Suspended Monorail Mass Transit? Really?
Yeah, I’m just kidding.
The concept of mass transit is one that has been shown to be mildly successful within a certain demographic, but not what it’s really intended to be. And the future, as many people see it, is supposed to be path free for travel (aka no roads or rails), since we’re going to be using some sort of flying car / teleporting / personal transport device. So why would these people bother?
No Customers
Europe is fond of their railway system. Disney is fond of their monorail system. Certain cities are fond of their electric railway system. But a country-wide method of transportation via suspended rail will never be popular… just look at Amtrak. As soon as planes became a valid way of transport, railroads went into a steep decline. Nowadays, Amtrak is used for certain commuter travel (like from Baltimore, MD to Washington D.C.), but most people avoid long trips on it, and for good reason. Why would you spend 3 days traveling between American coasts, when you can easily do it in 6hrs. by plane?
Cool in Europe. Us cowboys are too cool for trains.
Yeah, Too Much Money
Despite the problem of attracting customers, there’s another major problem: structure. Yes, it’s great that the idea for this new system involves using the body of unused planes as the train cars… but how about building and maintaining a huge network for these to run on? Modern rail systems are relatively easy to maintain… you just nail a new rail in when it’s required. Now, imagine that, but upside down. Yeah, not so easy or inexpensive, is it? Especially when the trains will be going considerably faster than they do when in a normal ground-based configuration…
The skies are definitely too open to be probable for travel in the future.
Replacing Cars? I Think Not.
Here’s another one to tickle your thought process… they claim it’s the “solution” to the problem of highway congestion and pollution by cars. Right. Will there be a stop at every street corner? Will there be a stop at every place that people will want to go? That’s what I thought, Ms. Einstein, there won’t be. And until there is a stop/boarding location for any form of mass transit, it will never become immensely popular for the pure reason that people still have to get to and from that location, and it’s not worth the effort if you can bypass going there and waiting for another vehicle to take you to somewhere else.
I can’t wait until there’s one of these right outside my door…
Shadows of Light
Something tells me that the average homeowner that lives in the suburbs is not going to want a giant shadow cast over their house from a suspended monorail system, let alone all the noise and other things associated with it. If Average Joe and Average Veronica don’t like having a bus stop on their street corner, what makes you think that a GIANT SUSPENDED TRAIN is going to be any better?
Stupid
Thanks, I’m glad I took the time to read about your great idea. Maybe someday I’ll ride on this visionary suspended monorail system, sell my car, and never take a plane anywhere again.
More likely than trains, you Communist wannabe.
Just kidding, because this will never happen. Way to go, minds of America! Instead of solving current problems, you try to replace them with idealistic solutions that only a small child and a homeless man could love!
