Sunday, December 09, 2018

PRESIDENTIAL RESPECT -- FUTURE -- UNIQUE TRANSPORT


The past week’s events have focused my attention on truly significant matters in our nation’s life. The process of paying tribute to a former President following his death made me keenly aware of contrasts between our government leadership now and then.   

This now deceased leader and his political party then was one that could be respected, whether or not his governing actions were agreeable to all.   His life reminded me of our nation’s values and the need we have now for  .....
– a leader with some sense of honesty
– a leader capable of civility while demonstrating ethical and moral behavior
– a leader determined to maintain our individual freedoms
– a leader dedicated to preserving our democracy. 

***
Looking to a better future with a different more capable competent U.S. leader, I’m intrigued with ideas that may become reality.  I find myself wondering if they will develop in my lifetime?   What will everyday life become in a decade or so after I depart this consciousness?

One such progressive area is transportation which is certainly of interest to those of us in Southern California’s Los Angeles area with all our traffic and congested freeways.  What succeeds here will expand elsewhere and benefit from others creations.  Following are “five futuristic transport modes” featured at Raconteur with visual and more detailed information about their current developmental status – closer to reality than might be thought.     

1.  Hyperloop –
“Travelers would go to what's called a portal, which will likely be first in transit hubs of major cities before spreading outward to smaller ones. There, they will enter a large tube and board a pod inside of it with 15 to 30 others.  People will be transported at 600 mph as reported for Virgin Hyperloop at CNBC.

This travel mode reminds me of a pneumatic vacuum tube that fascinated me when I was a young girl.  Our local J. C. Penny store had such a system in their several story building.  When we paid for our purchase – always cash as this was long before credit cards – our money was placed in a tube to whoosh up a vacuum track to an office where the transaction was processed, receipt and all due inserted in the tube, then whooshed back down to our clerk who returned any change to us. 

2.  Autonomous Helicopters --
There are more than 40 smallish vertical take-off and landing aircraft, most of them electrically powered, known as eVTOLs, at various stages of development. Some are the progeny of major aircraft makers...Airbus.”

Lilium is a competitor in Germany.   Uber has expressed interest with Brazillian planemaker Embraer with their vision of Flying Taxis. 

3.   Super-trains –
These trains have been running since 1984 on a magnetic levitation (maglev) technology but are being considered in “...transport networks across the world.  A 2015 Japanese maglev train reached speeds of just over 600km/h, but researchers at China’s Southwest Jiaotong University are testing an ultra-fast bullet train prototype, based on maglev technology, that could potentially reach speeds of up to 1,000km/h.

Such a system is being proposed from Washington to New York.  

4.  Elevated Cycle Paths –
These paths for e-bike cycling “could reduce congestion on highways, with the southeast Chinese city of Xiamen constructing the world’s longest elevated cycling path last year.”  There are only a few of these paths but that may change.  “German carmaker BMW ... The automaker, in collaboration with Tingyi University in China, recently unveiled a proposal to build elevated cycle paths for e-bikes and electric scooters in Shanghai.

5.  Smart Roads -
These smart roads are connected to the IoT (Internet of Things - defined as the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.   The roads communicate with smart cars.

“A Portuguese scheme, co-funded by the European Union, is set to create around 1,000 kilometres of smart roads in the country..... Sweden recently completing a pilot project that saw two kilometres of road transformed into an electrified track that recharges electric cars and trucks while they drive.” 

If any or all of these transportation modes interest you, check the visuals and read additional information at this Raconteur link.  These have many benefits including aiding in pollution reduction, increased safety.  Some of them may be appearing in your community before long.

What do you think of these systems?   Are they appealing to you?   I’m not too keen on getting in one of those pneumatic tube pods.



27 comments:

  1. I remember reading about such things in comics, oh 65 years ago. Future transportation. I think we should be way more advanced than we are but we're up against powerful oil lobbies.

    I do believe that 45 is the most visible of the presidents in policy and empirical aspirations. He is not shrouded in politeness, courtesy or manners. The masters of the universe still pull the puppet strings.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. Yes, it’s uncanny how the comic strips have come to life in many respects. Really seems that whatever anyone can imagine can become reality.

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  2. I hope in the near future we go back to getting presidents with a moral compass, empathy and a brain for solving complex problems. The one we have now is void of all these things. He still has supporters who seem to enjoy seeing our country being torn apart and that is scary. He lying and nastiness are so apparent.

    The transportation issues you mentioned don't interest me. We can't even fix our roads so I can't see an easy fight for getting the money to build the infrastructure needed for this stuff. Not going to happen in my lifetime.

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    1. Let’s revisit this in ten years — if we’re both still around and see what may have developed — if not in the U.S., elsewhere in the world.

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  3. This spring there was lots of talk about a Cleveland-Chicago hyperloop. It would zip travelers each way in 30 minutes. I love Chicago, so it caught my interest.

    The pneumatic tube thing is very common to me; I was a driveup teller for years and years, working my way through college. We'd always moan and groan whenever a customer ignored our warning sign about NOT PUTTING ROLLED COIN INTO THE TUBE. There's only so much weight those things can manage.

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    1. I, too, worked as a loan teller for a number of years. Our drive-iup teller didn’t have such a vacuum system and I didn’t realize any did.

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  4. The roads that recharge electric vehicles totally interests me.
    While 600 miles an hours scares me a bit.

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    1. Yes, this IoT is fascinating to me, too — the whole idea of electric vehicles getting recharged just by driving on a particular road seems incredible.

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  5. Anything to get bikes and scooters off the roads is super fine with me. As far as personal transportation and given my 77 year history, I'll stick with my car. Like others, high speeds make me very uncomfortable. Especially if I am at the mercy of someone else in the driver's seat and especially if there is no one in the driver's seat at all!

    And again based on my age, my time in the political driver's seat is coming to a close and it's time for the next generation to realize the future is in their hands and in their vote. For better or worse, it's hand-off time...

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    1. Maybe you’ll have a car that’s a combination vehicle, also able to fly and be a boat/ship. I’m curious to know how they’re going to control the air space for our individual aircraft and air taxis — sorta like the Jetsons, I guess.

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  6. They all sound like good ideas but I doubt if any of them will be commonplace before I also depart this consciousness. As Wise Web Woman says, such ideas were circulating in comic strips decades ago but real life takes a very long time to catch up with the visionaries.

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    1. It’s interesting to me to see the ones that have already been adopted to a certain degree various places.

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  7. I doubt very much that I will see any of it … I'd settle for just improving what we have (which, incidentally, would give the poor in our nation a chance for jobs). I am sick to death of big ideas that take BILLIONS to achieve and benefit the top 1%.

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    1. There’s certainly plenty that needs improving.

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  8. Scientific/technical developments nearly always show up in sci-fi and/or cartoons, etc, before becoming reality. After all: One can hardly develop that of which one cannot conceive. (Which feeds nicely into the wisdom of having a diverse team attacking a problem. Having developed different perspectives during their lifetimes, team members who communicate well, provide sparks for one anothers' ideation.

    IMO: The less travel people do, the better. Transportation has caused much of the blight on our planet. I have a hard time reconciling willful travel with ecological consciousness.
    Cop Car

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    1. I concur with the benefits of teams from various disciplines who bounce ideas off one another — very stimulating

      I think you make a good point about transportation effects.. Given what we’ve done to earth I’ve been concerned about our impact on the rest of the universe. As vast as are our oceans we’re doing a pretty good job of negatively impacting them.

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  9. They appeal to me and I think that the future urban life will have no alternative but to opt for these.

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  10. In Honolulu, Hawaii, the city is currently building a rail from the west side of the island to downtown and the university. They are way behind schedule and way over budget.

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    1. Interesting, as I wasn’t aware of that rail being built. Seems all such large projects end up going over budget that I’ve heard about.

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  11. We have manty if these, and I am glad I took the coaster north last week...trying it all out

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  12. The problem many places is the jobs aren't all in some central location. They and the people's homes are spread out everywhere. What amazed me one year driving into the Bay Area, it was gridlock at 7 am with all the people trying to get past Livermore into the city. If people lived in hubs or even if jobs were in hubs, it'd all be more efficient but then people change jobs. I think things like Portland's MAX get a lot of use, not superspeeds but to the outlying cities and direct line where they often have big parking lots for commuters. This works if they work downtown-- otherwise,it's transfers and more time. I remember as a kid taking the city bus into downtown for college, and we wound all over everywhere for stops. It took much longer than a car. As a college student, I had no option and actually enjoyed the time, sometimes meeting someone new and other times buried in a book.

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    1. No direct service to where someone needs to go certainly presents a challenge as you describe.

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    2. I do like the MAX. It's especially useful when going to and from PDX airport.

      Livermore and those towns and cities just beyond the end of the Bart line would benefit from a further extension of said system. 580 is atrocious. A more extensive train system could alleviate some of the traffic congestion out that way.

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  13. Why is Brown pushing that rail system? The BART system in the Bay Area is the system I kmnow best - used to commute to work on it. It works well. I believe we should never have encountered a transportation crisis as there are many examples of effective systems - we just planned poorly. In fact that could be said of our entire trsnsportationsystem.

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    1. Here’s a link to an Oct. Sacramento Bee article discussing the pros and cons of the now controversial high speed rail system.
      https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/influencers/article219943105.html

      The origins of the idea for a high speed system occurred long before Gov. Brown which many people supported, especially in the Central Valley. The costs have escalated considerably in recent years which has given rise to second thoughts about whether or not this plan should proceed, or at least as originally designed. Many people, including Gov. Brown, apparently think this high speed rail system is still highly desirable.

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