We Americans are stuck on the automobile. We want to make it more fuel efficient, but when we do, we can’t carry or tow anything in it! Does somebody have something on a drawing board, at least that is gonna get us what we need, beyond just moving our own bodies around? A transporter perhaps?
Problem with trains/buses/taxis etc is that people don’t have a space that is Always theirs. People seem to like keeping all sorts of junk in their cars. If you leave stuff like CD on a train it’s a real hassle to get them back. There’s also issues about frequency of service, and the ability to go where you want, and not where the service goes (Pre Beeching you could get a 10 minute bus in your neighbourhood/walked, and go to to your local rail-station to travel to MOST large UK towns, and many small towns/villages, then 10 minute bus journey/walk at the other end.)
perhaps something like a road train could be an idea. “trailers” (goods/people, or a mixture) hook up to other trailers, which are then pulled around by a big tractor unit. You’ll want a tiny electric motor on the “trailer” to park it up. If you need more space than a single unit has, simply hook annother one up!
If it was in a city it would work better to run the tractor unit on a dedicated track, and arrange things so that “trailers” could join it/leave without needing the tractor unit to change speed. If going away from towns maybe have/hire a small tractor unit, into which the trailer plugs in, and you’ve got what amounts to the kind of car we have today.
problem with transporter (as per star trek) is a) nobody have figured out how to transport humans yet. b) the energy requirements/efficiency would be likely to render them prohibitively expensive to run. Might be fine for cross continent travel, but for the daily commute I think not.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:58 am
HAVE YOU SEEN BACK TO THE FUTURE!!!!! LOL
References :
September 6th, 2008 at 9:04 am
a transporter it is, precisely what you were looking for. And guess what, it's from India!
http://indianautosblog.com/2008/08/the-future-of-personal-mobility-ends-here-its-indian/
References :
September 6th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Problem with trains/buses/taxis etc is that people don’t have a space that is Always theirs. People seem to like keeping all sorts of junk in their cars. If you leave stuff like CD on a train it’s a real hassle to get them back. There’s also issues about frequency of service, and the ability to go where you want, and not where the service goes (Pre Beeching you could get a 10 minute bus in your neighbourhood/walked, and go to to your local rail-station to travel to MOST large UK towns, and many small towns/villages, then 10 minute bus journey/walk at the other end.)
perhaps something like a road train could be an idea. “trailers” (goods/people, or a mixture) hook up to other trailers, which are then pulled around by a big tractor unit. You’ll want a tiny electric motor on the “trailer” to park it up. If you need more space than a single unit has, simply hook annother one up!
If it was in a city it would work better to run the tractor unit on a dedicated track, and arrange things so that “trailers” could join it/leave without needing the tractor unit to change speed. If going away from towns maybe have/hire a small tractor unit, into which the trailer plugs in, and you’ve got what amounts to the kind of car we have today.
problem with transporter (as per star trek) is a) nobody have figured out how to transport humans yet. b) the energy requirements/efficiency would be likely to render them prohibitively expensive to run. Might be fine for cross continent travel, but for the daily commute I think not.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackless_train
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_rapid_transit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_Axe