This thread is intended as a place to focus on the system teased in the video using tunnels and electric skids for medium speed, medium distance mass transport. I don't know of any proposed name for the system, so I'll refer to it as the Atmospheric Pressure Tunnel System (APTS) until a name appears.
IMHO if they can really build and operate APTS for reasonable prices, comparable to Uber, it will be a huge deal. Currently coastal cities such as Boston are overcrowded resulting in very high real estate prices and very poor transportation options. The strong population tendency is toward more urban center concentration because people want the cultural and work richness available. However, this is only making the situation worse and in many areas expanding conventional mass transit such as commuter rail, bus and subway lines, seems hopeless and not a good solution anyway.
The APTS would allow urban neighborhoods to be created in currently suburban and rural areas, yet still be the equivalent of a taxi ride from others as well as the main urban center. A 15 minute trip would be about 30 miles radius which, in the Boston area, would mean that almost everything within 495 would be suitable for a local urban center which would be virtually close to other residential, entertainment, educational, and employment locations. The result could be lower real estate prices, nicer residential neighborhoods, and much greater business opportunities.
I'm assuming that most such trips would be done in people carriers, not private vehicles, and that most of these local urban centers would be primarily walking streets. It would be interesting to consider the people movers being able to travel short distances on their own, perhaps a 5 mile radius, to get from the main terminals to the residential areas.
Thoughts?
IMHO if they can really build and operate APTS for reasonable prices, comparable to Uber, it will be a huge deal. Currently coastal cities such as Boston are overcrowded resulting in very high real estate prices and very poor transportation options. The strong population tendency is toward more urban center concentration because people want the cultural and work richness available. However, this is only making the situation worse and in many areas expanding conventional mass transit such as commuter rail, bus and subway lines, seems hopeless and not a good solution anyway.
The APTS would allow urban neighborhoods to be created in currently suburban and rural areas, yet still be the equivalent of a taxi ride from others as well as the main urban center. A 15 minute trip would be about 30 miles radius which, in the Boston area, would mean that almost everything within 495 would be suitable for a local urban center which would be virtually close to other residential, entertainment, educational, and employment locations. The result could be lower real estate prices, nicer residential neighborhoods, and much greater business opportunities.
I'm assuming that most such trips would be done in people carriers, not private vehicles, and that most of these local urban centers would be primarily walking streets. It would be interesting to consider the people movers being able to travel short distances on their own, perhaps a 5 mile radius, to get from the main terminals to the residential areas.
Thoughts?
