Support NeoGAF

[pwack]

An elevated train! What a cool idea. It needs a hip modern name. How about "the El"?

Oh. Wait...

 

[Casimir]

Two mono rails alongside each road still seems to make more sense.


----


Concerning all the issues with cars, driverless cars are coming in the near future, so collisions will be almost non existent. Well unless some moron decides they want to control the car themselves.

 

[Jal]

Wonder if it might be better if it goes against the flow of traffic. Imagine it might be freaky if it catches the driver unaware from behind. Coming from the front, the driver could prepare to enter something similar to a tunnel.

Good point, and this would remove the problem of being stuck underneath it at a junction, i think, maybe?

 

[Dan]

Heh, we actually talked about this 6 years ago: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=402878

 

[SolarPowered]

That's cool as hell. Would be nervous as hell driving cars around that thing when it first rolled out though.

Fully automated private vehicles would be ubiquitous by the time such a method of public transportation became normal. Pedestrians, passengers and drivers would be safer than they are today.

 

[Pakkidis]

What if a truck is on the road?

 

[Dash_Riprock]

It'll just take one tired/drunk person driving a big rig and suddenly everyone on that bus is gonna have a very bad day.

 

[lenovox1]

where do you think these tracks are going to go?

I'm used to Vegas highways and roadways where major roadways can have four car+ lanes going one way, leaving at least a couple of open lanes for trailers and whatnot.

This would be an enormous boon on a street like Sahara Avenue, where there is plenty of space, but the bus stalls traffic.

I couldn't imagine they'd be of any use in, say, NYC's road system or anywhere in the Northeast or West, where there's extremely limited road space.

 

[Patapwn]

Some of the videos on that channel seem like they're from The Onion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fdEG4d1Po4


Stunning multi-tasking ability: Chinese man does three things at once

"[He] can write on the ground with one hand while using the other hand to play with a stick and reciting poems at the same time"

 

[Akuun]

That would be awesome.

It also seems like it would be scary as shit to drive near one of those things.

 

[Ether_Snake]

It's going to be like this every day right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkWTcDZFH0

Except with a moving bridge?

And also expect the cars to crash when trying to take an exit while this thing is in the way!

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

That would scare the shit out of me. Maybe if it came from the opposite direction or slower than the traffic, it'd be better.

 

[Marky Mark]

Really wonder how drivers react when they need to switch lanes and they're stuck under one, or when the bus needs to turn but drivers don't. Seems like a lot of specialized roads. But it's interesting. Sounds like there's more infrastructure needed than it seems at first.

Out of curiosity, what's the benefit of this over, say, a monorail? Monorails always seemed under used to me.

I am assuming that this is intended for a driverless future.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

It might not be realistic but this type of out of the box thinking is definitely what's needed to deal with the mass transit problem.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

It's going to be like this every day right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkWTcDZFH0

Except with a moving bridge?

And also expect the cars to crash when trying to take an exit while this thing is in the way!

Did you have to post this? I've seen this video 10 times already but I just can't resist watching it again. It's just so hilarious.

I wonder if the RV guy ever realized he knocked his AC units off.

 

[giant_frying_pan]

That looks utterly bonkers.

I love it.

 

[How About No]

It's going to be like this every day right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkWTcDZFH0

Except with a moving bridge?

And also expect the cars to crash when trying to take an exit while this thing is in the way!

Haha I debated if I wanted to post this since I didn't think it was related but still lol

"Can he fool the bridge? By going very slowy? ...nope"

And that guy walking by doesn't even react when the RV gets it's things torn off

 

[lenovox1]

That would scare the shit out of me. Maybe if it came from the opposite direction or slower than the traffic, it'd be better.

40 MPH with stops every 1/4 to 1/2 mile should be fairly easy to get used to and watch out for.

 

[Svafnir]

Really wonder how drivers react when they need to switch lanes and they're stuck under one, or when the bus needs to turn but drivers don't. Seems like a lot of specialized roads. But it's interesting. Sounds like there's more infrastructure needed than it seems at first.

Out of curiosity, what's the benefit of this over, say, a monorail? Monorails always seemed under used to me.

Make an overpass? Just raise the track the "bus is on" and it won't effect cars under it at all.

 

[lenovox1]

Out of curiosity, what's the benefit of this over, say, a monorail? Monorails always seemed under used to me.

Because the track is expensive and you still need a lot of space and land to build the track. It's why Las Vegas's commercial monorail system hasn't expanded in the last decade.

This just uses existing roadways.

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

Because the track is expensive and you still need a lot of space and land to build the track. It's why Las Vegas's commercial monorail system hasn't expanded in the last decade.

This just uses existing roadways.

Exactly, Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook never recovered after purchasing one.
Still looks like a great idea, but maybe a bit distracting.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Height of stupidity.
You'd need to build purpose built roads just for this behemoth and you'd have to limit what traffic could share those new roads...so why even have the Beast at all? If you're building new and elevated roads then just make them fit for purpose so regular traffic can flow properly.
The only places I'd expect to see this are Dubai, Qatar or a Chinese city, places where money can be wasted and opposition voices are silent.

 

[boxter432]

Cop pulls over a car. Cop car and pulled over car get sliced in two by stilt bus

 

[QuickSilverD]

so at turns and intersections cars are just supposed to pass on top of the rails of the bus?

 

[Cipherr]

It's going to be like this every day right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkWTcDZFH0

Except with a moving bridge?

And also expect the cars to crash when trying to take an exit while this thing is in the way!

Juuuuuuuuuuuuust a bit off the top

 

[Apath]

This is cool, but isn't it just a train that runs over the road?

 

[Makai]

Great idea

 

[sangreal]

Heh, we actually talked about this 6 years ago: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=402878

Yeah I was expecting this thread to be a bump, not a retread

 

[lenovox1]

Cop pulls over a car. Cop car and pulled over car get sliced in two by stilt bus

I can't imagine a scenario where the "bus" and track don't communicate and the bus wouldn't automatically stop if there was any obstruction on the track. It's only going 40, it would have plenty of time to stop in most cases.

 

[riotous]

I could see this being useful in an autonomous vehicle only environment.

 

[TheRealTalker]

That video is like 8 years old.

yeah I saw a old version of this waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back

 

[Dr Zhivago]

It runs on tracks. How is that not a train?

Seriously.

This is cool, but isn't it just a train that runs over the road?

so at turns and intersections cars are just supposed to pass on top of the rails of the bus?

Have people never heard of trams?

 

[OnPoint]

Looks like a desktop printer from the late 90s come to life. How weird yet cool.

 

[Arrowgigantic]

It'll work great on any road without any overpasses!

 

[JoeNut]

but this will require completely new roads, with no bridges or tunnels.

It's a brilliant idea, but like a lot of these things, retrospectively fitting it to existing roads would be almost impossible without closing an entire city.

 

[PatjuhR]

If and when this thing will be in full use, I think all cars will be fully self driving aswell. So probably will be fine in turning and shit

 

[ClosingADoor]

Why not just make an elevated rail or monorail on top of the road? Seems like a safer and more useful solution. For this one you'd need to make tracks anyway.

 

[Winterblink]

Stuff like this will always happen, though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmTEoZJA5-w

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

That is both ingenious and neat looking.

 

[Omnii-chan]

Wow that's some future shit! Cool!

But it would scare the shit out of me, rushing over my car like that!

 

[TDLink]

I'm 100% sure I saw this nearly a decade ago.

 

[PdotMichael]

You want to get "rid" of cars not of public transportation.

 

[Calamari41]

So now will everybody who wants to turn right or left have to be paranoid about where this thing might be, coming at them from behind?

 

[Horsemama1956]

Don't they need to be on the outside lane? People are going to get off in the middle of the road?

 

[gutter_trash]

It looks absolutely stupid and ridiculous.

 

[op_ivy]

i was picturing it to look more like the "strider" police vehicles in patlabor. missed opportunity. (still cool)

 

[Tuck]

A neat idea, but with issues.

1. It runs on rails, so there'd be a large upfront cost. Not insurmountable, but something that would take time to implement.

2. The height of the bus is problematic for a few reasons. Trucks would have trouble passing under it, and passengers would have to climb up stairs to get to the top, which has accessibility issues and makes getting on and off slow.

3. Cars changing lanes under the thing could get messy, especially in heavy traffic, with cars basically getting stuck under it.

You want to get "rid" of cars not of public transportation.

Also this.

Also I distinctly remember seeing this several years ago.

 

[Timedog]

I thought for sure "straddling bus" was the name of a horse.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

I still think the High-Speed Bus would be a better option.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

1. Very old concept

2. ITS A TRAIN