skyTran, Inc.
SUMMARY: skyTran is a high-speed personal rapid transit (PRT) system developed to address the world’s traffic congestion. The unique skyTran system is elevated, arranged in a network, and uses a patented maglev technology that consumes low amounts of energy and generates almost zero pollution.
PROBLEM SPACE: “Traffic congestion is a global problem generating pollution, consuming energy, reducing productivity, stripping family and personal time, and causing death and injury from accidents.
There is a critical need to move large numbers of people on a daily basis in a fast, convenient, safe, and inexpensive way while also minimizing energy consumption and emissions.
Any viable solution must have a small footprint and installation needs to be fast and relatively simple, assembled in months instead of years. The components need to be modular so they can be built in factories and shipped to the site where they are assembled.
Another requirement is for the systems to be low cost. Installation, operation, and maintenance must require no government subsidy. Currently, there is no mass transit system (subway, train, light rail, bus, or trolley) that operates in the black. Every system is paid for in part by taxpayers.
Mass transit systems around the world have failed in being about to move large numbers of people in a fast, inexpensive and convenient manner.
Current roads systems in many areas are already maxed out, which leads to massive problems with traffic congestion.”
SOLUTION: “To solve traffic problems, what is needed is a transit system that will entice people to get out of their cars. This transit alternative needs to be convenient, allowing people to travel where they want to go and on a schedule that meets their needs.
It also needs to have the privacy and safety of being in one’s own automobile. If offered the option, individuals would generally prefer not to travel with others that they do not know.
In addition to convenience, the system needs to be fast. A system that is slow, just like one’s automobile stuck in traffic, is not a viable alternative. The system needs to be fast at all times. On the skyTran network, pods exit off of the main route to allow passengers to disembark and embark without impacting the progress of other pods along the guideways.
The system also needs to be inexpensive, both for the passenger (fare cost), and for the municipality to build and operate it. Governments rarely have money to subsidize public mass transit systems or to build new systems. By using a lightweight infrastructure, it will be easy and inexpensive to build and maintain.”
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