Urban Gondola Transit / Green Transportation Systems / Resort Planning

ECO-Transit (ECO) provides specialized cable car, aerial tramway and urban gondola consulting and engineering services for the planning, feasibility study, project management, construction, inspection and certification of Aerial Cable Transit (ACT) systems in urban environments, gondolas and trams as tourism attractions, and people movers at four season resorts. These services for urban aerial transit systems are provided to municipalities, project stakeholders, private developers and transportation engineering and architectural teams. ECO-Transit sets itself apart in the transportation industry by emphasizing the Human Element "Sense of Place", and the environmental element of promoting "Green Transit" solutions that are Eco- Friendly and Eco-sustainable.

ECO-Transit also provides services to four season resorts in the areas of operations management, master planning, and ski trail, snowmaking and ski lift consulting and design. 

Transit Development - ECO-Transit has performed numerous engineering designs and feasibility studies specifically for urban gondolas and aerial tramways as public transit systems. We have provided our gondola consulting services for over 25 years to municipalities, private developers, and to other public and private sector clients, as well as to engineering and feasibility study teams for multi-modal studies that include planning for urban gondolas. Eco-Transit has extensive experience with the design and study of aerial cableways from one half mile to five miles in length with interconnections to other transit modes and with both simple stations and intermodal stations with associated mixed use development. We have also provided gondola consulting and planning for numerous ropeway alignments that climb steep inclines, run along flat terrain, travel above city roadways, and cross over waterways, highways and other rights of way. The environmental benefits of this specialized form of “Green Transit” are showcased in our feasibility studies and designs for resort, attraction, and urban gondola projects. 

  
The implementation of gondolas and tramways for urban public transit is a relatively new phenomena, although New York City constructed the Roosevelt Island Tramway for public transportation in 1975 and it is operating reliably to this day. The latest generation of urban gondolas are operating in heavily traffic congested cities such as  Medellin, Rio de Janiero and La Paz, with the largest of these systems transporting over 25 million passengers per year. Existing resort and transit worldwide gondola and tramway systems transport over 100 million passengers per day with very high levels of reliability and safety.

Also known as "first mile, last mile" connectors, feeders, city gondolas, cable cars, and cable propelled transit, this specialized mode of premium transit is not only being used in resorts as people movers, but increasingly this mode is being studied and implemented in urban and metropolitan environments where conventional surface transit modes are impractical either due to traffic congestion, route obstructions, or the conventional transit modes' high capital cost and high costs of right of way, infrastructure, construction, operation and maintenance. Ranging in length from one mile to five miles, these urban gondolas are also referred to as Teleferico, Teleferik, Telecabine and Seilbahn in other countries around the world where they are being installed.

Such gondola and tramway transit systems have been constructed and are operating in New York City, Portland, Telluride, Breckenridge, London, Madeira, Lisbon, Grenoble, Ankara, Algiers, Hong Kong, Medellin, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, La Paz, Mexico City, Macau, and Singapore. Also, cable propelled transit systems are being studied or are currently in the planning stages domestically for Cleveland, Baltimore, Washington DC, Miami, Clearwater, Philadelphia, Fredericksburg, Atlantic City, Austin, Baton Rouge, Boulder, Ogden, Seattle, Kirkland, San Diego and Buffalo, as well as internationally for Bogota, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Berlin, Toulouse and Paris as well as other locations around the world.

Resort Development - Eco-Transit's consultants provide planning, engineering, construction, project management and certification consulting services for ski lift development and resort planning at year round mountain recreation sites and ski areas. ECO consults on the behalf of resort owners, municipalities and stakeholders, and also associates with other planning and engineering teams for the benefit of the overall resort amenity program or municipal development program. Services provided include site evaluation and analysis, economic and technical feasibility studies, engineering studies, lift specifications and cost estimates, RFQ and RFP preparation for owners to request manufacturer or third party bids, bid evaluation and recommendation, procurement assistance, project management, inpections and safety analysis, evacuation procedures, and operator training, if desired.

This resort planning division of ECO was founded back in 1988 when ECO was retained to master plan and design all of the ski trails, ski lifts, snowmaking, trail lighting, grooming plan, and operations and maintenance facilities for Muju Resort, Korea, and also to consult for the master planning of Noboribetsu Resort in Japan. ECO's resort design division consists of a specialized consultant group of project managers, planners, engineers and operation specialists who work in multi-disciplined teams to address the needs of specific projects and clients. ECO has achieved significant gondola and lift planning and development milestones with projects in Colorado, Alaska, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, California, Canada, Japan and Korea.

Gondola, tramway and cable car cabins range in size from 10 passenger to 15 passenger for MGD gondola style systems; 15 passenger to 20 passenger for BGD gondolas; 20 to 35 passenger for tri-cable 3S systems; and 35 passenger to 250 passenger for aerial tramway systems. Cabins are fully ADA compliant and can be equipped with various seating arrangements, intercom, closed circuit TV, wireless internet, LED lighting, heating, air conditioning, bike racks, ski racks, switchable privacy glass, and graphics.