SkyTran instead of Light Rail

This first example compares the 28 mile long, light-rail system recently proposed for Orange County, California to the SkyTran system. (This proposed Urban rail project would run between the InterModal Transportation Centers in the cities of Fullerton and Irvine and is intended to carry 60,000 passengers per day.)

	Surface Light Rail	Elevated Light Rail	SkyTran w/stations every half mile
Top Speed	55 mph	55 mph	103 mph
Average travel speed due to stops at stations	17 mph	22 mph	100 mph (only stops at your destination!)
Time to travel 10 miles	35.3 minutes	27 minutes	6 minutes
Time to travel 28 miles	1 Hr 39 min	1 Hr 16 min	16.8 minutes
System Installation Costs	$1.3 billion	$1.8 billion	$0.055 billion
% of Light Rail Cost	72%	100 %	3%
Hourly passenger capacity	15,000	15,000	40,320 (80,640 if two persons per vehicle)
Annual gross to County based on 60,000 per day usage	$43.8 million	$43.8 million	$43.8 million
Annual operating Expenses	Assume $0*	Assume $0*	$12.6 million
Excess remaining after expenses	Same $43.8 million	Same $43.8 million	$31.2 Million
Annual return to County for its transportation investment	3.3%*	2.4%*	56.8%
Annual expenses for energy, maintenance, operations, salaries of operators, facilities, etc. of light rail typically exceed the annual income from fare revenue. Obviously, even with zero* expense the annual return to the County is awful. As a good example, the Orange County BUS system currently has a budget of $122 million and only brings in fare revenues of $31.7 million (just 26% of costs is recovered). Surface light rail also means big $ for law suits every time a pedestrian is run over and killed. *Source: Orange County Register, September 13, 1998: "Urban Rail Project Chugging Ahead."*

Also Consider a Choice for Minimum Visual Pollution
Light rail cars use overhead contact wires to obtain electric power. These continuous power lines may be as high as 25 feet above the street.
Futuristic SkyTran vehicles operate at 20 feet in the air without the visual pollution of ugly tracks and vehicles on the ground itself. Don’t forget that with SkyTran there also is no need to buy and clear (destroy) 100 foot wide swaths of existing commercial buildings, homes and schools to install light rail tracks and stations.