this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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I think it’s all about what people will accept and autonomy exactly as you say. I don’t think people want to request or share buses/taxis, they want to jump into their tram car in a hurry without compromise.
For so many professions like builders etc, they’re going to want to keep tools in their trams or have other specialised trams. Repairmen can’t commute on shared buses with all their tools. You almost never see this at the moment.
I also think people don’t want to travel underground and that making those tunnels will be too expensive. For every on/off stop there needs to be a hole in the ground and air circulation. Alternatively the overground tram network suspended from an overhead rail can allows for paths to cross, bend and can be installed over the existing roads infrastructure before it is decommissioned. In places where it’s high enough pedestrians can ignore it or at ground level there can be an open bike/eScooter system like you suggest. It just requires steel poles like lamp posts to be put in down the middle of the road. Many busy roads already have lamp posts down the central partition.
This is what’s led me to my idea that a tram network full of people’s own trams. Poor and middle class people have cars already so owning your own tram feels like it will be too engrained across all levels of society. It’s also higher quality as people can choose their products. It creates competition between manufacturers. It makes delivering the whole solution cheaper and puts more costs on individuals rather than the government. In my mind a tram is a metal cage with an electric motorbikes engine and wheel at the top and some electronics to communicate with a central routing computer.
Anyway just interesting thoughts of a world that will likely never exist. It’s impossible to know what would and wouldn’t be necessary to make a better transport network.