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Columbia Point could see invasion of the people pods
By adamg on Wed, 06/19/2013 - 2:57pm
The Dorchester Reporter reports a local company is looking at the possibility of setting up a mass-transit system on Columbia Point that would use tiny pods on a monorail-like structure to whisk people along Mt. Vernon Street.
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Comments
Expo Boston '76
http://www.mascontext.com/issues/18-improbable-sum...
Sounds like the secondary transportation system proposed for the Expo Boston '76. Proposed for almost the exact same location forty years ago
GREAT IDEA
It would be good for the university and the Kennedy Library
Yes
Please, please, please, let's get this for the whole city.
the whole city
No thank you!
In use at Heathrow Airport
If you go to YouTube and search ultraprt you will find videos of this pod system working at Heathrow Airport. BRILLIANT!!
I want nothing to do with any
I want nothing to do with any technology that has "proven" itself at an airport.
The point of airports is to spend billions of dollars on buildings that move a few tenthousands of people per day. (Buy hey, we'll throw in some waterless urinals and call the whole thing "green".)
Mono means "one". And rail means "rail".
I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum, it put them on the map!
Heh-heh, mule.
There's a line in there just for Boston though:
What about us braindead slobs?
You'll be given cushy jobs.
Is there a chance the track
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life
my Hindu friend!
I bet those pods will smell
I bet those pods will smell super after a few weeks.
I hope it works better than the Wellington T tramway
That only lasted a few years before it was ripped out and replaced by a really long pedestrian bridge. (Which really should have had moving sidewalks installed.)
How many people do these things hold?
Can you imagine how gross these "pods" would become after being in use a while, and after every homeless person around uses them for a urinal?
Pod people
They've been pitching these things all over. Trying to get Hull to get on board. There were attempts in Minneapolis. They wanted to run one over the Greenway connecting South Station to North Station - which actually made sorta sense in terms of a touristy thing to do and maybe speed up some folks' connection between No and So Stations.
But honestly, we already have the most diverse transportation system in the country which is a bitch for maintenance. Do we need yet another different system in the mix? It's like having betamax, VHS tapes, DVDs and a reel-to-reel all in your media room. Kitschy, but is it any way to run a railroad?
seems nutty
both their website and jpod's websites are awful. plus - I don't care about "peak oil" or "space for bicycling" - the main benefits of this system are the small footprint, the fact that it's "on demand," and that it can potentially fill gaps in underserved areas of the city. I also want to know more about how it would be completely privately funded... seems sketchy at best.
might be a great idea, but they really need to up their marketing game. right now it looks really nutty. plus suspended system looks very problematic because if it breaks down you're stuck up there - street level would be a better sell.
didn't the medialab come up with a car-share system? maybe if it were driverless?
This mass-transit system idea
This mass-transit system idea would be stupid as hell and a waste of money for Mt. Vernon street. What that company needs to do is instead of setting up these "pods" they should contact the City of Boston and use all the funds to freshly pave the whole strip! Damn potholes all around.