5 ms·

Interesting tidbit in this RFP is the winner has to pay for it! So of course they chose a startup that hasn’t built anything and has no financing.

annerajb 8y ago
The financing would be provided by somebody else not the boring company itself. Probably a private company will get some bonds based on the project and pay for operating cost and such. Though Elon musk said he did not want public money.
- dbasedweeb 8y ago
  Elon says a lot of things, and some of them even turn out to be true. The ones involving money though, seem to be less likely. This could work though, I think it’s more likely to never get off the ground. At least it’s just a tunnel, and not that Hyperloop crap. I actually have some faith in their ability to dig a tunnel, and zero faith in making a vac-train feasible.
  - timb07 8y ago
    > I think it’s more likely to never get off the ground It's a tunnel, duh.
    - dbasedweeb 8y ago
      Heh, I walked face-first into that one. Touché.
  - colordrops 8y ago
    You are just going to trash one of the most accomplished engineering magnets on earth without any rationale to back up your assertion? And please don't just follow with "it's well known that it won't work".
    - cozzyd 8y ago
      "engineering magnets" I see what you did there! 10,000 Gauss for you!
    - djrogers 8y ago
      Magnate - magnets are very different things, and very rarely people. /pedant
      - ScottBurson 8y ago
        I thought it was a reference to Musk's ability to attract engineers :-)
    - dbasedweeb 8y ago
      Sorry, I forgot to take my Kool-Aid today. I promise to be more respectful of the MuskFather in future. For yea, he did turn the water into wine, and there were many fishes and loaves. For he was really awesome at PR, and taking credit for the work of many. Better?
      - SECProto 8y ago
        No, your response is worse, not better. It adds nothing to the conversation. Your original post could have merit if you back some of it up. This response is just internet shit-talking, and the opposite of the goal of HN. I think this bid process was quite interesting and unusual. Build the infrastructure in exchange for the right to operate the system, with restrictions (must meet certain minimum departures, etc etc). I also thought it was interesting that Boring Co. won the bid, and now has exclusive negotiation with city officials for a year. So yeah, it might change in the next year or so, and whatever timelines they settle on might change (that's one very valid criticism of Musk), but I don't see any reason to think it won't happen.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
tcbawo 8y ago
If they build the tunnel at $20k/foot, the cost would roughly be $1.6B. The line will supposedly run every 30 seconds for 20 hours per day. That's 876k trips per year. If they charge $20/ride and it fits 16 people, it will generate $280M/year at 100% utilization, or 17% ROI. Maybe a more realistic number would be 40% utilization, which still gives a respectable 7% ROI.
- cozzyd 8y ago
  Surely the operating costs and rolling stock costs will be more than $0. Maybe they can sell motion sickness medicine at exorbitant prices.
- ComradeTaco 8y ago
  The article claims service every 15 minutes during most of the day, which means it will be extremely unprofitable to build. This isn't meant to return it's investment, it's meant as an operational testbed for musk's vision.
  - cozzyd 8y ago
    The RFQ required that, but with only 8-16 people per vehicle, they'd have to go much more often to have any reasonable throughput.
  - smnrchrds 8y ago
    The 30 second figure is from The Boring Company: > Electric skates will leave each station as frequently as every 30 seconds. The Chicago Express Loop will operate 20 hours per day, every day of the week. Source: https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/ https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/
    - ComradeTaco 8y ago
      Ahh, I appreciate the correction! I thought they were going to have a single track tunnel with passing sidings based on the 1.6 billion dollar construction costs, which would limit frequency. Does Musk seriously believe he get two ~20 mile tunnels and terminals for $1.6 billion? I don't know if he's exceedingly ambitious or delusional, give that a underground that's depicted in the rendering would cost 1/4 of his budget.
blocked_again 8y ago
The founder of the company did build one of the first payment systems on Internet, first reusable rocket and made electric cars mainstream.
mortenjorck 8y ago
In Chicago, "no government funding involved" tends to be about as ironclad as the average "we take your privacy very seriously."

annerajb 8y ago

The financing would be provided by somebody else not the boring company itself. Probably a private company will get some bonds based on the project and pay for operating cost and such. Though Elon musk said he did not want public money.

dbasedweeb 8y ago
Elon says a lot of things, and some of them even turn out to be true. The ones involving money though, seem to be less likely. This could work though, I think it’s more likely to never get off the ground. At least it’s just a tunnel, and not that Hyperloop crap. I actually have some faith in their ability to dig a tunnel, and zero faith in making a vac-train feasible.
- timb07 8y ago
  > I think it’s more likely to never get off the ground It's a tunnel, duh.
  - dbasedweeb 8y ago
    Heh, I walked face-first into that one. Touché.
- colordrops 8y ago
  You are just going to trash one of the most accomplished engineering magnets on earth without any rationale to back up your assertion? And please don't just follow with "it's well known that it won't work".
  - cozzyd 8y ago
    "engineering magnets" I see what you did there! 10,000 Gauss for you!
  - djrogers 8y ago
    Magnate - magnets are very different things, and very rarely people. /pedant
    - ScottBurson 8y ago
      I thought it was a reference to Musk's ability to attract engineers :-)
  - dbasedweeb 8y ago
    Sorry, I forgot to take my Kool-Aid today. I promise to be more respectful of the MuskFather in future. For yea, he did turn the water into wine, and there were many fishes and loaves. For he was really awesome at PR, and taking credit for the work of many. Better?
    - SECProto 8y ago
      No, your response is worse, not better. It adds nothing to the conversation. Your original post could have merit if you back some of it up. This response is just internet shit-talking, and the opposite of the goal of HN. I think this bid process was quite interesting and unusual. Build the infrastructure in exchange for the right to operate the system, with restrictions (must meet certain minimum departures, etc etc). I also thought it was interesting that Boring Co. won the bid, and now has exclusive negotiation with city officials for a year. So yeah, it might change in the next year or so, and whatever timelines they settle on might change (that's one very valid criticism of Musk), but I don't see any reason to think it won't happen.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]

tcbawo 8y ago

If they build the tunnel at $20k/foot, the cost would roughly be $1.6B. The line will supposedly run every 30 seconds for 20 hours per day. That's 876k trips per year. If they charge $20/ride and it fits 16 people, it will generate $280M/year at 100% utilization, or 17% ROI. Maybe a more realistic number would be 40% utilization, which still gives a respectable 7% ROI.

cozzyd 8y ago
Surely the operating costs and rolling stock costs will be more than $0. Maybe they can sell motion sickness medicine at exorbitant prices.
ComradeTaco 8y ago
The article claims service every 15 minutes during most of the day, which means it will be extremely unprofitable to build. This isn't meant to return it's investment, it's meant as an operational testbed for musk's vision.
- cozzyd 8y ago
  The RFQ required that, but with only 8-16 people per vehicle, they'd have to go much more often to have any reasonable throughput.
- smnrchrds 8y ago
  The 30 second figure is from The Boring Company: > Electric skates will leave each station as frequently as every 30 seconds. The Chicago Express Loop will operate 20 hours per day, every day of the week. Source: https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/ https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/
  - ComradeTaco 8y ago
    Ahh, I appreciate the correction! I thought they were going to have a single track tunnel with passing sidings based on the 1.6 billion dollar construction costs, which would limit frequency. Does Musk seriously believe he get two ~20 mile tunnels and terminals for $1.6 billion? I don't know if he's exceedingly ambitious or delusional, give that a underground that's depicted in the rendering would cost 1/4 of his budget.

blocked_again 8y ago

The founder of the company did build one of the first payment systems on Internet, first reusable rocket and made electric cars mainstream.

mortenjorck 8y ago

In Chicago, "no government funding involved" tends to be about as ironclad as the average "we take your privacy very seriously."