41–50 of 64 posts
I wish Boston would put one (or a 4mph one) underground walking path between Bowdoin station and MGH so that people could easily transfer without having to either clog the green line or cross traffic in the rain/snow.
Doesn't pass physics or business tests. Yeah, bat-shit-crazy fits this. But, hey, NY Mag needed to fill some much needed space to generate clicks. Mission accomplished.
There was a fast (10 kph) moving sidewalk in the Paris metro station "Montparnasse" for 12 years or so. It never worked out. You can't easily step on it; for years they had to have employees helping people stepping on the fast lane without falling down. And the thing broke down all the time, it was barely available half the time. Finally they replaced it with a good old fashioned 4 kph moving sidewalk. Faster isn't a…
There was a fast (10 kph) moving sidewalk in the Paris metro station "Montparnasse" for 12 years or so. It never worked out. You can't easily step on it; for years they had to have employees helping people stepping on the fast lane without falling down. And the thing broke down all the time, it was barely available half the time. Finally they replaced it with a good old fashioned 4 kph moving sidewalk. Faster isn't a…
Costanza was ahead of his time.
GEORGE: Like at the airport? (getting excited)
JERRY: Yeah.
GEORGE: That's a great idea!!!
JERRY: Tell me about it!
GEORGE: We could be zipping all over the place.
JERRY: They could at least try it.
GEORGE: They never try anything.
JERRY: What's the harm?
GEORGE: No harm!
I visit Toronto quite often. They have a moving sidewalk (conveyor system) in Terminal 3 when you arrive and disembark from your plane. The video of the moving sidewalk they link looks to be the one I'm referring to and if you look at the date it's from 2009. That's probably the last year it was in operation. In the last 2-3 years (and I'm there at least once a month) the moving sidewalks have maintenance signs on th…
Doesn't pass physics or business tests. Yeah, bat-shit-crazy fits this. But, hey, NY Mag needed to fill some much needed space to generate clicks. Mission accomplished.
What's the business test? The point of municipal transportation is to facilitate the rest of economy, not be a profit unit in itself.
You have to dig up and destroy hundreds of miles of walkways.
You have to replace brick, concrete and tiles with hundreds of miles of very, very expensive electromechanical technology.
You have to do this in TWO directions.
You have to hire thousands of workers, technicians and engineers.
You have to fund the development of the technology because it doesn't exist for this application.
You have to provide power, lighting, etc.
If this is in snow country, you have to provide a small army of snow removal trucks and crews to keep the darn things clean. Even then you'll still pay to move tons of snow, which won't be cheap.
You'll have to widen sidewalks in lots of places in order to accommodate all forms of traffic and work around existing infrastructure (subway station entrances?).
You'll have to have medical services available because you will have people getting hurt as they fall off the thing and do stupid stuff at 10 miles per hour.
Liability is likely to be huge.
And, of course, there is no practical way to charge for usage so we are probably going to sock everyone with yet more taxes to build yet another bullshit project nobody is going to use.
If the context is to replace "crosstown buses" you are talking about tens to hundreds of miles of sidewalks and all of the organization, infrastructure, cost and support to take something simple (buses and bus routes) and turn it into something complex, pointless, questionable and unlikely to really work.
The cost of such a ridiculous system would be staggering. Not sure why anyone who reads HN would need this spelled out.