Doppelmayr, which has a base in New Zealand in Christchurch. This morning it released a Report on Urban Transport Solutions which it says “makes the case for solutions for an urban cable car in Aotearoa”.

The report identified 10 routes in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch that the company believes are suitable for its cable car technology.

These include two routes from Auckland Airport, to Botany and to Onehunga, four routes to Wellington and two to Christchurch.

The company wants to “partner with the appropriate planning and transportation agencies to continue exploring these opportunities.”

“Doppelmayr’s experience is that aerial cableway systems offer a range of benefits to urban environments under pressure from growth and increasing vehicular congestion, and as cities strive to meet ambitious climate targets,” says the company’s CEO in New Zealand Gareth Heyman.

“We did extensive research with local experts to assess the feasibility of integrating aerial cable cars in New Zealand’s major cities.”

Doppelmayr has built aerial cable cars in cities across Europe, the Americas and Asia. She built the Skyline Gondola in Queenstown and works with ski fields around the world, including New Zealand.

Last year it proposed a cable car across Waitematā, but it didn’t seem to generate much enthusiasm for the idea.

The company now says it is “open to exploring the potential for private/public funding or equity arrangements to facilitate the implementation of a suitable cable car solution for New Zealand”.

In Paris, Doppelmayr is building a 4.25 km cable car with five stations. There is one in London. In Bolivia, the Mi Teleferico is a 33 km network of 10 cable cars connecting the capital, La Paz, with a neighboring city. In Portland, Oregon, a Doppelmayr cable car connects a large hospital on a hill to the city below.

The company says its system offers “direct, fast trips” with 99.9 percent reliability. Cars can arrive as often as every eight seconds, carrying several thousand people an hour.

“We know these solutions work because we’ve seen them in action in major international cities – where they complement existing transport networks and are incorporated into existing buildings, metro stations, airports and housing estates,” Heyman says.

The cabins are designed for wheelchair access, making the service easy for wheelchair users, pushchairs and cyclists. And because they are elevated, passengers get a spectacular view of the city.

The system is electric, making it energy efficient. The towers can be spaced between 150m and 1km apart, depending on the terrain.

Doppelmayr says construction costs are typically “one-third of the construction costs of light rail or bus rapid transit and one-tenth of subways.” Construction time is about two years.

The company says it has identified 20 “promising” cable car locations in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. The report, published this morning, names 10 of them.

Three are in Auckland: an airport near Botany, an airport near Onehunga and Te Atatū near Henderson.

There are four in Wellington: Airport to central city, Island Bay to central city, Karori to central city and Wainuiomata to Hutt Valley.

There are services for Christchurch from Belfast and the airport, both to the central city. In Queenstown, the company believes the airport-downtown line is viable.

All three Auckland lines will provide interchange with existing rail and bus services. Passengers at the airport will have easy connections to the Southern and Onehunga rail lines and the Eastern Bus Line. Te Atatū residents would be able to connect to the Western Express bus route and the Western Rail line at Henderson.

Doppelmayr says the cable cars can carry up to 3,000 passengers per hour in each direction, depending on the route.

This is less than other rapid transit systems. The Northern Bus Line, for example, carried up to 8,000 passengers per hour during the morning rush hour.

But Doppelmayr says its services would “complement” or provide “alternatives” to other services.

“World-class cities require world-class infrastructure and innovative, efficient transportation solutions,” Heyman says. “As part of an integrated network, aerial cableways provide new opportunities by exploiting a currently unused level – one that is not obstructed by other modes of transport.

“We are motivated by the opportunity to introduce public transport solutions in New Zealand that will complement, extend and fully integrate with existing train, bus and ferry services, as we have successfully done around the world.”

The company has not yet presented its proposal to the new government or to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and transport agencies.

Simon Wilson is a senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018