TX: Sugar Land is aiming to become the future of transportation

With Sugar Land on the verge of a transportation revolution with the announcement that it could be the first in the U.S. to get an aerial gondola system, many in Houston are wondering — why Sugar Land?

As traffic in the Greater Houston area is expected to increase by 60 percent by the 2040s, Sugar Land city officials have opted for unexpected ways to provide different modes of transportation in the car-dependent suburb.

The city is a major thoroughfare with Interstate 59 and Highway 6 slicing through the area. And as traffic gets worse, so will mobility. That's why the city is hoping to get ahead of worsening traffic congestion by jumping into innovative, out-of-the-box projects that aren't the tried-and-true mass transit systems. This includes its partnership with Wisk Aero to implement self-driving air taxis for airport trips. In October, Sugar Land announced a feasibility study to bring an autonomous elevated cable and rail system in partnership with Swyft Cities that was met with mixed reactions.

For Melanie Beaman, Transportation and Mobility Manager in the Engineering Department in Sugar Land, this project fits the tightrope a mobility system in Sugar Land has to walk to make it to the inauguration phase. However, she stresses that nothing yet has been ruled out.

"The main impetus for talking to [Swyft Cities] was Highway 6 and 59 is a major intersection in Sugar Land and it has a lot of traffic. It's a high crash intersection and it's not very pedestrian or bicyclist friendly," Beaman said.

"It's actually what prevents me from biking to work. I live close enough to do it. But it's just not very friendly to vulnerable road users." she continued. "We're trying to figure out how do we get people across that's safe, maybe grade separated [way]?"

That's where Swyft Cities' technology comes in. The "smart" elevated cable system was developed by the minds of Google engineers to transport employees across its massive, crowded campus quickly and efficiently. The Google Project had certain parameters: they couldn't occupy much space, cost as much as a conventional mass transit system, and all trips had to be fast and nonstop.

They came up with what at first glance looks like an upgraded ski lift. But this isn't the last century's simple cable and pulley system. The gondolas are powered by electricity to independently send people to specific stops dictated by the riders. These gondolas will be able to switch elevations or turn to change their route.

"I think an area that's full of cars, built around cars, full of parking lots, that's an ideal situation," said Swyft Cities CEO Jeral Poskey, when asked where this sort of system is most effective. "A common thread is cities that were sprawling and are now to the edge and there's no more open space left. So now you have to figure out a new way to move people around because you just can't keep adding more lanes and more parking lots because you're out of space now."

Poskey told Chron that its partnership with Sugar Land to conduct a feasibility study would bring the city a new mobility option to help support the fast-growing region. The Southeastern city has grown to 111,026 people, according to 2020 Census figures, a huge surge from its 78,817 figure in 2010.

The push for new mobility options comes from the city's Mobility Master Plan, adopted last year. The three-year project solicited feedback from 1,300 residents on mobility options, with most respondents saying they wanted a more robust public transit option, but not a fixed route bus service like Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority.

"People scream about METRO," Beaman told Chron, adding that Sugar Land residents tell her they "don't want that out here." Buses take up a lot of space, she says, and tend to be slow and get in the way. And through the master plan process "both citizens and leadership told us to be bold in what we do and not to be afraid to take risks," Beaman said.

The air gondolas seem to be a response to the people's mandate for trailblazing projects. They also appeal to most residents who want a different mode of transportation in the car-dependent area without feeling like they're riding mass transit.

The plan could connect areas that get high foot traffic like the University of Houston's Sugar Land campus, the Smart Financial Center, the Sugar Land Town Square, and hospital campuses, Beaman said. If deemed feasible, the design and engineering phase will take about a year and will include time for public input. Construction of the actual infrastructure could take about 2-3 years.

Beaman estimates the approximate cost at $30 million in each of its planned three phases. The city is looking at securing federal funding from transportation grants under the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. They're also interested in securing private-public partnerships to shore up the rest of the cost.

The stations would utilize very little space, taking up about nine parking spots with most of the system operating on the city's right of way, negating the need for additional and acquisition costs. Running the operation would cost the city about $2 million a year, according to Beaman.

"Of course, funding is the major issue but it takes very little once it's constructed, the vehicles are designed to last 50 years," Beaman said.

Swyft Cities CEO Poskey said that a city like Sugar Land can start rather small, with a few stops. But since the system is "modular" that number can grow over time, adding to that network of cables, possibly even expanding.

"It's like Legos, it's poles and cables can be installed and expanded upon or taken out or moved," Poskey said.

The gondolas have a max speed of 30 miles per hour and can fit a max of five people with space for wheelchair users and travelers with bikes.

Poskey said that some systems they have implemented can carry 3,000 passengers per hour, with one client taking up to 10,000 passengers per hour. He declined to name the client, although he did add that the system is located in a stadium setting.

"The key is to give people options. Not everyone but most people will still be in their cars. The whole area is built around car transportation, you're gonna be in cars, but to give 10 or 15 percent of the people an option to travel without a car...the traffic goes way down...just pulling 10 or 15 percent of cars off the road can make such a difference," Poskey said.

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