6 ms·

So, basically this: https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/2022/11/27/the-roads-must-roll-by-robert-a-heinlein/ https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/2022/11/27/th

by mcherm 4y ago

So, basically this: https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/2022/11/27/the-roads-must-roll-by-robert-a-heinlein/ https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/2022/11/27/the-roads-mu... (Or https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780739410516 https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780739410516 if you want to actually read it.)

michaelteter 4y ago
Hehe, the tldr was still too long for my time/attention. However... > It’s much saner to have one car break down and allow 999,999 people to keep on schedule. Obviously that's very wrong, as we know that one car breaking down on the freeway has a major negative effect on everything behind it. And if it's something bigger than one car... I recall one evening in Dallas when a chemical tanker turned over and created a situation which required all traffic on a major freeway to take an exit, use the access road, and then eventually return to the freeway. Even though it was after evening rush out, the ripple effect eventually spanned to two sequentially related freeways. Basically long road travel in the city stopped for hours. In my mental fantasy, I see two vertical levels. One is for passengers and operates with more connections and stops, and one is for cargo (where transfers can be fully automated like with a successful airport luggage routing system... or probably some kind of system which Amazon has already perfected at scale). They two improvements I see over today's public transport realities are: 1. If greenfield is possible, which unfortunately it really is not (unless we are planning a whole new urban environment), there is a physical network design which balances maximum travel time from any point to any point. This would be something elevator designers have already managed for big towers, I would think. But this time, it's in two dimensions. 2. There are novel temporary linkings of different vehicles to allow passengers to transfer from one to another without stopping either vehicle. I suppose in the extreme case, each passenger could be in a small sit/stand capsule, and some plucking and moving of capsules could be done by robotic systems which are aware of everything (including route/dest.) Really, these are just lame solutions based on our current understanding of nature. Teleportation is the best answer ;).

by mcherm 4y ago

michaelteter 4y ago

Hehe, the tldr was still too long for my time/attention. However... > It’s much saner to have one car break down and allow 999,999 people to keep on schedule. Obviously that's very wrong, as we know that one car breaking down on the freeway has a major negative effect on everything behind it. And if it's something bigger than one car... I recall one evening in Dallas when a chemical tanker turned over and created a situation which required all traffic on a major freeway to take an exit, use the access road, and then eventually return to the freeway. Even though it was after evening rush out, the ripple effect eventually spanned to two sequentially related freeways. Basically long road travel in the city stopped for hours. In my mental fantasy, I see two vertical levels. One is for passengers and operates with more connections and stops, and one is for cargo (where transfers can be fully automated like with a successful airport luggage routing system... or probably some kind of system which Amazon has already perfected at scale). They two improvements I see over today's public transport realities are: 1. If greenfield is possible, which unfortunately it really is not (unless we are planning a whole new urban environment), there is a physical network design which balances maximum travel time from any point to any point. This would be something elevator designers have already managed for big towers, I would think. But this time, it's in two dimensions. 2. There are novel temporary linkings of different vehicles to allow passengers to transfer from one to another without stopping either vehicle. I suppose in the extreme case, each passenger could be in a small sit/stand capsule, and some plucking and moving of capsules could be done by robotic systems which are aware of everything (including route/dest.) Really, these are just lame solutions based on our current understanding of nature. Teleportation is the best answer ;).