Marvin Long, Jr. wrote:
The only way you'll get people in this country to take mass transit is to force them and I don't think that's likely to happen in the near future. So we will continue to have single parties drive vehicles designed to transport 4 or more people and a fair amount of cargo, taking up several times the space an efficient vehicle would use and consuming far more energy than is necessary. Then, to support this system, we build ever larger roads and highways that never seem to be quite large enough to accommodate peak traffic. Mass transit systems aren't well supported by the people, and in any case don't reach most of them and still require some intermediate form of transportation; shuttle, bus, bike or car. In addition you have a problem with cargo while using mass transit as well.
Maybe...I've nothing against the technology itself. But is a $5000 tool
that will move one and only one person at a slow (but fast enough to
endanger pedestrians) speed with only a tiny bit of cargo an efficient use
of that technology? The ultra-individualistic application inherent in the
Segway seems to me to mirror the inefficiencies of the automobile
(compared to well-designed mass transit) rather than to alleviate them. Time will tell, I suppose.
So I see in the Segway and (hopefully) its descendants a means to move towards a smaller, more efficient means of transportation. Obviously the scope if this first iteration is limited, but its a start, a new idea, and I hope it's successful.
Doug
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
