Future of Macon solar-powered gondola network could be up in the air

Imagine stepping out of your favorite downtown Macon restaurant, and seconds later, floating down the street in your own personal solar-powered gondola.

It might sound farfetched, but as we told you last year, Macon-Bibb County is considering it. More than a year later, you may ask, "Is it really happening, or is it just wishful thinking?'"

We tried to find out.

For JPods co-founder Bill James, it's a bit of both, paired with years of scientific knowledge.

"We're going to turn cities into theme parks. It's just going to be a lot of fun," he said. "We grade separate to remove all the start stops. Then we take it and we flip it upside down, and we hang from it."

The company's long-term goal is ending the nation's reliance on oil.

"We use the deck over the top to deploy the solar collectors to gather the energy to power the networks," James explained.

Their short-term goal is finding a city to say 'yes.'

"We have tried so many places," James said.

Enter: Macon.

"Finding a government that will support innovation is a unicorn. And that's what Mayor Miller and the City of Macon are," James said.

In January 2022, Mayor Lester Miller signed a memorandum of understanding with JPods and Georgia Mobility Company. That's a nonbinding agreement laying out the JPods proposal.

It became binding last May, when Miller signed a franchise agreement with JPods. That means Macon-Bibb has to allow the project as long as JPods gets all the permission it needs from other agencies.

"A lot of people thought it was just 'pie-in-the-sky,' and to some extent, it might just be a wish-list for the future," Miller said.

According to the memorandum of understanding, the first stop on the network would be downtown at Atrium Health Navicent. It would move down Second Street all the way down to Mercer University.

It may sound like a long way off, but James hopes to start building sooner than you might think.

"My hope is that we can get started on that this summer. That we can get building it," James said.

The first hurdle is funding. James says they have some pretty big-name sources, like Goldman Sachs. He and Miller both say Macon-Bibb won't pay a dime, and if it all goes right, the county will make money.

"We pay 5% of our gross transportation revenues, so we actually become a stream of revenue for the city and county," James explained.

The next step is agreeing when to start construction. While James hopes to start as soon as possible, Miller wants to pump the brakes.

"We want to complete the mall project that we have going on, and we've got a couple things downtown that we're working on, and between the celebration of the national park here in Macon-Bibb County," he said.

Miller prefers to do more research before they make things official. Despite the binding agreement with JPods, the commission still needs to vote before construction can start. That's according to Mayor Miller and James.

"We placed things on hold for a little bit. Want to do a little bit more exploration on the right of ways and things like that," Miller explained.

He's not ruling anything out just yet.

"Something we're always open to consider, as long as it's the right thing to do for our citizens of Macon-Bibb County and our citizens," he said.

All the while, James is still adamant Macon is the place to build the transit system of the future.

"You guys are an incredibly rare city to allow innovation. We're just really pleased to be part of the community," James said.

Even though for now, things look to be a bit up in the air.

James says it'll cost a hefty amount to get started. He says each mile of track will cost about $20 million. Their first leg would be about four miles long.

James says Macon would be the first city in their network, but other cities, like Dallas, Texas, are looking into it.