Aerial Gondola and Cable Car Consulting, Planning, Engineering and Design

ECO-Transit (ECO) provides independent, specialized cable car, aerial tramway and urban gondola consulting and engineering services for the planning, feasibility study, project management and certification of Aerial Transportation Systems (ATS) 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 aerial cableway industry by emphasizing the human element and community "Sense of Place", as well as the environmental element of promoting "Green Transit" solutions that are Eco-Friendly and Eco-Sustainable.

"It is important to point out, that like other transportation solutions, these cable-propelled Aerial Transportation Systems have specific advantages and disadvantages depending upon the transit or recreational application considered - there are no 'one size fit all' or 'cookie cutter' solutions. Every ATS project contemplated should have a comprehensive feasibility study performed, with full stakeholder and community involvement, to provide a careful analysis of the purpose, need and benefit of the proposed transportation application."

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.  

ECO-Transit consults with public and private clients independently, or as a member of project Architectural / Engineering teams. We have collaborated with firms such as: Jacobs Engineering, AECOM Engineering, Parsons-Brinkerhoff / WSP Engineering, Skidmore-Owings-Merrill Architects, SOSH Architects, Parsons Transportation, Reynolds-Smith-Hills Engineering, Michael Baker Engineering, MJ Surveying and Engineeering, PBA Associates, Crown-Castle Corp, Parametrix, Southwest Transit Partners, Continuum Development, Triunity Engineering, etc."

Among our valued public clients, we have provided Aerial Cableway consulting services to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (CA), City of Ogden (UT), Wasatch Front Range Council MPO (UT), Matsu Borough (AK), City of Valdez (AK), Portland Tri Met (OR), City of Denver (CO), Denver RTD, Denver Transit Alliance, City of Boulder (CO), Town of Mountain Village (CO), City of Durango (CO), City of Ann Arbor (MI), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TX), New York City Economic Development Corp (NY), Atlantic City (NJ), New York State (NY), New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Agency, Miami City and County (FL), Miami Citizens Independent Transit Trust (FL), Broward County (FL), Orange County (FL), Walton County (FL), Town of Seaside (FL),  U.S. Department of Navy, U.S. Department of Air Force, City of San Juan (PR), Tasmania Office of Coordinator General (AUS), Ciudad de Puerto Vallarta (MX), Ciudad de Zapopan (MX),   Panama Canal Authority, University of Colorado (CO), University of New Mexico (NM), Weber Sate University (UT), Fort Lewis College (CO), University of Guadalajara (MX).     

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 Portland, London, Berlin, Bolzano, Lisbon, Mexico City, Medellin, Caracas, Bogota, Cali, La Paz, Hong Kong, Ankara, Algiers, Singapore, and Santo Domingo with the largest of these systems transporting over 40 million passengers per year. Existing resort and transit worldwide gondola and tramway systems transport over 120 million passengers per day with very high levels of reliability and safety.

Also, cable propelled transit systems are being studied or are currently in the planning stages domestically for Cleveland, Baltimore, Washington DC, Miami, Clearwater, Philadelphia, Oakland,Fredericksburg, Atlantic City, Austin, Baton Rouge, Boulder, Ogden, Seattle, Kirkland, San Diego, Portland, Los Angeles and Buffalo, as well as internationally for  Santiago, Toulouse and Paris as well as other locations around the world.

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.

ECO-Transit has achieved significant gondola and lift planning, feasibility study and development milestones with projects and studies in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, California, Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, New York, Vermont, Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico,Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Japan, Korea and Australia.

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.

GONDOLA / CABLE CAR / AERIAL TRAM / TRAMWAY / ROPEWAY / TELEFERICO / CONSULTING / ENGINEERING /