Whoosh as visualised on a central street in Queenstown. Photo: Supplied
A cable car race is underway in Queenstown, as two different companies unveil their schemes to connect the resort town by high-wire.
Whoosh and Southern Infrastructure Ltd have revealed blueprints of their proposed transport networks this week.
Kiwi-owned Whoosh has been developing self-driving cabins to go on an elevated cable network, which riders would be able to book on an app.
Whoosh_chief_executive_Chris_Allington. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd
Today at the Electrify Queenstown conference, Whoosh chief executive Chris Allington from the engineering firm Holmes Solutions revealed a map of where the six-part network could go.
The network could link Frankton to Shotover Country to the Remarkables Ski Hill, but he said Whoosh was keen to adapt its plans to feedback from Queenstown locals.
He said the first two kilometres or so - a pilot project around Remarkables Park - could be operational as soon as next year.
"This isn't fiction, this isn't fake, this isn't an animation, this is actually coming. And it's coming fast," he told the crowd.
Whoosh's vision for Queenstown. Photo: Supplied
Work would begin this year, and it was just a matter of "dotting i's and crossing t's" and obtaining resource consent for the buildings, he said.
Allington did not put a date on the wider network, besides saying Whoosh's modular design made it very quick to build.
"It's not like we need to finish it all before any of it can open... it will just keep getting extended and keep rolling across in the direction, in the places, that Queenstown wants it to go," he said.
So far, the network had a ballpark cost estimate of $250 million, he said.
Whoosh was funded by shareholders and private equity from offshore, and Allington said he believed the price tag was achievable.
"The funny thing is, it's actually easier to fund the big project than a small one, particularly stuff like this. It's clean, it's green, it's sustainable. There's lots of funding sources available for that," he said.
But hot on Whoosh's heels was another initiative from Southern Infrastructure Ltd.
Southern Infrastructure chief executive Ross Copland. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd
Chief executive Ross Copland described the company as less of an innovator, and more of a problem solver for the town's traffic woes.
"We're not a supplier, so we don't have a particular technology. We're an infrastructure developer that's looking to solve a transport problem in Queenstown. We've looked really closely at all the options - our preference at this stage is a ropeway," he said.
Southern Infrastructure planned to build an electric, high-speed urban gondola network around Queenstown, at a cost of about $200 million.
It revealed a map of its planned network straddling seven stations, from Arthur's Point, to Queenstown central, to Ladies Mile, with stopoffs at Queenstown Airport and the Frankton bus hub.
Queenstown Cable Car's indicative map. Photo: Supplied
Copland said it was the sum of years of careful analysis of height limits, existing infrastructure, geotechnical stability and significant ecological areas.
"It's almost a direct route into Queenstown, but importantly it bypasses a lot of those residential areas where the visual effects would be quite significant," he said.
"We think it's a project that's consentable and also quite efficient."
The project had backing from rich-lister Rod Drury, and support from one of the world's biggest ski lift companies, Doppelmayr.
Copland admitted the company's goal of launching by the end of 2028 was "aggressive", but said the need was urgent.
"There's a couple of different ways the project can be funded. We'd love to see it brought in as part of the public transport funding models so that people in the region, whether their visitors or locals, can have quite a seamless experience moving between bus, ferry and the cable. But that relies on a whole lot of decisions that are outside of our control, so local government central government will have a really key role in deciding," he said.
"If that doesn't happen, then the funding model will be through, effectively, ticket prices, that will be paid by residents and visitors. The modelling we've done shows really strong growth and really strong uptake by passengers. So we think that under either of those scenarios, it's still a commercially viable project."
Doppelmayr NZ chief executive Gareth Hayman. Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd
Doppelmayr New Zealand chief executive Gareth Hayman hoped locals would see cable transit as a tried and tested option.
"A gondola is not that scary at all. It's been, in use for the last 25 years within public transport networks. It's proven, it's tested, we understand what we need to do and we're here to make it happen," he said.
Asked if Whoosh and Southern Infrastructure Ltd were competitors or allies, Allington said each was trying different methods to ease traffic congestion in Queenstown.
"I think we're all trying to achieve the same thing. We want to get Queenstown moving again. We want to do that in a sustainable way," he said.
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