Google Invests In Human-Powered Monorail System | Hacker News Reader

Google Invests In Human-Powered Monorail System

crispgreen.com

23 pointsjaybol29 comments

Paul Graham wrote a while ago about the "Trouble with Segway" http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html He writes:

"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.

A very sweaty glass jar....

Give me a bicycle and appropriate clothing any day.

>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?

It's called "schweeb". That's all you need to know right there.

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.

What an astoundingly over-engineered solution. Much cheaper, easier and more flexible: paint bike lanes on all major streets.

I'm not sure, really. There is still the issue to be able to (safely) store your bike at both ends, while here it appears to stay on the 'circuit'.

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 :)

How can this replace a crowded subway; that is, how can this move more than 1 million people in roughly the same direction at peak time?

It certainly seems more suited to leisure than the common scenario of lots of people commuting in the same direction.

How can a subway be build in an economic manner in a city of 10000 people?

Modern streetcar on dedicated lanes.

Great. But in order to use it daily: Where do I put my rucksack?

or my 30kg suitcase?

"maximum comfort". ha ha. yeah that was my first thought. :-)

I'd love to try it. We drag around so much wait as we go places

weight leads to more wait

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

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..

Feels a lot like Segway to me - looks cool, but nothing people actually will use.

That would be a helluva tourist attraction; imagine if you could go over cliffs, under water, through caves, etc.

When it comes to urban transportation, looking at this contraption I can't help wondering... why not just get a bicycle?

You can go directly to where you need to go, there is zero chance of getting run down by a car, it is better in the event of bad weather.

Oh and the view is better.

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.

There is a point:

  - that monorail would be safer
  - you do not need to bring your bike
  - weather is less relevant

You can not go there because there are things like buildings, roads, water areas, etc in the way.

When I say direct, I mean the shortest possible route.

Except for novelty value, what is the win/feature compared to normal bicycles?

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?

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.

it has huge openings for ventilation

not exactly aerodynamic?

Much more aerodynamic than a bike.

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