Mastodawn

Rod Drury's ambitious cable car project has been accepted for the fast-track process by Shane Jones. I thought it was meant to whiz tourists into town, eliminating the need for rental cars? This line suggests otherwise.

"It is expected that the Queenstown Cable car would take up to 3000 passengers an hour each way and be located only 20 minutes’ drive from the airport."

What? The company's map even shows an "Airport Station". How can that be a 20 minute drive from the airport? Who is planning this stuff?

https://archive.ph/HP6KN

#Queenstown #NZ #CableCar

Ref: https://www.queenstowncablecar.com/

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stojg 1d ago

@BobLefridge do they mean it’s a 20mins ride from the airport to the city center?

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Bob LeFridge

1d ago

That would make more sense and it may just be poor journalism. However the company's map suggests the airport station will be located somewhere on Kawarau Road (SH6), rather than at the airport.

I guess all will be revealed once enough public money has been siphoned into the project.

@BobLefridge @stojg can't have the rental companies losing revenue.

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Kiwiana 🦣1d ago

@BobLefridge The road into Queenstown is a carpark, people who work in the town can’t afford to live in the town. Rather than a ferry service, this is supposed to be public transport (as I understand it)

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Bob LeFridge

1d ago

Absolutely, but tourists always outnumber locals and if fewer use rental cars it's better for all.

When we moved to QT (pop'n 8,000) in the late 90s, there was a wonderful community ethos and everything just worked. Frankton Road was 80km/h, single lane each way and there were never any traffic jams.

By the time we left in 2011, the population had doubled and the town centre had pretty much been surrendered to tourism. It's only got busier since then.

Some of the best times in my life have been in Queenstown. My kids grew up there. But sadly, it's not a place I even want to visit any longer.

@BobLefridge Looking at the website, it looks like the airport station would be about five minutes walk from the airport terminal. It also mentions taking 20 mins from the airport to Queenstown stations.

It actually looks pretty cool, and could solve a very real problem (traffic here is shocking, and going to get much worse with fast-track estates everywhere) without turning all our roads into multi-lane monstrosities.

My worry is the economics - what will a ride will cost? The temptation will be to charge what a taxi charges ($75) which will put it well beyond what commuters can afford and only tourists will use it. If they make it $5, it'll be extremely popular and will reduce traffic considerably.

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Bob LeFridge

1d ago

Priced right, a flash gondola system will be an asset to the town. Pricing will determine patronage and hopefully locals' passes will be "affordable" -- whatever that means these days.

Cynical me wonders how much public funding has been factored into the business case?

Speaking of fast-track, at a time when waste is being pumped into the Kawarau River or trucked to Southland, the scale of approved Wakatipu housing developments has reached the silly stage.

As much as I'd like to believe that the cable car will counteract some of the effects of a rapidly increasing population, I fear that infrastructure lagging behind development has become a semi-permanent QT hallmark.

I hope I'm wrong.

@BobLefridge , I guess it's cheaper than a similar low noise, small maglev train and likely more out of the way plus in keeping with the expectations of 'adrenalin-pumpers'.
My only other concern: 'Is this what the place really needs most atm?'

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Colin Jackson 1d ago

@Antigrav @BobLefridge looking at the video render, the airport station is at the roundabout on SH6 close to the airport. That would be about a 5 minute walk from the terminal.

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Richard Hector 1d ago

@BobLefridge Interesting map. Isn't Queenstown Airport tricky enough without stringing cables across the end of the runway?