GONDOLA ADVOCATES RECEIVE OFFER TO FINANCE CONSTRUCTION OF 'DEN-VAIR' SYSTEM FOR DOWNTOWN DENVER

DENVER, CO, UNITED STATES, May 30, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A transportation company with decades of experience with automated transit networks featuring gondola-like cabins last week submitted an offer to gondola advocates to finance construction of such a system in downtown Denver in return for annual payments derived from operating revenues.

The offer from Parker-based Vuba (www.go-vuba.com) demonstrates that the gondola network for downtown is financially attractive to private investors, a particularly important feature of the plan given the dire financial straits facing the city.

“There is nothing about our proposal that’s “pie-in-the-sky,” says New Downtown Denver Director Ryan Ross. “If the city issues a request for proposal to the community of urban gondola builders, it will likely get several offers to build the system at virtually no cost to the city.”

The system Ross and co-directors transportation planner and community-advocate attorney Noah Stout are recommending was dubbed “DEN-VAIR” last month by a Denver resident attending a public hearing on the proposal.

The proposal calls for a three-loop system of customizable, on-demand gondolas transporting passengers to every major downtown attraction, in the air or on the ground, giving Denver a transportation innovation that plays off the state’s signature form of outdoor winter recreation for which it’s known worldwide, and a global visibility that would mean hundreds of thousands of new downtown visitors, and a vastly improved cityscape for downtown residents and workers.

“There is nothing the city could do that would provide a more powerful boost to the city’s downtown,” Ross says. “It would be putting downtown economic development on steroids.”

Vuba Project Development Director Peter Muller says the technology is a perfect fit for Denver. Its “unique capability to interconnect numerous stations via dedicated guideways enables express, transfer-free service that is infinitely scalable – perfect for supporting ongoing downtown growth and the dynamic needs of sports and entertainment venues,” he says.

Starting the process would require raising $200,000 to fund a scoping study, the Vuba transportation planner said. Investors would then contribute to a $2 million robust study required before construction would begin.

Unfortunately, the current draft of the nearly-completed master plan city officials will use to guide the city over the next decades doesn’t contain any new transportation methods, doesn’t contain any proposals to make it easier to get from one part of downtown to another, and doesn't include any proposals that would generate revenues. The gondola system would generate between $25 million and $75 million from fares, sponsorships and advertising, according to the Vuba estimate.

“A gondola was part of a city plan adopted in 2020,” Ross notes. “To not include it now would be a step backwards.”

Ross encouraged Denver residents to contact Mayor Michael Johnston and other city officials and urge them to include exploring construction of a gondola system in the “Downtown Area Plan” that’s to go before City Council later this year.

New Downtown Denver (newdowntowndenver.org) is a non-profit created to promote a gondola system to revitalize downtown Denver.

Ryan Ross
New Downtown Denver, Inc.
+1 303-832-6296
email us here

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