ItsNotAboutTheMoney
Well-Known Member
8 rows (one off to right of shot) of 6 skates, so got to find the skate which is "my ride" within that lot. Its like my partner leaving the car in the car park and just handing me the keys - except Tesla APP will find it, and I can flash lights / honk horn when I get close ... except, also, that that's above ground and my phone has GPS. Takes up a lot of space, underground, for that "station" too. The last of those 48 cars won't be leaving for 24 minutes either ...
I would have thought a series of numbered bus stops, by the curb, and a vehicle comes to you would be less walking / hunting. I love the whole "express to destination" design, but I'm struggling with how Tesla groups 16 riders into a group to fill a skate to capacity, as often as possible. I suppose making a couple of stops en route is fine, so perhaps the 16 only have to be travelling in the same general direction.
Maybe just have skates identified as going to each terminal station / route, like a bus, in which case you just need one "bus stop" per route, and when 16 people have got into it, or when the first passenger has been waiting long enough, off it goes
Pre-booking a skate, and turning up a couple of minutes late, would be a nuisance/delay for fellow travellers, so presumably it will be "skate provided when you arrive", or book a skate but then use my phone APP to detect when I have got into the elevator and started descending, and then start figuring out which skate has capacity, and is nearby, and will be my ride. More of an issue when embarking at intermediate stations than terminus.
I wonder if key buildings in big cities will be vying (paying even?) for a station under their building, reached by an elevator from within their building? Maybe every skyscraper in the street will have a station/elevator?
Chicago - O'Hare is the same distance as Heathrow-London (Paddington) [16 miles] and the Heathrow Express trains are capable of 100 MPH but still take 16 minutes to make the journey, whereas Tesla is talking about 25% less time
That's just an impression and you know that impressions will always make it look better than it is. Look at how it's not very crowded, and is in a cavernous space.
The actual set-up would have less space, but an arrangement like that would be fine. The system would direct you to a car and there'd be plenty of signage.