Monorail for city centers?

[mkemp]

I was watching a WDW program on Nova last night and I thought (again) that Disney-type monorails might make excellent light-rail-ish people-moving mechanisms. Run the tracks down the center of the Interstates, that kind of thing (need to deal with overpasses, though)..

Thoughts?

[Zazu]

I was watching a WDW program on Nova last night and I thought (again) that Disney-type monorails might make excellent light-rail-ish people-moving mechanisms. Run the tracks down the center of the Interstates, that kind of thing (need to deal with overpasses, though)..

Thoughts?

Monorails (and other sorts of high-capacity trains) are best suited for inter-city travel, where you have large numbers of people traveling between common points. True, monorail technology comes in hand at the urban terminals, as it can be snaked in after-the-fact, but that doesn't make it a good tool for local circulation.

For that you want a "Personal Rapid Transit" or PRT design. Think of the PeopleMover cars, all running independently on a network under computer control. A lot of work has been put into this over the past thirty plus years (including a good deal of my own time), and I believe it's a technology waiting for a good demonstration project as proof-of-concept.

I also happen to believe that WDW would be an excellent site for same. And yeah, a small group of us did develop the math to back that up. Let me know when you're ready, Bob!

[darph nader]

If my alcohol soaked brain remembers correctly,ALWEG was gonna build mono rails through out LA on their dime and just charge ride-fare. Sadly everyone was addicted to their cars, so it fell through. :(

[TiggerHappy]

I recall seeing some sort of Discovery Channel program or whatever that said that Japan was looking into some sort of monorail or Peoplemover system for their cities. I can definitely see them working over there.

In fact, I do believe that Walt Disney implemented the monorail in hopes of promoting such transportation.

If my alcohol soaked brain remembers correctly,ALWEG was gonna build mono rails through out LA on their dime and just charge ride-fare. Sadly everyone was addicted to their cars, so it fell through. :(

Too bad they didn't go ahead with it anyhow. I'd be laughing at people in cars while riding in a city-sanctioned monorail or Peoplemover:

"How do you like your gas prices now, fools???" :twisted:

[WEDFan]

I would love to see more mass transportation. One of the things I really enjoy about my trips to WDW is NOT getting behind the wheel of a car. My commute is a couple of hours a day and I would much rather spend it on a train or bus, but the options don't work at all. Applying something like the Wedway People Mover technology (you'll never convince me that that's not the real name) would be really cool

[ktulu]

Tokyo does have a monorail or two, in addition to the massive rail system in place.

I am shortening my commute, my wife started her new job and I have to pick up my 5 year old from kindergarten, so I get to at least go home before traffic gets horrible :)

[Lasolimu]

Greetings mkemp, I am the resident dragon and would like to offer you a very warm* welcome to that slice of the internet we call SGT. This website contains threads with quick twists and turns and I would like to advise you to not try too hard to keep up with them. Please keep your hands, arms, and legs safely inside the website at all times and enjoy your stay.

*this instance of warm is actually hot**... very hot

**this instance of hot means that you are now literally on fire, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience

[WWWD]

Walt's design for the people mover was something that moved slightly faster than walking but was open-aired so people could talk to each other.

He felt that cars had messed up people just talking to each other while they walked places.

Of course, in the case of some people, that could be a good think if they don't talk to folks. Some people are just not fit company.

[Zazu]

Yes, Walt did intend that both the Disneyland Monorail and PeopleMover would serve as demonstration projects. That's one of the reasons why the Monorail route ties itself into knots -- to prove how flexible both train and guideway were. The PeopleMover was trouble enough just from the different elevations of the buildings it had to serve, but it too had a few knots out over the Autopia for the same reason.

The systems at WDW are simply practical applications of the technologies, and the PeopleMover was designed along with all the buildings it serves. (Which it kind of has to be, seeing as it's unsafe to have hills on a LIM system.)

[SnDMommy]

At risk of asking a question which might force me to become a SG, are there any (or were there ever) plans to expand the existing monorail to other areas/parks at WDW?