Bubbles&Beams II

[crapisnice]

this is so crap....

[eggaweb]

Unlike light/heavy rail, PRT is the only public transport method that is cheap enough to install, and operate with private enterprise without the need for gov. funding.

[Denon3333]

Idea: Great Realism: None. Way too expensive.

[ratesforless]

A 21st century solution to a 21st century problem; wow, what a concept. The only folks who would object are those whose livelihoods would be adversely affected (automobile industry, oil companies, and all the folks who get their pockets lined by their lobbyists). I guess after pushing the horse and buggy folks out of business 100 years ago, they want things to stay as they are. Hopefully, we will see this in our lifetimes instead of being told to stay in our cars for 2-3 hour commutes.

[ratesforless]

I'm still trying to figure out the downside here. An on-demand system at a much cheaper cost than any rail or highway worth mentioning that can actually pay for itself. Imagine the jobs that would be created from the constuction and maintenance (from a logistics POV; somebody has to be there to make sure its running right). It would be similar to the '50s when Eisenhower had the gov't build the interstate system we have today.

[akumie]

nice to see tokyo in the year 2040 :)

[joesephwind]

BTW, nicely done artwork. What programs did you use to create this beautiful world? I'm guessing you used photoshop for some of the Maps to give that dreamy water-color feel. But the intergration is very seamless. Well done!

[fnowacki]

I don't know what programs were used, but the original artist was named Hans Kylberg - he sadly died of cancer a few years ago.

[fnowacki]

I don't know what programs were used, but the original artist was named Hans Kylberg - he sadly died of cancer a few years ago.

[fnowacki]

@joesephwind I don't know what programs were used, but the original artist was named Hans Kylberg - he sadly died of cancer a few years ago... but I sure hope he could hear you know, I know he'd appreciate it.

[Hotduck63]

If a city or country puts his weight behind a project like this , I believe individuals should buy their own vehicle (that sense of independence) It should be equipped with batteries to get from the closest rail to your house at low speed (golf cart drive train or similar)you would receive your account for the amount of travelling you did , which would be less than petrol but would eventually pay for the infrastructure , taxes on normal cars should be higher to help pay for the PRT.

[eggaweb]

PRT can be built by a private company for a profit. Other public transport methods require heavy gov. subsidies.

[westogmoney]

it just looks really really expensive, that's all i can say.

[ratesforless]

Not really, especially compared to the heavy rail system that have been/currently being built.

[ahoog69]

Westogmoney: PRT is significantly cheaper per mile than subway, light rail, and new highway construction. Also, it can be installed more quickly; prefabricated segments of guideway can be lifted into place very quickly. Also, stations can be modular, and be built to fit in a variety of locations.

[SilverWolf25]

I really like the concept of this system alot! Can you tell me what song this is?

[SilverWolf25]

N/M on the song...lol I just missed it in the credits the first time I watched.. Again.. Great concept.

[HankMeyer]

Who pays the cost of maintaining the system and how? What if I never use it? Do I still have to pay for it? What are the proposed methods of generating the extra electricity needed to power it? I saw what looked like solar panels on one of the rails. What backs up the system at night and on cloudy days? How do you tell the car where to go? Does the car A. control itself, or does it B. depend on a centralized computer? If A, then can the car be hacked, and if B. what if the system fails?

[greblyksnah]

Your qestions do not all have definite answer yet. Who pays the system is a political question. Any from travelers pay 100% all to all government payed.

The extra electricity should preferably be renewable, but some extra nuklear power might be needed until better ways are found.

[greblyksnah]

For example by using your mobile phone you can tell about start destination alternativ route a a s.

I suggest car should have most of it control (with the virtual computers perhaps partly in the car and partly region centralized).Others might say it shoud be more centralized. Of course systems have to be unhackable, most parts tripled.

[HankMeyer]

I don't think identification should be needed. The rail could be coin operated instead. ID can be stolen, and used by other people at your expense, and I don't trust governments with total control over transportation methods on which I depend. I like the idea for it to be used as an alternative to walking, but not as a replacement for driving.

[greblyksnah]

This system is definitely intended to replace driving and conventional transport systems, including short disatns airlines, not at all to replace walking.

Coin operation is not suitable at all.

[ahoog69]

HankMeyer: The most likely scenario will be that the system will be installed and operated by a private firm (for profit). Part of the power may be generated from solar, but I imagine most of it will come from current power plants. Indeed, new/cleaner sources of electricity will have to be developed for a full-blown PRT system.

[SailorBarsoom]

@HankMeyer

As has been pointed out, the project could be entirely private (some company), entirely public (paid for with taxes), or some combination (the government loans the company money to buy it and the company pays it back later).

But let's take the "worst case scenario" for this: the project is built, run, and maintained entirely at taxpayer expense, neither you nor anybody that you know ever uses it, and yet you have to pay just as much in taxes to support it as anybody who does use it.

[SailorBarsoom]

durned character limit

Anyhoo, even in this situation you benefit, because the roads you drive on are less congested, and need less maintainance, which saves taxes there (or conversely, the roads are better maintained for the same cost).

So it's not so bad, even in that worst case scenario.

[HankMeyer]

@SailorBarsoom Right, and that's another reason I would vote against it. If it were built in america, doubtlessly the taxpayer would fund it, but it would be managed and profited from by a corporation. Probably one based in some foreign tax haven. That's how "public" transportation usually works. And then that corporation would probably lobby to create more strict traffic laws, and expensive taxes for people who use their own personal vehicle instead of this bubble and beam thing...

[SailorBarsoom]

@HankMeyer

Is that inevitable? Do we just assume that things MUST be done in the worst way possible? Why bother ever doing anything?

[HankMeyer]

@SailorBarsoom We are to assume things must be done in the worst possible way if they are centrally controled, and paid for by the forcible confiscation of peoples' money, because when you attempt to do them that way, you've already started incorporating "the worst possible way" into your design. I'm not for doing nothing, I'm for doing things in a decentralized and non-heirarchal manner.

[SailorBarsoom]

@HankMeyer

Normally, when somebody starts in on the "all taxation is theft" meme, I stop talking to that person because I figure it's pointless. But you managed to say some other stuff that actually seems interesting, so I'm going to ask how you would do it. I certainly don't feel that I can say that it COULDN'T be done in "a decentralized and non-heirarchal manner," nor do I know any reason, at least for now, to oppose such a thing.

So, how do we do that?

[HankMeyer]

@SailorBarsoom I wouldn't create this system at all. It places too much power over transportation in the hands of the government. With the current road-based transportation arrangment, people stuck in traffic, or behind a road block can always open their doors, and escape on foot without falling to their deaths, or perhaps even take their cars off road. Can you imagine if the Nazis had the power to simply trap everybody on any stretch of road in their cars, until they could be searrched?

[SailorBarsoom]

@HankMeyer

The Nazi did a frighteningly effective job without it. If you open your car door and run for it, or if you take your car off-road, the helicopters get you. If the FAA demands that the plane you're on land at THIS airport, you can't get out unless you fall to your death.

I'm afraid of the government getting involved in basic things like speech, or little things like drugs. I'm not that worried about the government building roads, setting up flightpaths, or running this system.

[HankMeyer]

@SailorBarsoom Building roads is one thing, but the more dependant on government you let your basic activities become, the less leverage you have when it comes to defending your freedoms of speech and consumption. If you let them take everything that other people value, on the condition that they permit you to keep that which you value, then they'll get the rest through someone else, as through you. As was once said of the Nazi's, when they finally came for me, no one was left to protest.

[SailorBarsoom]

@HankMeyer

I'm sorry, but we are coming at this from different worlds. If there is a real problem with this system, I don't accept that it's a All Powerful Government problem. You do.

We may as well be a Celtic Druid and a Corinthian Priestess arguing about who created the universe. I think it's best if we part ways, as neither of us is going to convince the other.

[HankMeyer]

Who controls this rail system's traffic, making sure nobody crashes into anybody else? Am I allowed to get on the rail without identification? If not why not? Can the government control the cars remotely, forcing you to go some place where they want you to go, but where you don't want to go? If there's an earthquake, a tornado or hurricane that destroys a dozen sections of the rail across a city, does the entire cityt then have to travel on foot, until the repairs are made?

[greblyksnah]

Each var should be updated all the time by posisions of other nearby cars.

Identifikation is necessary but can be in the form of a number or nickname. One reason is for you to come to the right destination, another one is to debet your travel account, a third one is to keep track of persons who have a record of sabotage to the system.

A person who does not behave or is sabotageing could be taken directlu to a guard- or police station.

[greblyksnah]

The system should be like a webb so that cars are re-routed when needed becayse of destroyed section or risk for traffic jam. It should work similar to internet

[ahoog69]

HankMeyer: A centralized computer will likely control traffic. I don't imagine ID will be required; debit/credit cards or a pre-arranged account could be used for payment. Damage to one part of the system should not disable the entire system; traffic could be re-routed.

[shenyangcj]

What neighborhood will allow this visual pollution?

What about when the inevitable traffic jams occur on the track?

Juvenile fantasy

[CadenRolland]

A Neighborhood that doesn't want sound pollution, air polution, and wants reduced ground water pollution due to oil runoffs.

The system would have to control car speed and volume and redirect your route to reduce travel time. This is all very do'able.

[css1971]

Traffic jams can't happen within these systems, they are synchronous. They happen at the stations, where you have the option of leaving and choosing a different mode of transport.

The performance limiting factor in a PRT system is the speed you can get people in and out of the vehicles at the stations.

As to visual pollution... Motorways and rail lines... Not exactly light or dainty structures. Rows upon rows of cars parked along the streets. There's visual pollution for you.

[747K]

More of the real thing not videos!!!!!