The End of the Road
Migration
Migration to the new system
This new transport system would be as different from today’s roads and cars as the current system is from horse drawn carts and rutted muddy paths. The change would be as radical as that seen when cars started to develop at the start of the 20th century. Clearly, a new transport system can’t be introduced overnight. It needs to start somewhere and then grow.
One way this could happen is to introduce a freight system to the centre of a major city.
As an example:
A track would be built from central London to a well connected depot area such as Heathrow.
At this depot freight deliveries to Central London would be assigned to pods individually addressed to final destinations, eg Top Shop in Oxford Street
The pods would then be dispatched autonomously to the end address ‘parking bay’ where the pod would stop and be unloaded. In a congested area such as central London it is unlikely that this bay would be at ground level, but because the track is designed for 2.0 tonne pods and does not need to handle mass public transport or HGV freight, the monorails can be built upwards rather than just outwards, and loading bays would migrate to upper floors leaving ground floor space for sales.
So the track would be built up to an upper floor level to avoid existing traffic systems and to flow uninterrupted from start to destination. This would enable deliveries at any time of day, not just the current early morning window; delivery times would be much shorter as the journey would be uninterrupted, and the mileage costs would be a fraction of current costs as there is no driver; and lightweight pods and infrastructure rather than trucks and roads
Because the track would run at different vertical levels (altitudes), there would be no restrictive junctions – so no roundabouts, no traffic lights no pedestrian crossing. Its non stop at high speed from start to destination, with each pod directed precisely to its final destination. This reduces the fuel costs and minimises travel time. But not just reduces the travel time, the travel time becomes predictable so travelling can be scheduled more accurately providing farther efficiencies.
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However, once this pilot was up and running, it is unlikely that commuters would be far behind as the potential and benefits would soon be widely recognised
It would also be recognised that this his mag lev monorail is completely different to the public transport systems emerging in Japan and the Middle East. This new system is personal transport. It leaves from where you want it to, when you want it to and goes to exactly where you want to go to. It retains the personal control of having a car, but loses the restrictions. Its non stop because it doesn’t pick up or set down other people, you travel in your own space and it is not interrupted by junctions, traffic lights, roundabouts or congestion.
And while the pod itself would have to conform to standards, the legal impositions on drivers would disappear
Costs
Why is cost not detailed here? Simply because it is impossible to calculate. Would it include the cost of social change and in particular the cost of jobs transition from traditional industries to new industries.
What about the value of reduced air pollution and the better use of personal time?
What about the cost of the new infrastructure against the cost of repairing roads?
What about the value of a resurgence in rural pubs, or being able to deliver the children to ballet without leaving the office?
What about the value of retaining the viability of areas of cities lost to rising oceans
And a hundred and one other factors.
In any change there are winners and there are losers.
But overall, the current system of using roads for transport is simply not sustainable. An alternative is a necessity and its not a matter of cost
No, This change is specifically to improve the quality of life for everyone, greater mobility, regeneration employment oppertunities, improved health - all of which are priceless. This change would happen because its GOOD not because its econmically justified
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