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Community feedback has helped shape significant changes to the proposed Queenstown Cable Car route, including moving the alignment alongside the Queenstown Events Centre rather than over its playing fields, and repositioning the Frankton interchange to connect directly with the Frankton Bus Hub.
Southern Infrastructure Limited (SIL) has refined the cable car network design following months of engagement with residents, community groups, businesses, landowners and Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC).
The engagement has included four public webinars this year, a community survey – with nearly 900 responses – and dozens of meetings with groups and landowners along the proposed route. SIL has also worked through the design with Council staff to consider how the network can best fit within the existing urban environment and future growth areas.
The four proposed Frankton stations are now positioned centrally within precincts identified in Council’s Te Kirikiri/Frankton Masterplan: Frankton Village, Queenstown Airport, the Five Mile Urban Corridor and Quail Rise.
Southern Infrastructure chief executive Ross Copland says the engagement process has demonstrated the importance of the community sharing its voice during this formative phase of the project.
“Council and residents gave us fairly consistent feedback – don’t cross the playing fields. So we’ve worked with the engineers and found a way to make that work. The new alignment is slightly less direct, but it aligns better to the original Frankton Masterplan design,” says Ross
“These are practical changes that respond to what the community has asked for and I’m really grateful to our design team and suppliers for making it work within the myriad of constraints.”
Frankton Flats stations service key precinctsThe four stations across Frankton Flats are designed to make the proposed cable car accessible to more residents, workers and visitors, while connecting with the areas where Queenstown is planning for future growth.
- Frankton Bus Hub: Located above the recently built Frankton golf course car park. Both cable car lines will meet here, providing a direct interchange with the existing bus network and connections for commuters from Ladies Mile, Lake Hayes Estate and Shotover Country.
- Airport: Adjacent to the new terminal, providing a direct connection between the airport and the cable car network.
- Five Mile: Located on the edge of Hawthorne Drive, serving Queenstown Central, Five Mile and Frankton North, within an area identified for significant future development and high-capacity public transport.
- Quail Rise: Located near the Shotover Bridge, serving planned development around Quail Rise while connecting to cycle routes along the Shotover River. This is also a hub for maintenance activity and cabin storage buildings.
Ross says positioning the stations within Council’s planned growth areas will help more people access the network on foot, by bike and to connect with other forms of transport.
“Station locations have been optimised to service the places people live, work, shop and where Queenstown is planning to grow. Our aim is to make the cable car integrate into the wider transport network.
“Both lines intersecting at Frankton Bus Hub has real benefits. It means people can easily transfer between the cable car and buses at one location, making journeys across the wider network easier.”
Better connections for southern commuters
Ross says the main source of negative feedback in surveys came from residents living in the southern corridor suburbs such as Jacks Point and Hanley’s Farm, who are concerned about increasing congestion and seeing little progress on a solution. He says this has reinforced the importance of communicating the future network plans to the wider Queenstown community.
“We have to build the network in stages, and the Town Centre and Ladies Mile lines respond to the most pressing transport needs. But the survey feedback was clear – we need to accelerate our planning for a southern corridor transport solution. We’re investigating options for expanding the cable car network and engaging with potential partners on their plans too – watch this space.”
What’s next?
- SIL is continuing to refine the design.
- The revised alignment will go to Council in December.
- The fast-track application will be lodged in the first quarter of 2027.
- A decision is expected by the end of 2027 with construction to take place between 2028 and 2030.
The station locations and alignment remain indicative and are subject to detailed design and the relevant approval processes. For the latest updates visit: Queenstown Cable Car
