This week on the Gondola Project forum, in response to last week’s post about the future of aerial transit, there was a video response with the Jetson’s theme song displaying the idea of personalized flying mobiles. This got me thinking about both science fiction and outer space (since everything in that show appears to be...
The Bamboo Railway or “Norry” in Battambang, Cambodia is truly a testament to human ingenuity and creativity. In this part of the world, where resources are scarce and government run train service is untimely and unreliable, this informal form of transit is an inexpensive and convenient mobility option for many. For this simple (yet highly...
Last Friday night a 17 year old teen was stopped by the police in the Swiss town of Jonschwil when they noticed the local Töffli-Bub (Swiss German slang for “scooter boy”) driving around town in a homemade “scooter-car.” It seems the inventive young man had created his Töffli-Auto by welding the rear end of an old...
Over at Makeprojects Jeff describes how he designed, built and installed an 100-foot long wood and steel pipe funicular for the purposes of “people/firewood/beer moving” at his family cottage. And despite Jeff’s wood and steel pipe funicular looking about as safe as one can expect a homemade wood and steel pipe funicular to look, it’s...
What . . ? I mean, it certainly looks like the Koblenz Rheinseilbahn . . . sort of . . .
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how the differing usage of the terms public transit, transport and transportation led to very different levels of interest across english-speaking cultures around the world. I had planned to follow-up on that post earlier, but such follow-up admittedly slipped my mind due to the large...
Disclaimer: This post in no way, shape, form or description advocates using roller coasters or thrill park rides as mass public transit. Should Roller Coaster Engineers and Theme Park Designers participate in the design of public transit? Probably an insane idea; no doubt completely and 100%. But also probably worth exploring, if only in a...
Now this makes sense . . . Japan’s Willer Express is offering plush first class seats that look more like business class pods on an airline. Equipped with wireless internet, reclining seats, LCD screens and blankets this could actually make long-distance bus travel palatable. Of course these are the premium coaches; Willer Express also has...
Because the Chinese Tunnel Bus™ is so 2010, it’s time to introduce our first best-bet nominee for insane bus-based transit technology of the year: The Dutch Superbus… The Superbus is the brainchild of Netherlands astronaut and Delft University of Technology professor Wubbo Ockels, while the design itself was carried out by Dr. Antonia Terzi, an Italian aerodynamicist...
Last week at the TED 2011 conference, Google unveiled their self-driving car. And while an interview and test drive with CBS news was both fun and informative to watch, the issue of the technology’s impact on public transit was never addressed. If the self-driving car becomes a reality in the next, say, 20 years, one...