This unsung form of public transportation is finally getting its due

Gondolas are frequent, fast, and reliable. And now they’re popping up in cities across the world.

In the United States, gondolas (also known as aerial cable cars) have mainly been proposed and developed as a small transportation line serving a private development, like the one proposed for the new Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Because these gondola systems are only serving a single location, a narrow population, and are part of a private, for-profit developer’s project, they have rightly been criticized for lacking a public purpose and even diverting public resources toward private profiteering.