The Town of Banff plans to launch a public consultation process this fall to get feedback on whether to pursue a mass transit system, either an aerial gondola or expanded ground transportation, to deal with the tourist town’s traffic troubles.
The draft long-term transportation study can be found on the municipality’s website at Banff.ca/transportationplan, but the municipality is suggesting people subscribe to an email list there to be notified when consultation begins.
“There will be a larger consultation process,” said Larissa Barlow, communications specialist with the Town of Banff. “It’s going to ramp up in mid-September.”
Parks Canada has been clear that any development for transit options outside the legislated town boundary will be challenging to approve, given significant legal and environmental considerations.
The draft study, by Stantec, recommends both mass transit options be further studied, but indicated intercept parking lots near both entrances to the townsite are needed in order to be successful.
High-level preliminary estimates put capital costs at $66 million for an aerial gondola, which would start downtown and terminate at the Parks Canada’s hot springs and the Brewster gondola on Sulphur Mountain. Depending on the price, fares could cover operating costs.
An expanded bus system, requiring between eight and 11 buses in the short-term and between 20 and 28 buses by 2045, could be in the range of $8 million in the beginning to as high as $21 million by 2045, with additional operating costs.
“Both options have the capacity to solve congestion in the long-term,” state the authors of the study, noting preliminary design work should be done to further explore both aerial and bus options.
“While the options all can be constructed and operated without intercept parking, the system effectiveness is greatly reduced without intercept parking.”
The authors of the study recommend the Town of Banff work with Canadian Pacific Railway to consider the potential for expansion for parking on their lands at the west entrance to the townsite.
They also suggest working with Parks Canada on the concept of expanding the Fenlands lots and a new park and ride lot along Banff Avenue at the Elkwoods site at the east entrance to town.
Preliminary estimates put intercept parking capital costs at about $5.5 million for both locations. Operating costs would be around $1 million a year, rising to about $2.7 million a year by 2045.
“Intercept parking is required and the analysis recommends that the Town should take the next steps toward establishing locations and identifying funding sources,” wrote the authors. “Approximately 1,000 stalls are required in the short-term with up to 2,000 stalls being required by 2045.”
Of the three alignments proposed for the gondola in the study, the Town of Banff favours a 3.9-kilometre option, with five stations connecting downtown with Tunnel Mountain trailhead, the Banff Centre, Banff Springs Hotel and the Brewster gondola and Parks’ hot springs.
The study’s authors said experience from other aerial transit systems, such as in Telluride and Portland in the United States and European and South American cities, shows a gondola or cable car system can be a popular tourist attraction.
They said the main goal of an aerial transit system is to become the preferred choice of transportation by providing something consistent with the way people prefer to travel, noting it is convenient and has a reliable schedule.
“Aerial transit has the ridership capacity to alleviate congestion in the long-term,” they wrote.
“No allowance has been made for long-term capacity limitations, such as hotel room availability and highway capacity, which may limit ridership in the long-term.”
