LA Metro should abandon their plan of using gondolas to bring people to and from Dodger Stadium. The thought of reaching the stadium on a gondola might seem novel and entertaining for people attending a game, but what reasonable motivation could we have for investing so much money in something that will have no effect on #traffic elsewhere in the city?
LA is already swamped with ever-increasing road traffic, and over the years, the government has reviewed many different proposals to mitigate traffic issues. They launched a study on the possible effects of congestion pricing in 2021, whereby people would be charged a higher fee for driving in areas with high traffic during peak hours. LA Metro has considered resolutions in the past that would make public transportation free, and offered free transportation for a total of 22 months (ending in January of 2022). One recent proposal has generated a lot of interest: the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit gondola, by Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies LLC.
They are insisting that this gondola will serve as the best tool to deal with the traffic, improve air quality, and most importantly, carry fans to the stadium quickly. That's all well and good, but what about the current residents that aren't too thrilled about the idea of changing the landscape and the impact it will have on local transportation?
“This gondola is about more than an easier trip to Dodger games,” said L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, the chair of the Metro board, as he expressed his hope for the project. “It will make our stadium more accessible to everyone, bring cleaner air to our communities, and provide an economic boost for our local businesses.”
Let's consider the amount of people LA ART claims the gondola will be transporting. Each individual gondola car will carry 30 passengers and they will start running about two hours before the first pitch. The passengers need to unload as well. Now, unloading and loading of the passengers in quick succession is a complex affair. People will have to wait in queue lines to get in and out of the cars. This means that people will have to wait for an hour or more to get out of the stadium after a game. How could that possibly be considered as a viable option?
I'll admit it, the gondola cars sound kind of fun, but imagine getting stuck in the air due to some technical glitch. How long would it take for technicians to fix problems and get the passengers to safety? It is evident that the project isn’t as plausible as everyone wants to pretend. People are looking for easy, fast, safe, and cheap modes of transportation. Spending so much time only to reach a spot near the stadium, then having to walk the rest of the way to get to the game, just doesn’t make sense.
If people are looking for a “high-capacity, low-cost transit” solution, what could be better than the Dodger Stadium Express? These 46-seater metro buses can carry up to 25 more standing capacity and take around 25 minutes, and it's free for anyone with a ticket. The great part is the metro bus service was introduced with the intent to do away with air pollution.
The aerial car is a picturesque concept when traveling between hills, enjoying the view of snow-clad mountains. But it certainly isn't the most efficient and cost-effective way to reach the stadium. A gondola connecting Dodgers Stadium to Union Station? It's not practical, and we don’t need it.
