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SkyTran
beats light rail,
buses in cost, efficiency |
Can
you picture a day when Valley commuters will be
able to zip around town at 100 mph in
streamlined, space-age personal transit
vehicles? What's more, these vehicles don't
pollute, don't waste energy and cost a fraction
of what a light rail and expanded bus system
would cost.
The new,
revolutionary transit system is called
SkyTran. It's revolutionary because
it takes the best features of state-of-the-art
systems like magnetic levitation, automation,
electronics and robotics and blends them
together to provide a transit alternative that
is not only superfast, but convenient,
comfortable, safe and affordable. This is
not science fiction, this is science fact!
SkyTran is a
concept developed by California scientist
Doug Malewicki, who has invented numerous
vehicles that integrate the latest
transportation technologies and aerodynamic
designs, including the California Commuter (a
single-passenger road vehicle that holds two
Guinness records for energy efficiency) and the
popular "Robo- soarus" - a car-eating,
fire-breathing dinosaur that appears regularly
at monster truck shows to the delight of young
and old, and car-lovers and -haters alike. |
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This
week, Malewicki offered to build the first
privately funded, owned and operated SkyTran
system as an alternative to the proposed,
taxpayer-funded $1.35 billion "Valley
Connections" light-rail plan. SkyTran would
not only match the proposed 35-mile Valley
Connections line, but build an additional 142
system miles just to demonstrate how SkyTran can
outperform any publicly owned and
taxpayer-financed light-rail and/or expanded bus
system.
Some of the
features that make SkyTran such an innovative
and remarkable transit concept are its
lightweight, tandem, two-passenger vehicles, its
streamlined and minimalist guiderail support
structures/stations, and its ability to move
passengers in "three dimensions."
The SkyTran
vehicles hang suspended from overhead guiderails
that allow the vehicles to travel either at
ground level or above traffic and to turn or
move from ground level to above traffic.
Another feature
that makes the SkyTran personal/mass
transportation system so special is that
vehicles are available "on-demand,"
meaning there is no waiting, or schedule, or
even a driver, for that matter. A
passenger simply boards the first vehicle in a
line of vehicles always ready at each transit
stop, keys in a destination on the onboard
computer, and is whisked off non-stop to it. |
MY
TURN
JERRY
SPELLMAN
SkyTran
vehicles operate in their own safe environment,
separate from pedestrian and surface vehicle
traffic, and never have to stop for traffic
lights, stop signs or railroad crossings because
there are no intersections where vehicles and/or
pedestrians can collide.
The benefits of
SkyTran are numerous, especially when compared
to other transit modes like light rail and
buses. One mile of SkyTran guiderail, including
stations/stops, will cost $1 million to $2
million (light rail costs $25 million to $50
million per mile). SkyTran vehicles will cost
about $4,000 to $6,000 each (one new
36-passenger transit bus costs $300,000).
SkyTran
magnetically levitated vehicles run on
electricity (equivalent to 200 mpg energy
utilization), and the maglev propulsion system
has no moving parts that wear out (there is no
friction) and need to be replaced.
There is no air
or noise pollution, no parking lots or garages,
no traffic jams or accidents or road rage.
Think of all the extra time and money you'll
have from not having to work so hard to own and
support two or three vehicles per family. |
If
you honestly compare SkyTran to the proposed
Valley Connections plan for light rail and
expanded bus service (approximate I 0-year cost
for system construction, operation and
maintenance is $3 billion) and spent the same
amount developing a SkyTran system, we could
have 1,200 miles of guideway and 200,000
vehicles rather than 35 miles of light rail and
500 more buses on our crowded streets.
And if our
Valley and state leaders would only wake up to
the economic opportunity of having SkyTran
vehicles and system parts manufactured here in
Arizona for regional distribution, then we would
really have an economic engine.
A SkyTran system
with 1,200 miles of guideway and 200,000
vehicles serving the entire Valley would have
the capacity to move an incredible 100 million
passengers per day, while our light
rail/bus boondoggle will never be able to move
more than 5 percent of the commuting public per
day.
Jerry Spellman lives in Mesa. He
has worked in government and community public
relations and served on a Maricopa Association
of Governments air quality advisory committee
and Maricopa County's air pollution advisory
council. He can be reached at gspellman@uswest.net
via email. For more information about SkyTran,
check www.skytran.net
on the Internet. |
THE
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Incorporating
The Phoenix Gazette
200 E. Van Buren, Phoenix AZ 85004
Founded in 1890 |
Phoenix
Newspapers Inc.
EUGENE C. PULLIAM
1889-1975
Publisher, 1946-1975 |
LOUIS
A. WEIL, III
Chairman
JOHN F. OPPEDAHL
President, Publisher, CEO |
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