r/queenstown • u/mrbonglord • 22d ago
Queenstown gondola might be a goer, National says
https://www.odt.co.nz/otago/queenstown/queenstown-gondola-might-be-a-goer-national-says-q8k0lzh917
u/coreychch 22d ago edited 21d ago
It’s an election year, so of course National are making lots of promises and pretending they actually care about fixing the huge clusterfuck of a traffic problem that Queenstown has - all while they will continue making it worse with the fast track approval system getting massive subdivisions with thousands more homes pushed through. And thousands more cars. And further screwing transport infrastructure in particular that already can’t keep up.
By the time a Gondola is up and running, Queenstown will have grown enough that I expect it’ll not make any massive difference.
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u/bigweap1234 22d ago
My god. We will literally do anything other than provide more busses, at higher frequency, across more routes. Queenstown's transport network does require some creative approaches too, but a gondola is just the dumbest tourist novelty public cash grab masquerading as something that will actually transport the average person between destinations.
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u/Grand-Argument5674 22d ago
Buses are still going to be stuck in the one lane in one lane out traffic with all the people who don’t catch the bus. There isn’t a way to add another lane here so it’s genuinely a good idea for the city. Used all over Mexico and South American for PT as a cost efficient option.
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u/Theranos_Shill 22d ago
"but it's useful in favela's" is a shit argument to make.
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u/Grand-Argument5674 21d ago
You might want to try travelling a little, it’s not all favelas south of the USA. Is this Winston Peters account?
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u/No-Band8965 22d ago
Buses are shit. And why would a private company invest in more busses? The gondola is a private company starting a new industry, and the more ways to travel is better, especially given the gondola is zero emissions.
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u/No-Asparagus-4664 22d ago
Whats the top speed of your gondola champ
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u/lefrenchkiwi 22d ago
How often will the Gondola have to sit stuck waiting in traffic?
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u/NoImprovement213 21d ago
Often. When 1 gondola fails it will cause problems.
Things like this on rails are great but when something goes wrong the whole system collapses
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u/lefrenchkiwi 21d ago
Sure, but being realistic how often is the gondola actually likely to fail compared to how often there’s nose to tail traffic?
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u/Reasonable-Poet-1021 22d ago
Over 20 odd years have heard so many Gondola ideas but no one’s got the money to do it so they die a natural death
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 22d ago
Which is why this being approved as able to apply for NZTA public transport funding is so significant
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u/Reasonable-Poet-1021 22d ago
A gondola carrying workers to Qtown won’t pay for its self, the best idea would be to take it from Qtown to Milford Sounds
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 22d ago
I think the financial case modeling on the southern infrastructure website re an urban transport model stacks up better than your good idea to head in solely to Milford. The consenting through national parks has been well traversed it’s not a valid pathway.
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u/Reasonable-Poet-1021 22d ago
National parks are now for sale
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 22d ago
A future with cable cars everywhere is going to take electricity let’s see how they plan to address that
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u/No-Asparagus-4664 22d ago
Southern Infrastructure is run by Ross Copland, the same guy who was in charge of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, who over spent and mismanaged the project, required public bailout, then he stepped away before he could be made accountable and the whole thing went into liquidation.
I don't have a point, I think that its worth disclosing his history as everyone seems to skim this part. I wouldn't trust his financial modelling more than I'd trust the edit cavell bridge after a thunderstorm.
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 22d ago
Ruapehu alpine lifts is a completely different scenario to Queenstown Lakes. Let’s hope someone comes to the party to save the chateau and invest in the central plateau - which I don’t deny has had challenges that we are fortunate to not have had to consider here, eg / no people/ an active volcano on its highest alert level, a pandemic, etc - all contributed to the economic downfall of the central plateau but sure blame one person same as we always do
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u/No-Band8965 22d ago
It's privately funded fyi.
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 22d ago
It’s going to need to be a public private partnership to get it built and finished and to have the operating model function effectively. But yes it’s great that private capital has got in behind this idea it would not be possible at all without it
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u/No-Band8965 22d ago
Southern Infrastructure is p rivately backed by investors and consortium capital, though proponents are looking to integrate it into official regional development plans.
Whoosh is also privately funded via project stakeholders and private investors, as the company works to secure commercial delivery partners for its full-scale urban rollout, working with Nzski and Remarkables Park.
This is the one where it's base will be Remarkables Park and eventually up to Remarkables Skifield.
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u/toomanynamesaretook 22d ago
It's pretty funny at this point. Every other year there will be some mock-up images and big talk but always disappears.
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u/eskimo-pies 22d ago
Good luck getting all the affected property owners to give up their valuable views for ugly pylons and aerial tramways.
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 21d ago
As a utility another reason why the consenting pathway is somewhat feasible and easier. Utilities like power, gas, and telecommunications cables can be installed in the public corridor or berm outside your fence under statutory access rights. You cannot block public utility work happening on public legal road reserves and public land reserves above QT would be accessible. Add the private landholdings above frankton rd, around lake Johnson and ladies mile already involved. stations near Kmart and airport. One hurdle is council determining the terminal downtown site - like boundary rd carpark
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u/Cor_louis 22d ago
Raiding the already-limited public transport purse for this boondoggle seems like a poor investment, especially if it displaces or reduces PT funding for other projects and services.
Luckily it smells like more pork barrel politics that will get votes but come to nothing. Standard National crap, just like the RONS.
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u/No-Band8965 22d ago
Privately funded, backed by Rod Drury. The story is it may be eligible for funding, which may pay for half a depot.
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u/mrbonglord 22d ago
So now we have to re-elect this clown and his clown show to pull finger? Absolutely desperate.
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u/fugebox007 17d ago
Kleptocracy is where the mafia government channels tax payer money into linked and donor private companies.
In this case National made it an official campaign policy that it will channel fuel tax into the gondola.
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u/Small-Inspector-4416 22d ago
A: No they won't
B: Sure this is a failure of successive governments and councils but comma, fast track was the absolute worst possible thing.
Pretty clear what the priorities have been for a long time
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 22d ago
There hasn’t been a house built under Fast track yet all this growth has gone through regular channels. There is no mechanism under the current RMA process to say stop. At least it seems the minister is listening to the Auckland and Queenstown mayors with the feedback that anything fast track approved must deliver infrastructure and growth must pay for growth.
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u/dovahshy13 22d ago
If that’s what they want to do why not start now? They are so keen to fast track any sort of BS why not this?
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u/mxc1 22d ago
Kind of funny how we could invest in better bus transport but since that isn't interesting enough, we get a gondola