The Luke Burbank Show - 10am on KIRO Radio
 Luke Burbank
Tune in
Tune in to KIRO Radio weekdays at 10am for The Luke Burbank Show.


london_gondola_ap.jpg
Gondolas are good enough for London, so how about Seattle? (AP Photo/File)

Gondolas wouldn't solve transportation problem, but they'd be neat

BY Alyssa Kleven  on February 19, 2013 @ 12:00 pm (Updated: 2:22 pm - 2/19/13 )

Luke Burbank wouldn't hop on a gondola to get to work, but he said he'd ride it for the "gee whiz" factor.

Gondolas are the latest the imagination can provide to aid a traffic ailing Seattle.

The main complaint as laid out in The Seattle Times is the east to west traffic congestion in the city. The number 8 bus, it says, is often stuck in the stop-and-go traffic along Denny. Riders may have to wait as much as 30 minutes between buses.

But if a gondola were an option, as proposed by Matt Roewe, of VIA Architecture, and Matt "the Engineer" Gangemi, would commuters hop on to get to their destination just in time for their meeting?

KIRO Radio host Luke Burbank doesn't think so, but he's not opposed to it either.

"It seems fanciful and fantastical," says co-host Tom Tangney. The proposed gondola would take riders from the Capitol Hill light rail station to the Olympic Sculpture Garden, just spitting distance away from the Seattle Center area.

The hosts agree visually, the gondola would be a positive for Seattle. Much like the monorail serves no practical purpose, other than being a cool thing for tourists to ride, so would the gondolas.

While the proposal from Capitol Hill to the sculpture garden has hipsters wistfully thinking of cross-town transit, another gondola proposal might catch more traction.

Hal Griffith, the owner of Seattle's Great Wheel, which opened on the waterfront this summer, is researching a plan that would take gondola riders from the Washington State Convention Center to the waterfront.

Gondolas may seem like a pipe dream for a futuristic Seattle but Burbank and Tangney point out that some cities actively use gondolas as a part of their transportation systems.

"They do have them in Canada," says Luke, "which is probably an argument against doing it here."

Alyssa Kleven, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Alyssa Kleven is an editor and content producer at MyNorthwest.com. She enjoys doting over her adorable dachshund Winnie - named for Arcade Fire front-man Win Butler.
More Luke Burbank

MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (27)


  • Add A Comment

  • Mavila wrote...
    If you're relying on gondolas as part of your...
    February 19, 2013 1:20 pm
    transportation infrastructure, you're doing it wrong.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Sounds good. Fun and whimsical...
    February 19, 2013 1:20 pm
    Can we have hot air ballons and rollercoasters too? How about they spend our road money on....oh, say....ROADS????
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @Sharky
    February 19, 2013 8:47 pm
    I think you're onto something with the roller coaster thing. I'd quit my gig as a field tech to get a job that I could ride a rollercoaster into every day. How about a dirt bike trail along the entire I-5 corridor?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Sounds like it would be fun to try this, BUT
    February 19, 2013 1:23 pm
    where is the money going to come from? We are BROKE!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Bucket Dad wrote...
    The problem with this
    February 19, 2013 1:27 pm
    and with something like the monorail, is that a point to point transit system doesn't solve the issue of people trying to get to diverse destinations. Odds are the "meeting" that you were thinking of getting to is NOT in the Sculpture Garden. The Monorail works at Disneyland, as there are only a few destinations along the route. You will still need wheels on the road to get to your final destination. And what are you going to do with those (presumably motorized) wheels while you are riding the gondola (think of the existing situation of the lack of park-and-rides for the light rail)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    BucketDad, you nailed it --
    February 19, 2013 2:49 pm
    "a point-to-point transit system doesn't solve the issue of people trying to get to diverse destinations." HALLELUJAH to that! Please, someone get a clue here! How inefficient can it get???
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Saltchucker wrote...
    We can't keep Cessnas out of the power lines next to Boeing field.
    February 19, 2013 1:35 pm
    What's gonna end up dangling in the gondola wires?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Wild Bill wrote...
    uh
    February 19, 2013 1:41 pm
    I don't think that anybody is proposing this as a viable transportaion system. It would be a ride for the tourists and their greenbacks. Tourism is part of the core economy of Seattle; arrive on the cruise ship, go to The Market, go to the Needle, go to the Pirate's glass blob show, go have a spendy meal at a Tom Douglas joint, ride the wheel and get back on the boat, minus four or five hundred. The gondolas would get the folks at the Convention Center into the wheel and get their bucks...The key will be to link all this to South Lake Union; MOHAI is a great tourist stop, and to the coming soon Yesler Heights Megalopolis. Seattle is in full bore development. Now would be the time to get these "pie in the sky" projects going, while money is cheap. Anyway, this isn't about gridlock on I-5, or the poor souls on Mercer Island having to part with their dough to drive their Audis, this is about tourism dollars $$$$$ and it's a good thing. Keep 'em coing! Ka Ching!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Yadda1 wrote...
    Which reminds me,
    February 19, 2013 1:52 pm
    Why was there never any serious discussion of a suspension bridge across Elliott Bay to replace the viaduct? The cost and build time would have been far less than the tunnel. The only argument against it I ever heard was that the bay is considered a maritime channel or some such nonsense and the feds most likely wouldn't allow it. Never heard if that was the official response, the whole idea just seemed to disappear.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Yes Wild Bill...
    February 19, 2013 1:58 pm
    Tourism dollars that none of us will see. It will be spent/blown as soon as the city gets it... Bike lanes, squirrel bridges, etc.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zoeller wrote...
    @shark75 - A small correction =
    February 19, 2013 2:14 pm
    The city will blow the money before it even gets it's grubby hands on it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Wild Bill wrote...
    fund it like the Wheel...or the Needle,
    February 19, 2013 2:29 pm
    or the glass blob joint, privately...for instance, Chihuly pays $350,000 a year in rent, and after five years, the lease jumps to $500,000 a year. The tourism dough gets into the city coffers in terms of taxes and fees, the real dough gets to the merchants who are selling the pricey art and food and so forth....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    They should be referring to them as "God-NO!-las"
    February 19, 2013 2:47 pm
    as "God-NO!-las" instead of gondolas. What a freaking joke. Can the elected leaders around here get any more insane?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • chimpanjesus wrote...
    gold line.
    February 19, 2013 5:20 pm
    we had a solution to this problem. it was called the gold line of the seattle monorail. this city should be absolutely ashamed of what it did in 2005. bring back the monorail!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • GoldFish wrote...
    What?
    February 19, 2013 2:49 pm
    Whoever came up with this Idea is essentially an Oxygen thief, we are all dumber for having heard this. Thank you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }