#transit options

"Necessity is the mother of invention... Boredom is the father." -- SilverRey

So many inventions happen because their inventor thinks that they are vital. Others occur because they will create a tactical advantage against an enemy. Some rare and interesting inventions happen because the creator had nothing better to do.

Case in point - weird vehicles.

People don't need a bicycle that walks on feet, nor do they need a chariot drawn by crab-like legs. They don't need a powered boat with oars that operate like turtle flippers. That said, once they are built, everyone seems to want one. Well... Everyone who's a Human.

The next wave of transit considerations and in-fighting: light-rail to Ballard.  If I had to take a wild stab right now out of the three options, I’d be down with option #3, the tunnel under the canal to a 15th St and Market station, due to its location alone.

Time to drill down and see just what is going on environmentally and what sort of horrific price tags are involved.  And see which option actually makes sense in the greater transit network.

This Startup Wants To Replace Cars (And Subways) With Elevated Pods; as published by FastCompany, 9 May 2018. Transit X’s plan would set up fast-moving, solar-powered personal transit (PRT) to whisk you anywhere you wanted to go without stops within the network.

"A startup called Transit X argues that we need a different form of mass transit to get people to stop driving. The company’s system, which it says will soon be deployed in the Philippines, will use networks of lightweight, automated, solar-powered pods. Each small pod car is large enough for up to five people, and suspended from a narrow elevated rail 14 feet (or higher) above the ground..."

        in pod sizes for people or freight and handicapped (on demand)

Read more: 

"...the system would reduce or eliminate most of the costs of public transportation–it doesn’t need land or drivers or fuel, the simple vehicles need less maintenance than other vehicles, and construction is far cheaper than building something like a subway system. The company believes its system is cheap enough to finance itself. The company will pay cities 5% in fees and taxes for the right to an easement for the space it uses. The startup plans to demonstrate a pilot system in Boston in late 2018."

On 4 Apr 2018, Eric Diller of the Better Transit Alliance was interviewed by Walter McGinnis on the Citizen’s Forum show on Shaw. Check out the wide ranging discussion of the Douglas / Highway 1 bus lanes, electric buses and more, relative to Greater Victoria transportation options.

Click here to watch https://youtu.be/aSPQ4wvx10I?t=14m4s (30 minutes)

How a driverless car sees the road published in video (15:30 min) via TED 26 June 2015

"Statistically, the least reliable part of the car is ... the driver" says Chris Urmson who heads up Google's driverless car program, one of several efforts to remove humans from the driver's seat. He talks about where his program is right now, and shares fascinating footage that shows how the car sees the road and makes autonomous decisions about what to do next.

See the video