Conflit of mixing cars with transit system technology

Cars are unsustainable. The political motivation to remove them is irrational without offering a better alternative. Legislative dictate is pointless; with a better alternative, the market will eliminate cars.  

All urban growth is based on its source of transportation. With only four types of land-use, Western Society’s transportation is restricted to cars for the automobile centric land-use design, and public transit for transit-oriented land-use. Removing cars from the automobile centric land-use design will cause all the automobile centric land-use development to become dysfunctional land-use. Essentially, this confirms that having no current alternative to the car produces a problematic situation. It also means that the only current alternative form of transportation is found in new transit system designs for transit-oriented land-use design.

All issues regarding publicly allocated funds, demand political decisions. Standard government procedure for public transit in the US, and most other countries, is limited to variations of the 200-year-old steel wheel on rail train technology. This is a terribly vital concern that all transit technology decisions are made to accommodate the status-quo of a 200-year-old technology. In most countries, the political procedure for large disbursement of public funds involves the benefit to lobbyists’ interests. This procedural mandate has terribly stagnated transportation advancement.

Trains were an advanced and wonderful technology when they were new: 200 years ago. When streetcars were implemented 150 years ago, Western society had tremendous growth. Society’s technological achievement have grown in the communications and information industries, yet, while the modern transportation demands have advanced; the basics of modern transportation technology have remained unchanged for the past 100 years. To clarify: the electronics industry has revolutionized the automobile, engineering improvements have vastly changed the complexity of comfort, however, the fundamental principles of the automobile are the same.

The environmental, economic, and social aspects to the automobile centric land-use design are totally unsustainable. There can be no sustainable urban growth in Western society with the automobile as its primary source of transportation.

The political lobbyists who represent advances for transportation don’t exist. The new technology transit industry for advanced transportation systems is only an emerging entity with no relative financial support that can support political lobbyists. There is a complete political absence to advance transportation interests for the future of transportation. Battery operated cars pursuing 100-year-old transportation principles are irrelevant to technology advances for transportation. A brand-new mode of transportation is the solution.

Maglev technology

For transit-oriented land-use design, public/mass transit transportation advances in technology are sparce. China, Japan, and Korea are the only countries throughout the world that have attempted to gain advanced transportation technology. These three countries are active in building magnetic levitation (maglev) transit technology systems.

The relevance to the implementation of maglev technology is the use of efficient energy.

Train technology for transit-oriented land-use remains viable for high density populations. Technology has advanced in 200 years but, transit systems of carrying large groups of people from a central location to another central location, remain the same. It’s what trains do. Meanwhile, today’s societal transportation demands have exceeded society’s demands of the past. Modern transit systems are capable of much more.

Here is a list of advances for available transit-oriented land-use development:

Wheeled technology systems and maglev- The difference between wheeled technology and maglev transit technology is efficient energy use with lack of friction resistance.

PRT / GRT

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Group Rapid Transit (GRT) is a mode of public transportation that utilizes smaller automated vehicles. The PRT mode of vehicle system design is called personal; with its passenger ridership of 3 to six people. These vehicles operate on automated networks. By the nature of their design, PRT systems are closed networks, only able to serve the limited areas within their boundaries. GRT systems use a larger vehicle size which accommodates up to 20 passengers per vehicle.

The varying styles of technology are as different as their designers. Varieties of system design are wheeled rubber tire running on pavement, nylon wheels suspended from a rail, suspended maglev and ground-based maglev guideways. 

PRT systems are in the class of what is called: automated guideway transit (AGT).

The advantage of these transportation network designs is the automation. Some systems allow specific passenger destination choice. The guideways are specific to more heavily traveled transportation corridors and are laid out with passive switching that allows passenger loading and unloading at siding station sites. This enables vehicles to bypass the small passenger loading and unloading points when the rider is not going to that destination. This allows for nonstop and point to point passenger service. 

These computer-controlled network systems have no driver. They feature quiet, on-demand and direct-to-destination, or point to point capability; analogous to a horizontal elevator.   System design of this vehicle system is ideal for all urban areas with moderate population density. The vehicles are one-tenth the weight of any other light-rail vehicle, system wide area infrastructure is one-tenth the expense. 

By lowering the usual cost of transit system infrastructure, these advanced transit technologies enable private investment to build the transit system by engaging Transit Oriented real estate Development (TODs) throughout the system area at each of the station locations as the funding mechanism of the entire system.

The concept of PRT is; as the passenger load increases, so does the number of vehicles on their guideway. The distance between vehicle placement on the grade separate guideways is called: headway. Some system designs have the capability of high speeds with a half second headway. 

Dozens of PRT systems have been proposed in the USA since the Morgantown PRT system was installed in Morgantown, West Virginia in 1975. In 2010, a 10-vehicle 2getthere system was installed in Masdar City, UAE. In 2011, a 21-vehicle Ultra PRT system was installed at London Heathrow Airport. In 2014, the 40-vehicle maglev Vectus system was put into operation in Suncheon, South Korea. 

Dual Mode

The transit industry holds a term that is consistent to land-use, called: the last mile dilemma. How to get from your front door to the door of the transit station, and from the transit station to the door of your destination. The problematic issue between the transit-oriented land-use design and automobile centric land-use design are not compatible to each other in their function with transportation. 

The Dual Mode concept is in the design of an automobile type vehicle that also fits into a specialized PRT guideway. The designs have produced a multitude of interesting vehicles. These designs have also revealed no significant cost reduction with their increases to engineering obstacles.     

Addressing integration of conflicting technologies

This is one of the roadblocks to advanced transit technology: conflicting infrastructure.

Inventors are akin to artists; their visions are singularly one view. Adaptation to other technologies can terminate progress when the invention of a particular vehicle system design is unable to interact to other transit system designs.

When the streetcars were the predominant mode of transportation in the early 1900s in the beginning of Western Society, and throughout the transit-oriented land-use design, there was occasionally competition between rival streetcar companies within the same community. The result was a disaster to the customers. A passenger would have to exit one company’s streetcar and pay to enter another competitor company’s streetcar vehicle and only be able to travel a short distance, then exit and pay to enter yet another competitor company’s streetcar vehicle to reach their destination. The city of Seattle had five different streetcar companies in the early 1900’s. 

Today, there is no regulatory body to unify or coordinate design efforts of transit system inventors. The inventor’s efforts in design are confined to closed systems and unable to integrate to any other mode of transit. Rubber wheeled systems are restricted to the curse of friction- based automobile inefficiency.

Next steps for transportation

Where does all this lead to? The immediate necessity for a brand-new mode of transportation.