Even in the before times, they rarely filled the gondolas to the max capacity of 10. Even the opening week at peak times (it was pretty much always peak time that week) they would typically load no more than 6 people, depending on how the parties were sized. Just the two of us. Usually we'd be seated with another party of 3 or 4. Sometime two parties of 2, but never more than that.
And yes, while the gondolas can technically fit 10, but it's not a comfortable fit and probably not practical to try to get 10 people on and off a moving vehicle very often. I've seen families with small children struggle getting everyone aboard as the little ones (and some adults) get distracted by the gondolas themselves. If a large number had problems getting in/out, it could force an emergency stop that would slow things down more than using 2 gondolas would.