Cable car price revealed
TASMANIAN families will be charged $64 to take a return trip if the kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car is built.
Details of the cost structure were revealed yesterday — including a promise of a free ride on your birthday. People from interstate and overseas will be charged more than locals.
Cableway company chairman Chris Oldfield said the fares were “well within reach”.
IT will cost Tasmanian families $64 to take a return cable car trip up the mountain, the Mount Wellington Cableway Company has revealed.
Chairman Chris Oldfield also announced locals would benefit from a free trip on their birthday as the company released details of their development application at the kunanyi/Mt Wellington summit yesterday.
Mr Oldfield confirmed it would be cheaper for Tassie families to make the trip than those from interstate or overseas.
But he refused to go into further details on pricing, including what it would cost for an individual return trip.
“We want to look after Tasmanians. After all it’s their mountain, it’s all of Tasmania’s mountain,” he said.
“We think that’s well within the reach when you compare it to similar activities and, of course, we’re also going to offer a free ride for people’s birthdays.”
Mr Oldfield said they were not prepared to discuss other prices at this stage due to commercial sensitivities.
“That would really be exposing our business case and there’s some commerciality in this still,” he said.
“As we get further down the track we’re happy to talk about our full pricing.”
The development application, lodged with the Hobart City Council on Wednesday, sees the 2.6km cableway extend 1000m in height from the proposed base station in a clearing along the Main Fire Trail just inside the boundary of Wellington Park behind the McRobies Gully tip.
At the summit would be a new public 24/7 open shelter, a cafe, restaurant and bar, free Wi-Fi and a community event space, including a rooftop amphitheatre, all with disability compliant boardwalks.
A one-way ride would take about 15 minutes with the company aiming for 12-14 patrons in each car. Estimates could see the cableway carrying more than 420 passengers to the summit each day.
The company has predicted its plan would reduce traffic on Huon and Pinnacle roads and Pillinger Drive by 180,000 vehicles a year.
Mr Oldfield said the company would pay a commercial rate to use the land and wouldn’t ask for any subsidies.
“This is funded by private money and we’re not looking for any handouts from Government,” he said.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the State Government had pushed through legislation that effectively privatised the pinnacle and Premier Will Hodgman needed to rule out changing the rules if the council rejected the proposal.
“We’ll always defend a wild mountain,” Ms O’Connor said.
“[The Government] has given special treatment to the proponent every step of the way, so pardon our cynicism but it’s one that’s shared by so many people who just love the mountain the way it is.”
But Mr Oldfield said there would be public viewing areas available for everybody.
“The cable car itself is really a means of getting people up to the mountain and to enable them to enjoy what the mountain has to offer with an improved facility,” he said.
“It’s always been very important to the team doing the design work that the amenity we offer here has to be a vast improvement on what currently exists and that it’s available to everyone, not just people who take the cable car.”
He said he didn’t think they would be able to alleviate everybody’s concerns but was confident they had put the
work in to allow it to progress through council “fairly easily”.
Mr Hodgman said the proposal had his Government’s full support.
“Whilst not everyone agrees with it there are many Tasmanians who support a cable car,” he said. “It’s about time this project — which has been on the drawing board for years and years and years — is finally before the proper planning authority, which is the Hobart City Council.”