Anaheim exploring ways to connect sports venues and Disneyland, but no concrete solution yet

The city of Anaheim is continuing a yearslong process to connect its two main tourist hubs via improved public transportation, including, among other options, an aerial gondola system between the Honda Center and Disneyland.

A potential gondola system would provide a vital connection between the Anaheim Resort District and the booming “Platinum Triangle,” an area under rapid development near the city’s two sports venues and its main transportation hub, the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center.

According to the Anaheim Investigator, which obtained presentations and internal communications about the proposal through public records requests, a gondola system would likely run along Katella Avenue and feature six stops before branching off at Harbor Boulevard to service Disneyland Resort and the Anaheim Convention Center.

That gondola proposal is one of a handful of transit options being evaluated by city planners. Other methods include a trackless streetcar system or autonomous vehicles that could potentially run in a street median or in a dedicated lane.

But the city’s communications officer stresses any solutions for this mobility puzzle are still years away, with no plan emerging as a frontrunner just yet, despite any reports that say otherwise.

“We as a city are looking at various types of transportation technology,” Mike Lyster told KTLA. “We are currently in the early, informal phases of looking at a range of transit technologies, with gondola being just one.”

The city of Anaheim has discussed its transit goals with other companies with their own technologies, including Tesla, Lyster said. Those talks, including conversations about a gondola system, are described as “preliminary.”

Lyster says bureaucracy in Anaheim is not unlike the rest of the state. The city would likely need to hire a consultant, request information from potential partners, deal with environmental regulations and study traffic impacts before a plan is put in motion.

“We are looking at potentially years of study,” Lyster said. “We don’t even know what type of transportation would be best for our city.”

Any project would likely have to deal with some type of environmental review, although some of that process could be expedited due to the system length being less than five miles.

What is certain is that the goal to connect the two areas of the city is still a priority for city planners. Development in and around the Platinum Triangle is moving faster than pretty much any other part of the city, and Disneyland Resort continues to be the largest employer in the city and the most impactful economic driver in the region.

“We understand that there’s interest but that interest also leads people to get very much ahead of themselves,” Lyster said.

If chosen, the gondola system would be designed and built by Swyft Technologies, a transit startup that is currently in talks with nearby Irvine for its own system to service the Great Park.

KTLA previously reported that the company would donate equipment and services to get the project off the ground at a value of about $10 million during a one-year trial period.

Anaheim officials apparently touched base with their counterparts in Irvine to discuss the project, emails obtained by the Anaheim Investigator show. It’s notable that Swyft has yet to successfully deploy one of its systems during its brief history but has communicated with other cities in other states.

Ultimately, there’s no “turnkey” solution at this time, but Anaheim is open to all options, gondola included.

A timeline, however, is not on the horizon, Lyster said.

The Anaheim Investigator, citing communication from city leaders, writes that a gondola system could be completed by 2028 ahead of the Summer Olympics.

Anaheim will be the host site of Olympic volleyball, and the city is preparing for an influx of visitors.

“There is a lot of talk in our city about getting ready for that,” Lyster said, but implementing an entirely new transit system in under three years would be extremely optimistic.

In local government, and particularly with large-scale infrastructure projects, it’s practically impossible to keep something like this under wraps if it were actually close to becoming reality.

“Anyone that follows government, for us to have a large transportation [plan] … if we were honing in on a technology, people would know,” Lyster said.

Until a technology has been identified and contracts have been signed, travelers can utilize one of a handful of shuttles to get to and from Disneyland and Anaheim’s other amenities.