SkyTran - First Implementation
This first short system, finished in 2017, was quite the hit with the commuters who lived close to the track and also worked or wanted to shop close to stations served by the track. The city was happy because by 2018 they were actually making a nice profit from it even after they lowered the fare rate structure. Maintenance costs for the solid state system turned out to be miniscule as expected because there were no moving parts or contacts to wear out in the vehicles or the tracks. Eventually, the daily complete checkout of each vehicle was automated, which improved quality and saved more costs. Our maintenance/storage facility was a 10,000 square foot building that was 30 feet tall. It could store 1,800 vehicles. All the vehicles could be on their way and the building emptied in 15 minutes.SkyTran - Cashless Transactions
From the beginning we utilized advanced voice recognition. People liked the cashless coded transducer SkyTran key chain fobs and the personalized recognition features - just like having a real chauffeur. When you got on early in the morning and waved your key fob close to the sensor, the vehicle computer read your ID code, then greeted you by name and asked if you wanted to go direct to the usual SkyTran station closest to your work. At the same time the computer was already adjusting the internal temperature to your prespecified liking. The electrically heated seats were especially comforting in the winter and the thermionic cooling with solid state dehumidification to the outside atmosphere was more than adequate for SkyTran's small internal volume.In the evening, the computer chauffeur greeted you again by voice and asked if you wanted to go directly home - or to an alternate stop in case you had errands to do. Since it was connected into your Internet database, it even reminded you of important personal dates. It would ask if you wanted to be routed to the offline SkyTran drive-through florist on your way home and asked you what type of floral arrangement you might want this time. Several minutes ahead your vehicle would exit the main SkyTran freeway, slow down and pull inside the floral station. As soon as you opened the door, an attendant would hand you the arrangement. Close the door and you would be on your way. Each SkyTran vehicle had its own transponder ID, which was read as you passed the attendant. The computer knew you were on this vehicle and would deduct the charge from your account and put the amount into the Florist's account - all cashless.
One's daily cost for SkyTran travel was also automatically deducted from one's bank account or charged to their credit card account. Of course, the "paranoids" who were let's say paranoid about having their whereabouts tracked by the CIA, KGB, etc. could remain forever anonymous to the computer network by just buying prepaid key fobs with money, much like University library copy cards of the early 1990's. Since the route control was based on verbal interactions, the people who used cash cards would then have to be specific regarding a desired final destination. Some of the "paranoids" even used voice frequency changers when speaking to the computer to avoid being identified by voice print.
Years later as keys and key chains became obsolete, the key fob transducers were replaced with smaller more convenient transducer chips that most people had imbedded in rings and other jewelry. Teenagers started bonding their 1/4 inch diameter by 1/64th inch thick transponder chips to their index finger nails with crazy glue as a fingernail decoration.
I learned "Point and go" became a fad and then a slogan, grandpa!
It sure did Kim. The capability for safe teenage and preteen personal mobility to school and team sports events was a boon to harried parents. SkyTran computer chauffeurs never complained or got upset by such extra duties. New, less densely packed suburbs proliferated once a 50-mile commute became a consistent, relaxed half-hour trip by SkyTran instead of a nightmare trip by car.
SkyTran - The Company Expands
Gene was very happy because he got his computer chauffeured, 100 mph relaxed non-stop commute without having to spend any of the spare $30 million he originally offered. Since we were already making a profit from the $100 million the County gave us, and were good guys, we decided to have a surprise birthday party for Gene on February 26. His only present was a giant wrapped box with his torn up promissory note for that $30 million and a stock certificate for 10,000 shares of the newly incorporated SkyTran, Inc. He loved it!The city wisely took some of their profits to hire us to add extensions. By 2020 we had the County covered with a completely networked three-dimensional, one-mile-by-one-mile grid of SkyTran SST track and stations. A mechanical version of the Internet! You could go anywhere you wanted at 100 mph! That networked system could carry almost one million people per hour. And just like the Internet, if track maintenance work shut down any one-mile section of track on your most direct route from A to B, a multitude of parallel paths still existed to take you from A to B with imperceptible delay.
