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Why not integrate a "bubble car" into building lift/elevator systems? The capsule brings you 20 km from home, switches to the rails within the lift well and zi
by femto 8y ago
Why not integrate a "bubble car" into building lift/elevator systems? The capsule brings you 20 km from home, switches to the rails within the lift well and zips up, depositing you directly on your floor.
Thirty years ago lots of people were talking about mass transit systems with small individual capsules. According to one of my engineering lecturers at the time, a limitation was that there simply isn't enough room on the ground to have all those capsules loading and unloading people in a CBD with lots of skyscrapers.
- jfoutz 8y agoI think the point about how much space is needed for high density loading and unloading is excellent. if you're willing to slow down the main line in specific areas, you can use a lot more of the siding rail for loading. I have no doubt your lecturer is far more informed than i will ever be. I will assert that it's not really 1990 any more, and far more employers would be willing for employees to show up and leave at different times. Car congestion alone has made a lot of employers willing to have start time anywhere from 7 to 10. Which might alleviate some of that burden. I also think, being able to take the whole trip without stopping - even if you occasionally have to go slower in high congestion areas - is much faster overall for each passenger. Which, in my humble opinion is a huge feature. If the cars are reversible, you can also have Y junctions and stack up loads of cars perpendicular to the main rail, and fill those cars like a normal train.