Opinion: Concerns on the Proposed Swyft Cities “Gondola” Project at the Great Park – Part 2 [Updated}

  • May 13, 2025, 9:29 am America/Los_Angeles
Updated May 25, 2025: At the April 22, 2025 Great Park board meeting, it was presented that “Swyft Cities has indicated their willingness to donate to the City the resources needed to install and operate an initial segment [in the Great Park].” And that the “value of this first operating segment is estimated to be $9.48 million.”  Source: Agenda Item 1.2, Request for Board Action.
However, it was recently learned from a city staff email that the preliminary cost of the required infrastructure to be built by the city is $6.1 million for the proposed Swyft Cities “initial segment.” This includes design costs for the Whoosh/gondola cable poles, foundations, station sizing, electrical equipment, as well as construction project management costs, and construction costs for the poles, foundations, stations and electrical equipment.

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“Concerns on the Proposed Swyft Cities “Gondola” Project at the Great Park” was published on the Irvine Watchdog website on May 5, 2025. Since then, a few more concerns and updates have come to light, which are listed below:

Five City Contracts (not Four) Have Already Been Signed for the Proposed Swyft Cities Transit System

The City of Irvine’s Transparency Portal lists the following five contracts signed by city representatives that are related to the proposed Swyft Cities gondola project in the Great Park:

This represents a total of $734,750 of taxpayer money that is already spent on a proposed and untested Swyft Cities gondola system with no input or feedback from the City Council or from any of the City of Irvine Commissions.

Note:

  • The proposed Swyft Cities gondola system, based on the proprietary Whoosh® cable technology, is unproven in a production environment in which there are NO full-scale Whoosh systems built yet that are transporting hundreds or thousands of riders per day that span several miles. The only existing Whoosh system is a small, quarter-scale “demo” system that is housed in a New Zealand warehouse. There were announced plans to build a “pilot” system at a New Zealand resort starting this year, with some stating completion was to be expected by year-end. But as of yet, there are still no announcements that construction has begun, including on the Swyft Cities’ social media and websites.
  • The City Council voted 5-1 at the April 22, 2025 Great Park board meeting to have city staff proceed with contract negotiations with Swyft Cities for a proposed Whoosh gondola system in the Great Park. But work by HDR Engineering is still not completed, in which they are still finishing a ridership forecast for those expected to travel to and within the Great Park based on the Swyft Cities gondola system. It is premature to enter contract negotiations with Swyft without knowing how many are expected to use the Whoosh gondola system, including during peak times.

Swyft Cities’ Business Model Consists of Software License Revenue and Sales of Their “Hardware Kits” – Third-Parties Build and Operate the Gondola System

According to a startup investor who is a Founding Strategy Partner at Swyft Cities, the Swyft Cities business model is based on generating revenue from high-margin components of the Whoosh gondola system:

  • Generate recurring revenue from software licensing based on the proprietary Whoosh technology, in which revenue is estimated to be ~$0.10 to $0.25 per passenger mile
  • Generate revenue from the sales of their “hardware kits” based on an exclusive license agreement

The Swyft Cities business model does not include delivering “low-margin” aspects of the Whoosh gondola system, such as manufacturing, construction, and operations. Manufacturing and construction of the Whoosh system, as well as overseeing its operations, are provided by third-party partners, not Swyft Cities.

This begs the question of the April 22nd City Council approval for the city staff to start negotiating a contract with Swyft Cities:

What is the city negotiating, since Swyft Cities will not build, maintain, and operate the Whoosh system since it will be handled by third-party companies?

Note:

The Swyft Cities business model also relies on potential customers paying upfront for a feasibility study and other related items as part of the sales process. This is unusual in which companies usually pay for things like feasibility studies, marketing videos, VR demos and full-scale mockups as part of the company’s business development costs and sales process.

There is No Financial/Cost Analysis of the Proposal Swyft Cities Gondola System

No financial or cost analysis has yet been produced and shared with the City Council, which shows the projected cost to manufacture, build, maintain, and operate a Swyft Cities gondola system in the Great Park based on a proposed route system and ridership forecast.

The city has already spent $734,750 for a feasibility and circulation study by Swyft Cities and a full-scale Whoosh pod and virtual reality demo, and a ridership forecast study by HDR that’s still not finished.

But there’s still no formal cost analysis that shows how much it will cost to manufacture, build, maintain, and operate the Swyft Cities system in the Great Park – even though the city has already started contract negotiations with Swyft Cities.

We understand that the city staff is in the process of completing a cost analysis of the Swyft Cities system. But this is also problematic.

A cost analysis of a complex transit system, such as the Swyft Cities gondola system should be done by an independent engineering firm that is knowledgeable on estimating realistic costs for a large-scale transit system, both the upfront capital costs to manufacture and build the system, and the annual maintenance and operating costs.

The Irvine city staff are not experts in assessing the cost for a large-scale gondola transit system that will span several miles in the Great Park. And the City Council should not rely solely on a cost analysis provided by city staff.

Note:

Viewing the YouTube video of the August 13, 2024, board meeting for the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority in Utah, a proposal was presented to pay $83,000 to Swyft Cities for an initial phase of a feasibility study.

Projected side-by-side costs were presented by the land authority’s mobility and transit consultant Steve Kellenberg, in which the capital costs for a Swyft Cities gondola system is much higher than various “on-road” options such as those presented in the Schwartz Engineering transit report for the city of Irvine.

We should expect the same cost comparison result for the Great Park’s Swyft Cities gondola system, in which the capital costs are likely to be much higher than the “on-road” options presented in the city’s Schwartz Engineering report.

A Process to Recommend a Great Park Transit System Must Be More Methodical and Transparent, and Evaluated by Independent Experts

A Great Park transit system that is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars must be based on an evaluation process that is more methodical and transparent, not only with the City Council and city commissions but also with the Irvine residents, especially since it will be funded by taxpayer money.

The city staff is already negotiating a contract with Swyft Cities. But it’s unknown what will be the terms of the contract since Swyft Cities will rely on third-party companies to manufacture, build, maintain, and operate the Whoosh gondola system, in which there are no large-scale Whoosh transit systems that have yet to be built that are transporting hundreds of daily riders.

The city staff has already signed contracts totaling $734,750 in support of a Swyft Cities gondola system without input from the City Council. But NO cost analysis has been produced that shows the projected cost to manufacture, build, maintain, and operate a Whoosh gondola system. Nor has a ridership forecast been completed for the Whoosh system.

The evaluation process by city staff appears to be rushed, with Swyft Cities looking like it’s already a “done deal”.

This was evident at the May 6th State of the Great Park event where the Great Park Board Chair and City Councilmember Mike Carroll, was on stage to introduce a Swyft Cities marketing video and promote the Whoosh VR demo and gondola pod to the event attendees – even though the city is still negotiating a contract with Swyft Cities and no cost analysis has yet been issued.

Also, the Utah land authority’s transit consultant, Steve Kellenberg, has already shown that capital costs are much higher for a Swyft Cities system versus other “on road” transit options.

With the budget still in progress for other large projects in the Great Park such as the permanent amphitheater, the City Council should be cautious and ensure that there will be enough taxpayer money in the Great Park funds to cover the costs to build everything that’s planned in the Great Park, including its transit system.

Footnote:

It was already reported in August 2024 that the board for the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority in Utah voted to not pay Swyft Cities for a feasibility study and instead wait 9 to 12 months to learn more once the Whoosh gondola system at the New Zealand resort has been constructed and is operational.

But recently, the Transportation & Mobility Manager at the city of Sugar Land, Texas (which is outside of Houston) was contacted to obtain a status on their city’s evaluation of the Swyft Cities gondola system in which last year they paid about $22,000 for a feasibility study from Swyft Cities.

But the proposed project is now on hold due to the cost in which the city of Sugar Land is now applying for federal and state grants to try to get funding for the Swyft Cities system. But with the 2024 change in the White House administration and a new Secretary of Transportation, it’s unknown if their grant applications will be approved to move forward for their Swyft Cities system.

 

Authors

  • Mari Fujii

    Mari Fujii is a 35-year retired resident of Irvine. She is also chair of the city’s Transportation Commission. Mari holds a BS in Civil Engineering but spent most of her career working in IT/web development at an Irvine startup, Wonderware, a global manufacturing software company where she was employee #198. Note that the views expressed here are her own and are not the views of the city nor Mayor Larry Agran who appointed Mari to the commission.

  • Raj Bhatia

    Raj Bhatia is a Great Park resident, who holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering, and currently works for a healthcare software development company in Irvine. He is also big on sustainability, and provider of organic coconut coir products in the U.S., for horticulture needs. Currently, he serves as the Vice Chair of the Planning Commission, appointed by Larry Agran. As a family guy, he cares for the community and the future of the residents, so that Irvinites can live, work, and play in a harmonious and well-planned city. He is in support of the Irvine Cares Programming, to resolve many issues we face. The views expressed here are his own and may not coincide with the views of the city, or Mayor Larry Agran.