The ADA and SkyTran
(Americans with Disabilities Act)

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!
 
Doug Malewicki
_____________________________________
ˇ
ˇ Douglas J. Malewicki ˇ President/Chief Scientist ˇ AeroVisions, Inc.
ˇ 14962 Merced Circle, Irvine, CA 92604 ˇ Phone/ FAX: (949) 559-7113
ˇ EMail: DMalewicki@cox.net
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