A Queenstown councillor is pushing for outdoor escalators or a Norwegian bike lift to conquer the resort's hills.
Alexa Forbes, a sustainability adviser at Otago Polytechnic's Centre for Sustainable Practice, said the ''travelators'' would encourage sustainable commuting.
''If we want to get people on to bikes and on foot, we need to be able to get up Queenstown Hill and Fernhill,'' she said.
''Then there's also up from the Shotover bridge, which is another one people complain about.
''The rest of Queenstown is relatively flat.''
Cr Forbes envisages outdoor escalators similar to ones found in Hong Kong, on Japanese skifields and in Colombia.
Alternatively, the hills could be conquered with a Trampe bicycle lift.
It serves the Norwegian town of Trondheim. Cyclists clip one foot into a rig similar to a magic carpet ski lift.
''It's really simple,'' she said.
Cr Forbes said if Queenstown was to build multistorey car parks to cope with more vehicles, it would cost $40,000 per space.
Travelators cost from $10,000 into the millions.
''Cars are really very last century. They're a really bad investment and sit parked for more than 90% of the time.''
She believes her fellow councillors could eventually get behind her scheme.
''Absolutely. I'm the eternal optimist.''
Cr Forbes is also a driving force behind Queenstown's Shaping Our Future community think-tank.
She said ''big ideas'' such as travelators would help people focus on the future for transport in the district. - Mountain Scene
-by Paul Taylor
