Rapid Transit, The American Way – Part II
from the keep-your-cars,-dammit dept
Okay, so back in March we had an article about a public transportation system called RUF – for Rapid, Urban, Flexible, whereby you would drive your electric car around for local destinations, but when you needed to travel over longer distances, your car would hook into a train of other cars. This way you get the best of both worlds… Sounds good, right? Except that you have to buy one of those dinky electric vehicles and get rid of your gas guzzling SUV. So, now, some folks in Virginia have taken that Danish plan and improved on it, in a more American-acceptable fashion. Go ahead, keep your own cars, they say. But, when it’s time to travel long distances, you just drive it into a pod, which will then zip you off to your destination of choice. This project is called Personal Electric Rapid Transit System (PERTS) and it even goes faster than that wimpy RUF stuff. They even say it will be cheaper than a highway system. Not everyone agrees that it’s such a good idea, but anything that gets rid of ridiculous drivers on a long commute sounds good to me.
