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...
A thought experiment: Imagine if we created financial incentives for people to experiment professionally with transit? For example: What if, for a transit agency to receive federal/state/provincial funding they had to dedicate at least 5% of their total annual budget to research and development? How would that change things? My recent flaying at the hands...
In his legendary treatise on industrial design The Design of Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman professes his love for camping gear as being some of the best-designed products in the world. Why does he think such gear is so well-designed? Because more often than not, the products are designed by people who actually use them....
I’m going to forego my usual thought experiment introduction and just leave it at this: What happens to cities, transit, cable, etc when Witricity (or something comparable, but with a less awful name) is scaled up and as common as an electrical outlet? Watch, contemplate and discuss:
A thought experiment: What if you took anywhere from one third to one half of the commuters off the road each and every workday? How would that change things? Well for starters, your commute would be far more pleasant, whether you were a driver or not. Congestion and delays wouldn’t be nearly as harsh as...
A Thought Experiment: Imagine a world 30 years from now (not so far into the future) where there is no such thing as public transit in whatever city you happen to live in. How did it happen? Why? What caused public transit’s demise? Think it’s impossible? Ask Clayton County, Georgia. Or the flip side: Image...