This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
OGDEN - Gondolas and trams have been both colossal failures and tourist magnets, a survey conducted for the Ogden City Council has found.
The council asked its communications specialist to identify urban gondola or tram systems so it will be better informed when Mayor Matthew Godfrey proposes a city gondola that would be funded, in part, by the sale of the Mount Ogden Golf Course.
Godfrey envisions a four-mile-long gondola running from downtown to the east-side foothills near Weber State University. There, it would link to a mountain gondola to a proposed ski resort in remote Malans Basin above the city.
The council decided not to travel to Telluride, Colo., to ride the 10-year-old gondola that carries more than 2 million people per year.
“It seemed a bit premature,” said Amy Wicks, the council's vice chair.
The comparisons of three cable-ways that have been tried in the United States and one in Colombia in South America revealed a variety of experiences - from the failure of MART, built for the 1984 New Orleans World Fair, to the success of the gondola linking Telluride to the Mountain Village above.
The study also looked at the tram now under construction and far over budget in Portland, Ore., as well as a gondola proposed for Baltimore and a tram suggested to link Philadelphia with Camden, N.J.
Trams and gondolas are both considered aerial cableways, but a trams are much larger. Only two trams are carried on aerial cables, while dozens of gondolas are carried that way.
The biggest flop listed in the survey was the $8 million Mississippi Aerial Rapid Transit system, which carried riders over the river during the World's Fair. Even at its peak, ridership was half the projected 1.7 million, and developers could not attract enough riders to pay for operational costs.
The gondola linking Telluride to the Mountain Village area, in place for a decade, has been a success even though only 3,500 people live in the area. Tourists make up the bulk of the 2 million-plus riders every year.
Opponents of Godfrey's vision say a streetcar would make more sense for central Ogden.