[sustran] More on Walton, Cowherd, Hook, Cervero, Dinesh, Obwon.. becak, bajajs, ojek et al

[Brian A Kuhl]

On Fri, 26 Sep 1997 10:25:32 +1000 Christine Laurence <pwcl at wr.com.au>
writes:
>Obwan wrote:
>>
>>  I like elevated monorails because they cut CO2 emissions and 
>provide
>>good entertaining views.  They also would allow us to release land
>>coverage (roadways) which have an auxilliary effect of dividing 
>natural
>>animal habitats (and human habitats as well).  It's nice to have 
>large
>>contiguous spaces/areas where we can roam as pedestrians.  Since 
>HPV's
>>are relatively non polluting and because of their lower power and 
>speed,
>>they can operate among pedestrians quite safely and without creating
>>expectation or perceptions of danger that interfere with the 
>enjoyment
>>of locationg adjacent to carways.
>
>>
>>  Obwon
>>
>
>Elevated monorails?! How do we get up to them?

Most elevated platforms have escalators.

> What if I have a pram with
>me, or parcels, or am in a wheelchair? Do you plan to build lifts at 
>every
>entry point? 

Metro Dade (Florida) has elevators at every station.

>
>It seems to me that elevated monorails are a piece of high tech 
>nonsense. 
>
>What is wrong with simple light rail?

Or an elevated rail, for that matter?

> They are on the ground - easy to 
>get
>on, easy to get off, they can move lots of people easily. And because 
>we
>know exaclty where they go, because of the rails, we can feel 
>confident
>that they aren't going to suddenly lurch at us and bowl us over.

It's not like they would derail, or anything.

> And,
>unlike other forms of road based public transport I could mention, 
>they
>don't belch out poisonous fumes or ear piercing noises.

Unless you happen to be close to them.

>
>You can share the road easily with light rail, so why go to all that 
>extra
>expense?

The only probelm with rail is that you need to share the tracks with the
railroad companies or build your own tracks.  Tri-Rail here in South
Florida ran into this problem early on.  They got a limited set of hours
because of their low status.


Brian Kuhl
seacow at juno.com; d039664c at dc.seflin.org; afn55529 at afn.org;
bak345 at freenet.tlh.fl.us
"Anyone who has begun to think places some portion of the world in
jeopardy"  -- John Dewey
"My size? My size is the amount of space I fill up!" Murdock (Dwight
Shultz) The A-Team