Constructing a gondola to transport people back and forth from Muni Metro’s Forest Hill station and Laguna Honda Hospital would not be cost-effective, a new study from transportation planners said.
Ahmed Thleiji, a principal engineer with the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, presented the study’s findings at Tuesday’s SFCTA board meeting, including potential designs and projected costs. While the study concluded that constructing a gondola in the area was feasible, the study also concluded that the gondola was “a less cost-effective solution than developing shuttle and TDM strategies, and does not recommend further study of a gondola concept for the Laguna Honda site.”
Thleiji said planners looked at six potential segments, adding that any segment would need to avoid utility poles, trees, and ensure there is enough space to construct stations at the hospital and Muni station.
“The most feasible alignment that is recommended for this feasibility study launches from the east side of the Laguna Honda Boulevard within the hospital property and lands directly on the pavilion building,” Thleiji said.
While there was a recommended segment in the study, Thleiji said the average cost estimate for constructing the gondola system would be $22 million. There would also be costs tied to operations and maintenance, estimated at $1.3 million a year.
Two bus shuttles currently serve the hospital’s buildings and the Muni station. TransMetro operates from 6 to 10 a.m. and runs every 15 minutes. The hospital operates its own bus shuttles from 10 a.m. to 5:50 p.m., with buses running every 20 minutes.
The study recommended that it would be more cost-effective to make shuttle service improvements for future growth.
District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the area studied and chairs the SFCTA board, said she was seeking a “creative solution” to get people from the hospital to the Muni train station and for future residents, as housing units are planned at one of the hospital’s empty parking lots.
“I do think it’s a really useful exercise because it also showed us that this mode of transportation becomes cost-effective the more people it carries and the longer it goes,” Melgar said Tuesday at the meeting.
Melgar added that the study could serve as a baseline for other steep hills in the city if planners decide to study or construct a gondola elsewhere.
“We do have 47 other hills in San Francisco, she said. “Some of them are tourist destinations, and in the future, we may look back at this study and use it as a starting point for new creative ideas, especially since we are a city that relies on tourism and hospitality as our number one industry.”
