Whoosh moves into pole position in Queenstown mass transit race

New Zealand owned Whoosh established a strong lead today in the race to provide Queenstown with a new mass transit system.

Whoosh Chairman Peter Crabtree (above left) and CEO Chris Allington (right) presented their detailed plan to QLDC councillors in a workshop session that featured advanced technical, social and financial benefits over Austrian based competitor Doppelmayr.

The Austrian proposal is provisionally part of a Regional Deal structure - Southern Infrastructure - being backed by entrepreneur Rod Drury.

In an open Q and A session with councillors, Mr Crabtree and Dr Allington fielded a large number of detailed questions - in contrast to a closed meeting yesterday, with no media present, between Southern Infrastructure and QLDC.

Today’s Whoosh presentation revealed their plan to build an early Queenstown Airport/CBD link - an expansion on earlier plans to start on a smaller scale around Remarkables Park.

Whoosh uses a mix of fixed overhead cables and rails - making multiple junctions and turns possible.

The Whoosh team also agreed today that a crossing of the Kawarau River from Frankton towards the base of the Remarkables ski area access road could be included in the first phases of their project.

The key points that made today’s presentation so impactful for councillors were:

Whoosh is not a gondola - it’s autonomous battery/electric vehicles running on a fixed overhead rail/cable system.
Whoosh is modular and not a fixed A to B straight line system. The cable/rail design allows the cars to turn corners and navigate multiple junctions based on where the passengers what to go.
Whoosh cars do not stop at every station - they are like Ubers that go to a specified destination. No stops.
Stations can be many, cost effective and tiny - as small as one car park space.
Unlike a traditional cable care system as used by Doppelmayr, the Whoosh cars stop at stations to let people on and off …. gondolas just slow down.
Google has already invested in Whoosh as a next generation transit system.
A full sized Whoosh system will be up and running at Christchurch airport by April 2026.
Whoosh is cheaper ($10 million per kilometre vs $20 - $60 million) and faster than traditional cable car/gondolas (35 km/h vs 20 km/h).
Whoosh can be easily built in stages and expanded to specific locations and subdivisions. It can easily cross rivers/roads and handle inclines of up to 15 degrees.

Potentially counting against Whoosh is the fact that Queenstown would be a world first full deployment of the system - although supporters of Queenstown’s tech future might argue that’s a plus rather than a minus.

Councillors now have to consider the relative strengths of the two proposals - balancing the relatively new, flexible cost-effective technology of Whoosh against the tried and tested, but less flexible and more expensive, system from companies like Doppelmayr.

It won’t be solely QLDC’s decision - but it will make a big difference to everyone else in the decision making chain if the council backs Whoosh.