So what's the future of personal transportation? A member of Spokane's Bicycle Advisory Board introduced me 'Shweeb' and thinks it could possibly be the next big thing. Shweeb is an integration of the monorail and the recumbent bicycle- kind of like our gondolas only on a smaller scale, and powered by you. So not only are you getting where you need to go, but you're also getting exercise doing it. Currently Shweeb is only available as a ride at an amusement park in New Zealand, but it's creators think it could be built in a city somewhere as a public transit system. Here's the Shweeb website in case you want to contact the company to have one installed in your backyard.
And here is a video about how Shweeb works. It looks pretty cool, if you can get past the creepiness of 'Dermett' the show host, long enough to watch it.
What are the pros and cons you see about Shweeb? Think people would use it if it was built here or are we Americans too lazy and too in love with our cars?
10 comments:
That shweeb thing looks AMAZING. The big benefit I see is the ability to get in one of those things in the rain. I think you could combine a raised monorail track with the shweeb hanging below. Drawback, of course, is the inability to pass. Many times a great idea starts with something like this and with some tinkering around, end up with something amazing.
My vision... when it's time for work, assuming you live on the South Hill, hold onto your cookies and FLY down Freya. You are now AWAKE... really awake. In the evening, they could have a roller-coaster like chain mechanism to pull the cars up the hill. Park and RIDE, baby!!! Park and ride...
The Freya thing is BRILLIANT! You would get to work really fast. The ride home would be slower but you could bring a booklight and read on the way or just watch the scenery go by or something. All the folks who don't live at the top of a hill would have to actually do the work of peddling the pod but oh well, that would help our obesity epidemic.
I'll bet they could figure out a way to make the downhill folks generate the electricity for the up hill journey. Wow. What if we could figure out a way for people to fly down a rail or zip line and where it connects with the cable or rail, it could generate electricity... Hmmm... I may have something here. I'm sure if it ever becomes a reality, someone else will get all the credit and the money, too.
Awesome. Yeah the fact you can't pass somebody makes it a challenge for masstransit. As a workaround, what if you had 2 or more tracks going in the same direction. Every 100' there could be an interchange between the tracks. if you don't keep a 20 mph speed going the next interchange forces you into the slow lane. Go faster than 20 mph and it forces you into the faster lane. Throw an extra lane or 2 in for the really busy routes. If you are overtaking somebody going much slower or even stopped the track should sense it and bump you up a track until you are around them, then drop you back onto your appropriate track.
Goody, that's brilliant. The system could automatically push them to the other track, somehow. I was thinking of small turn-outs every so often for resting, texting, or letting someone by, too.
I love it that you two have this all figured out. And Holly has even taken texting while NOT driving into consideration. Why are you guys not transportation planners?
I fear the engineers would develop a whole new level of dread and despair if I gained any credibility and/or resources to promote my ideas...
Goody, what's your excuse?
Pretty funny! I'm thinking about its use in winter and imagining a bunch of fogged-up capsules full of sweating, panting travelers who dressed for the weather and didn't realize quite how much work this was going to be.
I often have people ask me how I can bike in rain or snow when they quite willingly stand up to their waists in cold water or run the risk of frostbite to pursue various sports. Call this transportation and it will feel like work to some. Call it a game or a challenge ("Who's King of the Mountain?"), charge a ticket and they'll line up to use it. And we'll lower our healthcare costs a bit, too.
Probably costs a bit more than a few bike lanes though.... :D
@BarbChamberlain
I've often thought of how nice it would be to have some kind of lightweight capsule for shelter in Western WA. It's amazing how many cyclists ride in Portland area. They have such an amazing infrastructure. If you build it... and it's safe.... They will come!
Barb's got a point- put something out with a 'free' sign on it and no one will take it but put a price on it and someone steals it as soon as it gets dark. I have no idea what something like this would cost to construct but slap a fare on to use it and help pay off the construction price. Maybe have a card scanner that you run your card through then the panel pops open to admit you...
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