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On a bus you have the chance to get off every 5-10 minutes, that's a big difference. There will be thousands of passengers on that day. Just imagine if you have
by kailuowang 13y ago
On a bus you have the chance to get off every 5-10 minutes, that's a big difference. There will be thousands of passengers on that day. Just imagine if you have to do this trip 10 times a day every day for 100 days, will you still take risk?
Update (since I've been downvoted):
All these buses analogy isn't exactly the same case because they still have the option to stop somewhere, which give the passengers the assurance that if they really can't hold it's not the end of the world. Taking that into consideration, I think it could solve most people's bathroom concern by adding bathroom stops to the loop, in the case of semi-emergency, ideally a pod should be able to make a stop upon request within 5-10 minutes without disrupting other pods. Some financial incentive might be needed for encouraging people to hold longer but I do see legal risks in that approach.
- christoph 13y agoThat depends where in the world you are. I've been on many long distance buses in Asia that might not stop for 4 or 5 hours.
- axelf 13y agoI have taken a 40min commuter bus everyday for nearly 2 years and I never had to get off early to use the bathroom.
- orofino 13y agoYou're thinking city buses. I'm thinking long-haul busses (like greyhound in the US). Greyhound buses likely have facilities, what I'm actually talking about are the buses used a core parts of the transportation infrastructure all over South America. Many of these also have facilities but I've been on many where the bathroom isn't functioning or just plain isn't there. You can easily travel for 30 minutes to an hour without stopping. We're largely (70%) talking about commuters here, they're taking this twice a day, most days out of the year. Again, I'm not sure why for 90%+ of people that this would be an issue.
- stcredzero 13y agoHeadline: Musk reveals Hyperloop. Americans too fat and incontinent to use.
- kailuowang 13y agoAll these buses analogy isn't exactly the same because they still have the option to stop somewhere, which give the passengers the assurance that if they can't hold it's not the end of the world. Taking that into consideration, I think it could solve most people's bathroom concern by adding bathroom stops to the loop, in the case of semi-emergency, ideally a pod should be able to make a stop upon request within 5-10 minutes without disrupting other pods. Some financial incentive might be needed for encouraging people to hold longer but I do see legal risks in that approach.
- orofino 13y agoFinancial incentive? You're traveling at 700mph through a partially evacuated, elevated tube in order to get to work. That isn't incentive enough?
- vadman 13y agoNot really. Take the Staten Island express bus for example. Between SI and Manhattan, there is about 35 min on the Verrazano Bridge and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, without any opportunity to get off (BQE does not even have shoulders for the most part). That's on a good day with decent traffic. In bad traffic and bad weather, that could be an hour or even more without any opportunity to get off. EDIT: a clarification for non-New Yorkers -- people take these daily to get to work, if they work in Manhattan. The alternative is SI railroad-ferry-subway, which allows more bathroom safety but takes quite a bit longer.
- mpyne 13y agoInterestingly, my DC Metrorail trip to home or work takes between 45-60 minutes one-way... and there are no facilities on the train itself, and very few stations have any public-accessible facilities. "Holding it" has honestly never been an issue, you either go before you leave, or sack up and wait until you get home. Worst case is probably that you get sick en route and well... that alone wouldn't wreck Hyperloop.