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However, somehow using pressurized tubes for mail failed in the long run. I find those very fascinating, and apparently once upon a time some big cities were ac
by Tichy 14y ago
However, somehow using pressurized tubes for mail failed in the long run. I find those very fascinating, and apparently once upon a time some big cities were actually connected with a lot of such pressure tubes for sending mail. But apparently they were too unreliable and ended up going into oblivion.
Would be interesting if some of them could be resurrected somehow.
Another idea for improving transport: with modern technology better routing should be possible. Instead of all people boarding the same train that stops at every station, why not only board a carriage that goes directly to your destination? That could save a lot of time, I think.
- kokey 14y agoI think your second idea is closer to what I think matches the things known about Hyperloop. I am convinced that electric (or hybrid) cars that self drive along beacons is the obvious next step in human urban transportation. These follow loops, like bus routes, that will pick you up when you get to a location along the loop since you have requested it (e.g. phone app) and drop you off at say a station, or another loop intersection where you can get into another loop vehicle, a loop bus or train at a scheduled and managed time. It can send the right size and amount of vehicles out of the depot into loop depending on how many people want to get on during a cycle, it can park the electric vehicles to charge at the right time. To the user it's a matter of saying 'I want to get to the conference at 9am' and the system will tell him what time a car will pick him up at his chosen pickup point.
- Tichy 14y agoAbsolutely, and since Musk has an electric car company, something along those lines might be quite realistic. For electric cars used in that way, charging would not be an issue, as it would not be the burden of private car owners. I just had another thought, although maybe a bit ridiculous: the main issue with "public cars" to me seems to me hygienic, how to keep them clean. What if in the future instead of owning whole cars, you only own a capsule with seats that can be picked up by transporters? I'd still prefer a world where parked car things are completely gone, but such capsules might still save a lot of space in the meantime.
- robin_reala 14y agoIf you’re interested in pressurised tubs for mail, 99% Invisible had a recent show on it: http://99percentinvisible.org/post/31907362467/episode-61-a-series-of-tubes http://99percentinvisible.org/post/31907362467/episode-61-a-...
- chriseidhof 14y agoIf I'm not mistaken, these systems are still in use in some major European cities, but only for government communication. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_tube http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_tube
- btilly 14y agoPressurized tubes lost to fax machines as a way of delivering messages.
- eru 14y agoAnd that lost to email, I guess.
- barrkel 14y agoPretty much every large supermarket I've been in in the UK and Ireland uses pressurized tubes to send money from the tills to the back office.