Professional Consultants for Gondolas, Aerial Tramways and Cable Cars 

ROGER GARDNER (Principal) founded Eco-Transit and has over 35 years of experience as an Aerial Cable Transit executive, designer and project manager in gondolas and cable cars; he has set up engineering offices and manufacturing facilities in the U.S. for several major European ropeway manufacturers. Gardner has a wealth of experience in both urban oriented and mountain resort aerial cableway operations, planning, environmental integration and construction. He also has relevant experience in station oriented development for urban gondola systems as well as resort property and amenity planning and design. Roger started his career at several Colorado ski resorts in the mountain operations and planning departments; he then moved into the ski lift and aerial cableway sector holding management positions with several ropeway manufacturing / engineering firms. He was the U.S. President of one of the largest worldwide aerial cableway manufacturers before founding Eco-Transit as an independent aerial gondola and cable car consultancy. He has collaborated on numerous projects with ropeway manufacturers including Doppelmayr, Leitner-Poma, Ctec, Partek, Von Roll, Arcelor, Teufelberger, STM, CWA and Sigma; and with major architectural and real estate firms for station area design and development projects. Gardner has authored numerous planning and design feasibility studies for resort and urban development that focus on aerial cable car systems and urban gondolas as public transit. Gardner has been directly involved with the planning, design, project management and construction of over 100 lift systems and aerial cableways worldwide.

MARK DOMAN, PE (Engineering Director) is a recognized expert for all types of lifts and aerial cable systems and has over 35 years of experience in manufacturing, engineering, inspection, design, commissioning, project management and certification in the automotive, theme park, ski lift and aerial cableway industries. Mark served as the Chief Aerial Ropeway Inspector for the State of Michigan for 15 years with responsibility for 350 lifts and ropeway systems. He is a registered Professional Engineer for tramways in multiple States and Canada. Mark was the former Engineering Director of one of the largest worlwide aerial cableway manufacturers, with full responsibility for the design engineering, project management and certification of all aerial cable car, gondola and lift projects in North America. He has consulted for a number of diverse engineering teams in the preparation of design and feasibility studies for public and private clients and has managed numerous aerial cableway construction and commissioning projects. Doman serves on the (ANSI) B77.1 Standards for Tramways Committee and on OITAF International Ropeways Organization committees.

ANDREA MAROCCHI, P.E. PhD (Consulting Ropeway Engineer) consults with ECO and has 40 years experience in design engineering, safety standards and project management for aerial cable systems, funiculars and gondolas, and is an acknowledged expert for urban transit and ropeways. Marocchi has many tramway industry project references in Europe, N America, Japan and Korea. He has assisted regional governments in planning and programming of cable car public transportation systems; and he was special consultant to the 2006 Winter Olympics for their ropeway and gondola transportation systems. For the last five years he was the engineering consultant responsible for assessment of the European Ropeway Safety Standards by appointment of the European CEN Codes Organization. He has been a technical adviser and consultant to several European ski resorts and the manufacturers Doppelmayr, Garaventa, Leitner Lifts, and CCM Lifts. Andrea is a frequent speaker and technical paper presenter to international standards organizations concerning Codes' conformance to recognized tramway and gondola safety standards.

MICHAEL ACIERNO (VP, Business Development) has 30 years of experience with startup and emerging growth companies in the transportation, infrastructure, and financial sectors. Michael was a founding director of First American Railways, the parent company of the groundbreaking Florida Fun-Train and has provided ongoing financial consulting services for the Durango & Silverton Railroad in Colorado. He held the position of VP of Corporate Development with North American Mag-Lev / Transrapid, which was recognized by the State of Florida for the intrastate High Speed Rail program. Transrapid developed and operated the first commercially viable MagLev transportation system in the world in Shanghai, China. Mr. Acierno has worked on various P3 structured, public / private partnerships for transit / infrastructure development.

DAVE WILSON (Operations and Maintenance Specialist) Dave Wilson is a highly regarded specialist for operations, maintenance, and the inspection of cableways and transit gondolas with over 35 years of experience constructing, operating and the maintaining of ropeways for resorts and lift manufacturers. While working at Alyeska Resort, AK, Dave had the responsibility for bringing all the company’s lifts up to Code as well as the construction of several new high speed detachable chairlifts and a modern 110-passenger aerial tramway. He was recruited by Vail Resorts in 2012 to become the Lift Manager with responsibility for the O&M of 30 chairlifts and 2 gondolas. Dave is now on the ECO-Transit team providing real world knowledge to our feasibility study clients and the urban gondola industry. Dave is a certified Tramway Inspector for the State of Alaska, a member of the ANSI B77 Standards Committee, member of the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board, and former President of OITAF-NACS International Ropeways Organization.

MICHAEL WEISE (Construction and Maintenance Specialist) has 35 years of experience in the construction, maintenance and inspections of ski lifts and aerial cable transit systems. Michael started his career in lift operations at Squaw Valley, CA and then moved to Copper Mountain, CO as Lift Manager in charge of all construction and maintenance for 25 ski lifts. Weise continued his career in aerial ropeways as a construction manager with the lift manufacturer Yan Ropeways installing chairlifts in the US and Canada. Mike was then hired by the lift manufacture Leitner Lifts in 1998 as a project manager and moved his way up to General Manager in charge of US operations; when Leitner merged with Poma in 2002, he continued with the new company, Leitner-Poma, in charge of after sales service, administration of maintenance contracts, and annual inspections of L-P lift installations. Mike is an ASNT certified inspector for NDT of aerial ropeway components, a member of the CPTSB and member of the NSAA Ropeway Standards Committee. Most recently Mike was a project manager for the rebuilding of the Roosevelt Island Tramway in 2010 and has provided inspection services to New York State on the tramway up until 2016.