Burnaby gondola project enters second round of public engagement

BURNABY, B.C. — TransLink is launching a new round of engagement for a proposed gondola system on Burnaby Mountain.

“With more than 13,000 responses in our first round of engagement, we have a good sense of what the public values about the proposed gondola,” said project director Jeffrey Busby in a release. “We used that feedback in our design considerations and extensive evaluation of the routes, assessing what matters to local neighbourhoods and the broader public in Metro Vancouver, and we’re ready to share that next level of work.”

The Burnaby Mountain Gondola project envisions a 3S gondola to provide a fast, frequent and reliable service between the SkyTrain and Burnaby Mountain for the 25,000 daily trips made by SFU students, staff, faculty and residents of UniverCity.

According to TransLink, gondolas are safe, cost-effective and more sustainable than buses or cars.

The project team intends to present a preferred route and design to the mayors’ council after comments from the engagement round have been collected.

The team is currently assessing three routes which have had preliminary design work completed.

• Route 1 is a straight-line route from Production Way–University SkyTrain Station to the SFU Burnaby campus.
• Route 2 is the eastern route from Production Way–University SkyTrain Station with the gondola travelling along Gaglardi Way, changing direction at an angle station, and continuing to the SFU Burnaby campus with the terminal near the bus exchange.
• Route 3 is the western route from Lake City Way SkyTrain Station to the SFU Burnaby campus, which would cross the Burnaby Mountain Golf Course, change direction at an angle station, and continue to the SFU Burnaby Campus with the terminal located south of South Campus Road.