Readers React: Why a gondola in L.A. — even to Dodger Stadium — probably won’t work

To the editor: While there is no argument that access to Dodger Stadium is awful, is an aerial tram a serious solution? (“A gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium? It could happen by 2022, Mayor Garcetti says,” April 26)

Things often sound great until you think them through. Let’s do that. For now we will ignore the wisdom of such an expensive undertaking to be used primarily for only several hours on 81 days a year.

At ski resorts and tourist attractions, gondolas service a stream of users. A baseball game involves a surge of users in a short period of time. I’ll use 5,000 people, the mayor’s number. Some will arrive early, some will leave early, so let’s say 3,000 will arrive and depart together.

The tram cars depicted look typical; they probably hold about 30 people. So 3,000 people will require 100 tram departures. If you can load and launch one every 45 seconds, probably optimistic, people will be standing in line for almost an hour and a half to leave the stadium after a game.

And possibly $20 per head? Eighty dollars for a family of four? Does this still sound like something people will do? As the saying goes, reality bites.

Michael Gorman, Sunland

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To the editor: While most of us love the idea of a non-taxpayer financed gondola to Dodger Stadium, I question its practicality.

Even if former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, whose company would build this, can restrain himself and charge “only” $10 per round trip, the numbers bode ill. Parking at Union Station is currently between $8 and $20, depending on which lot you use, so a car with four people will pay a minimum of $48 versus $20 at the stadium.

Also discouraging is that passengers would still have to walk from the southeast part of the parking lot to the stadium (the artist rendering of a north side drop off would be even worse). Can you say boondoggle?

Charge $5 per round trip and drop the passengers off at the Top Deck or Reserve Level entrances if you want this to actually generate ridership.

Gary Charlton, Sylmar

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