SkyTran
Super Efficient Personal/Mass Transportation

This invention is about transportation and making it faster, cheaper and safer for everyone.

When I start thinking of how to improve something, I usually just ask myself what is the current technology actually trying to accomplish and what do the "WORDS" really mean. In this case, what does that word "TRANSPORTATION" mean??? As best as I can interpret the word, it usually means a mechanized method of taking you (or some goods) to somewhere you want to go - faster than you can walk or run.

Many of us don't seem to be fully aware that this planet did not come preassembled with paved roads, highways, railroad tracks and airports. We puny little humans built it all! Along the way, all kinds of inventors, came up with better and better mechanized conveyances to get us places ever faster and faster. We love those car inventions, but what a mess that most wonderful feature - fast, personal mobility - has created. A nice car costs $20,000 or more; gas costs over $2.50 per gallon; most cars only get about 20 miles per gallon, and parking in a city can easily cost over $12.00 per day! It all adds to the frustration. On top of that is all the stressful time wasted in traffic because everyone else loves that same invention and has to HAVE one of their very own.

I HATE COMMUTING! If I had my way........

As a mental exercise, you might want to think about what changes would make owning and driving an automobile totally more pleasurable? No bounds - be selfish, be fantastically unrealistic! Think hard. Mentally eliminate all current sources of irritation!

Here are some of my personal thoughts and desires:

1. Wouldn't it be great if every other driver knew I was coming well in advance and always pulled way over to the right to let me go by zooming along at least 25 MPH over the posted speed limit. I have a special license, so it's legal for me.
2. Kids, dogs or other cars would never cross in front of my car and there never would be any debris, pot holes, or bumps in my roads.
3. Best of all - traffic lights would turn green for me as I approached, so selfish me could just keep blasting along.
4. When I got on the freeway, it would always be legally totally emptied just for me. I would love never having to slow down.
5. Also, my car is a super Ferrari-like thingy that is perfectly safe to run at 100 MPH all day long.
6. Of course, I never get stopped by the police while cruising at 100 MPH, since I have a very special license. In fact, the police are way ahead of me and always give out tickets to the people who don't get off the freeway at least 5 miles ahead of my approach.
7. By the way, my super car was given to me for free - taxes included. I also don't have to pay annual taxes based on its worth. Nor do I ever have to pay annual registration fees, or even one cent for the $20 million dollar insurance policy that comes with it!
8. My super car gets over 200 miles per gallon!
9. In fact, this car is so super, that it is entirely computer controlled. I just put in my destination GPS coordinates for my office when I get in, then sit back and read the morning newspaper (or plug in my computer modem, take a nap, etc.) while my computer chauffeur takes me from door to door in absolute safety.
10. I also never have to park the car. I just leave it.
11. I never have to pay anything for parking.
12. When I am ready to go back, I walk out the office door and my car is sitting there, warmed up and waiting for me.
13. Time between recommended tune-ups for my super car is 1 million miles. Of course, those tune-ups are free, as are tires, etc. My computer chauffeur also serves as a super mechanical inspector, which continually monitors all possible maintenance aspects of the machine. If there is even a potential minor problem it relays the data to "super car headquarters" main repair station. In fact, whenever they can't fix my super car on the spot immediately, they just replace my super car with an identical model while I'm in my office. The technology involved is transparent to me - I never have to bother even thinking about checking the oil, water, air pressure, etc. let alone pay for any maintenance.

Hmm! Wouldn't that be fun car to own and a fun way to drive - even if it was just for one single selfish day of your life!

As idyllic as the above sounds you have to realize, that in reality, I severely limited your/our dreaming as soon as I tied it all to the mental image of an automobile! The ULTIMATE in what we really want in personal transportation should probably:

1. Move people and cargo from any point to any destination instantaneously (Beam me up, Scotty!);
2. Move them on demand (without waiting for a scheduled departure);
3. Move them without consuming any energy, nor making any pollution;
4. Move them without any risk of danger whatsoever; and
5. Finally, the system for such travel should require no capital investment.

I can't do an ULTIMATE transportation system, but I can do the earlier discussed super car AND all the selfish stuff associated with those thoughts! The ONLY difference is that your home and your office are not 10 steps away from the machine, but an average of 880 steps away!

If you are intrigued and are willing to walk that 880 steps, twice a day to obtain all the other benefits - read on! By the way it works for everyone, not just you and I, so in reality it no longer is selfish! We call it Personal/Mass Transportation and we will explain how those two totally conflicting ideas of Personal Transportation and Public Transportation can be merged into something the world needs. We call the machines you ride in - SkyTran.

(We hated the earlier trademarked name "People Pods". One of the earlier "People Pods" vehicle models is shown above.  Initially we liked "People Pods", but as time went on it started sounding too much like something from an alien Body Snatcher movie. WE just got tired of thinking about names and picked something cute.)

The current SkyTran name is trademarked and we already have been issued a USA Utility Patent protecting the details and a USA Design Patent on appearance.

Our SkyTran concept is not Science Fiction, but is merely an unusual integration of current technologies that yields an interesting and potentially very useful transportation system.

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