We have some innovative methods to handle wheel chair bound handicapped
people . We will be filing for a patent in this area, so can't discuss
the details. Recently, our friends and avid SkyTran advocates from
Mojave Renewable Energy and Education assumed we didn't have it figured
out and asked if it would be OK to have the students in several of the
classrooms come up with possible solutions for us.
I wrote Director
Vincent Beazel that we welcome all creative input. I Emailed him the
following list of criteria that the students must keep in mind.
A way to help them narrow down their thinking and present ideas that are
actually related to what we are building, not something that may or may not
better apply to cars, busses, trains or plane related travel - which are all
very different animals!
Other readers are more than welcome to ponder ADA and respond to either
D.Malewicki at SkyTran.net or J.Fass at SkyTran.net.
November 19, 2004
Dear
Vince,
Great idea. Will be most interesting if the students come up with
nearly the same exact methods we intend to use.
Obviously there are criteria that they may not fully understand and they
should have this insight (absolutely essential). I will list a bunch here.
Very important for the students to digest these and then integrate
possibilities with this possibly new information.
#1 - ADA rules - print them out for the students from the CD I sent you
earlier. ADA requirements to take care of handicapped people
ONLY
apply to public transit on
fixed schedules and
fixed routes.
SkyTran is neither and is more akin to Taxi
Cabs, which if you ever noticed are NOT required to have special wheel chair
handling equipment and that type of ADA access.
CLICK HERE to read the actual ADA Rules. What will the
students conclude immediately!
(We, of course, are obviously aware that if enough
politicians get huge campaign contributions from the Light Rail special
interests, etc. that these "ADA rules" could be changed to our disadvantage
rather quickly).
#2 - What % of the traveling population is handicapped (wheelchair bound)?
What % of the commuter rush hour population? This may well define how
important or not important is the problem?
#3 - Next must ask HOW do the handicapped currently make their way to
existing ADA approved public transportation locations (bus stop, train
stations, etc.)? Can SkyTran economics make their commuting/traveling life
even better?
#4 - If you design larger (wider and taller) and heavier vehicles so each
and every vehicle in the SkyTran system can always accommodate a roll-in
wheel chair what will happen to the energy requirements needed to power the
vehicles compared to the current lightweight very streamlined design we
intend to use? How much more pollution will be produced - forever - if all
vehicles are bigger and heavier?
#5 - Similarly, what happens to cost of guideway properly designed to
support the heavier vehicles? Care to estimate how much percentage wise?
#6 - How does raising vehicle and guideway costs affect and limit deployment
of SkyTran? What will happen in the real world when forced to live within
a fixed budget? The government and cities DO NOT have infinite money for
such projects. What might happen to the grand idea of building a complete
3D grid distributed network covering an entire city which will eliminate
commuter congestion for all? AND you have to further consider that this was
done with good intentions to take care of what percent of
the total travelers who are handicapped?
#7 - How about elevators to get these handicapped to there now universal
sized roll in SkyTran vehicles? Don't forget we intend to have our bus
stop like low cost stations located every 1/2 mile along each route and for
both directions. Costs? Effect on total system costs?
#8 - How about bringing SkyTran down all the way to the ground so the
handicapped could roll right into their "larger sized vehicles" - without
ever having to go up to that 8 foot level that is designed to clear all
pedestrians heads and thus minimize surface land usage? What happens to the
size of the footprint of land that will be required? Doesn't seem practical
to any longer consider SkyTran on sidewalks, does it?
#9 - Assume that IF we keep the present small lightweight, streamlined
vehicles that system costs are so low that just charging 10 cents per mile
to users (for comparison currently buses and light rail are charging about
30 to 35 cents per mile) enables us to make a pretax profit of 40 to 50% of
capital investment each year. Further assume that we assign 1/3 or 1/2 of
that available profit JUST to make life easier for the handicapped
travelers.
SOOOO....... What would you do to make commuting and traveling life for
the handicapped better? Think, think, think! SkyTran has already
figured out how to nicely do exactly that! Much better than any bus,
light rail or commuter train system currently handles people in wheel
chairs.
NO more clues......................
Ooops! Almost forgot - how do you secure the handicapped in their wheel
chairs inside their special roll-in SkyTran vehicle to guarantee good safety
in normal accelerations and decelerations, let alone in the rare, rare event
of an emergency 6 g deceleration level? That has to be part of
the engineering solution!