it would be more aerodynamic. I have a recumbent bike which is a lot faster than a conventional racing bike, but too low to ride safely in traffic.
i think it is interesting from the point of view of extremely efficient transport, rather than as an alternative to a bike; you could certainly see it being successful if it was all electric rather than pedal powered.
Would be much faster if you wouldn't need to stop at red lights etc. Also probably safer and indeed more comfortable, especially during winter or when it's raining.
How can you not go directly to where you need to go on a bicycle? How can you go directly to where you need to go if there's a jam on the MONO-rail or if there's a slowpoke on the lane? What if there is no rail at all leading anywhere close to where you need to go?
This thing is trying to reinvent the road and coupling it with a single, proprietary vehicle. We already have roads, and we have bicycles (and feet) that are "compatible" with those roads and pretty much any other urban terrain.
"The Segway hasn’t delivered on its initial promise, to put it mildly. There are several reasons why, but one is that people don’t want to be seen riding them. Someone riding a Segway looks like a dork."
The obvious problem with the new transportation capsule is that it makes you look like a cockroach in a glass jar.
>Paul Graham wrote a while ago about the "Trouble with Segway"
From the linked article:
"But when he rides the Segwell, they shout abuse from their cars: "Too lazy to walk, ya fuckin homo?"
Is it routine in that area for adults shout abuse at strangers minding their own business?
I just loved this idea. Imagine this public transport system in a small city. Very very efficient. Governments doesn't invest in places where there is no revenue. So getting a feasible public transportation system in small city is almost impossible. This gives a hope. Ameen
What a waste of money. The money would be much better spent on two things that would work very well in concert:
1. separated bike lanes. I don't just mean painted lines on a street, which generally do more harm than good, but physical separation, like pedestrians get.
2. The Parisian "velib" system. This solves both the storage and availability problems.
After that, the only advantage of the monorail is the speed it attains, which is basically irrelevant when you're traveling 1-5 km. The huge disadvantage of the monorail is that it has very fixed paths.
It seems inefficient now. But don't most visions of the future include people flying through tubes like bank deposits?! Probably safer than bike lanes too..
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 68.1 ms ] threadI'd love to try it. We drag around so much wait as we go places
This rail system must have a lot of new failure modes, compared to an asphalt bicycle path.
Cheaper to install? Safer? Less problem in rain?
i think it is interesting from the point of view of extremely efficient transport, rather than as an alternative to a bike; you could certainly see it being successful if it was all electric rather than pedal powered.
Oh and the view is better.
This thing is trying to reinvent the road and coupling it with a single, proprietary vehicle. We already have roads, and we have bicycles (and feet) that are "compatible" with those roads and pretty much any other urban terrain.
When I say direct, I mean the shortest possible route.
It certainly seems more suited to leisure than the common scenario of lots of people commuting in the same direction.
I studied a bit what happens in Paris with their "Velib" bike rental service (see visualisation here http://blog.logeek.fr/2008/3/31/data-visualization-with-ruby...) and it appeared to be a real issue.
An automated system with only identical devices and a circuit that goes in circles could solve this more efficiently I believe.
Plus if 45km/h can be achieved with specialized, well maintained devices, this could be really interesting.
In short, it's a somewhat crazy idea I wouldn't be surprised to see becoming successful :)
"The Segway hasn’t delivered on its initial promise, to put it mildly. There are several reasons why, but one is that people don’t want to be seen riding them. Someone riding a Segway looks like a dork."
The obvious problem with the new transportation capsule is that it makes you look like a cockroach in a glass jar.
Give me a bicycle and appropriate clothing any day.
Is it routine in that area for adults shout abuse at strangers minding their own business?
1. separated bike lanes. I don't just mean painted lines on a street, which generally do more harm than good, but physical separation, like pedestrians get.
2. The Parisian "velib" system. This solves both the storage and availability problems.
After that, the only advantage of the monorail is the speed it attains, which is basically irrelevant when you're traveling 1-5 km. The huge disadvantage of the monorail is that it has very fixed paths.