Background of the SkyTran Invention
Malewicki's low cost, lightweight, high speed, SkyTran personal/mass transportation system concept was first conceived in a flash in 1990 Doug's company - AeroVisions, Inc. - was founded in 1974 and incorporated in 1980 for the purpose of developing, promoting and commercializing Douglas Malewicki's numerous inventions, many of which can be reviewed on his www.CanoSOARus.com Web site. The potential economic importance of this integrated transportation concept became even more apparent after scrutiny for technical fallacies. All subsequent structural, aerodynamic, performance and costs analysis merely continually affirmed the conclusions. After further consultations with software expert, Frank Baker, additional innovations specific to the transportation field became apparent. Shortly thereafter, the two filed for a USA utility patent. The concept was granted USA Patent #5,108,052 in 1992. In the ensuing years, the SkyTran system has gained continually increasing support from the scientific community, has appeared in mainstream periodicals, been presented at technical conventions, and thanks to the Internet has received interest in transportation circles all over the world. The time is ripe for the public to fully comprehend and support the superior commuting and economic advantages of a monorail SkyTran system.A 1960's precursor to the SkyTran concept called PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) has lain dormant for a considerable time while awaiting low cost, powerful computers. In just the last few years, a quiet resurgence in the PRT industry has occurred, led by both government and private parties. There are currently over a dozen PRT systems being considered in the United States in spite of the fact that they are slow (on the order of 35 to 45 mph) and their track costs per mile is 6 to 10 times that of SkyTran.
We should also note that even though Americans only think of Disneyland when the word monorail comes up, that several hundred successful monorail systems are currently used daily all over the world. In over a century of operation with billions of passenger miles accumulated, there has only been one documented Monorail fatality (see data available at the informative www.monorails.org Web site) .
By comparison in the USA, automobiles kill an average of 15 people for each billion vehicle miles traveled (42,000 annually). The implication is that if all surface traffic in the USA was replaced with three-dimensional monorail systems that the USA death rate would drop from 42,000 to 933 per year!The main reason for this reduction comes right from current statistics that tell us that 70% of all collisions occur at surface street intersections. Air bags and sophisticated automobile collapsing structures are sad, expensive attempts to solve the inherent symptoms of a two dimensional surface street transportation system. Up above, in the SkyTran three dimensional suspended monorail guideway world there just is no cross traffic, pedestrians, children, animals, rain, ice or road debris to cause collisions in the first place. Trapping the vehicle to the guideway, also means derailments as a source of fatalities is simply impossible. It is much better to eliminate the "problem" than to spend millions and millions trying to solve the resulting "symptoms" of the "problem".
Skytran Competition — Strengths And Weaknesses |
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Type |
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
Benefits of SkyTran™ |
Personal Auto | On-demand, private. | Congestion frustrations, land consumption, ownership costs, pollution, driver must stay fully focused, inefficient use of 3,000 pounds of material. | On-demand, private, one can relax while commuting, very fast non-stop travel, no parking costs, and no pollution. |
Trains | Late 1800's — was best way to travel long distances. Made obsolete by airlines. | Heavy, land usage, expensive, slow average speeds, on a schedule, stops at every station. | More capacity per hour, on-demand, much faster commuting times due to non-stop travel. |
High Speed Trains | 160 plus mph trains are for inter-city travel. Not considered for daily commuting. | Big and heavy, large land usage, very expensive, on a schedule. | Once you have a citywide 3D grid and don't have to first travel to a high speed station, a 100 mph SkyTran will get you there faster. |
Light Rail | Formerly successful 1940's technology specifically created to reduce commuting times. | Expensive, land usage, stops at every station, slow average speeds, always tax subsidized. | Profitable, much higher capacities per dollar invested, very fast non-stop travel. |
Buses | Uses existing road infrastructure. | Very slow average speeds, always tax subsidized. | Profitable, very fast, on-demand, non-stop travel. |
Monorails | Safest travel (only 1 death in the last century), can't derail, above ground. | In America — unfortunately associated as practical only in amusement parks. | On-demand, private, much faster due to non-stop nature of travel. |
MagLev Monorails | 200 mph plus speeds, can't derail, no track contact -therefore no wear. Not considered for daily commuting. | Very expensive, large, must travel to a major station, must wait for scheduled departure. | Far lower cost per mile. On a 50 mile commute a 100 mph non-stop SkyTran beats a 200 mph MagLev that has to make 6 four minute stops. |
People Movers | Automated. | Very slow, therefore practical range is short. | Also automated, but very fast, on-demand, private. |
PRT — Personal Rapid Transit | 60's technology finally coming into use, automated, on-demand, non-stop service. | Cost per mile of track is still $6 to $10 million and boldly defining 35 to 45 mph as RAPID. | Similar advantages but lower costs and 100-mph non-stop travel speeds. |
Airplanes | Champion for minimum travel time for long distances. Not considered for daily commuting. | Must first travel to airport, check in, wait for scheduled departure (1 to 2 hrs minimum — spent not flying). | With complete 3D SkyTran grids in both cities, then comparable or faster door-to-door travel times for all flights less than 500 miles. |
Bicycles | Low capital and operation costs, on-demand, healthy. | Very low cruise speed, limited practical range, sweat. | Very fast, no sweat. |
Walking | On-demand, healthy, lowest cost. | 3 mph speed and max probable 1 mile commuting range. | None — if you are commuting less than 1 mile. |