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0 pointspaulsutter7y ago0 comments

The Boring Company is planning multipassenger pods, you'll learn more next week. Capacity planning would be more similar to elevators than subway stations. Stations would be in the building basement levels.

Those hardwired safety mechanisms certainly work, but are primarily needed to overcome human error. We're all willing to fly on planes with autopilot, and self-driving vehicles in tunnels will be safer.

Elon is talking about building 30 or more levels in dense cities. A guy who lands rocket boosters for reuse has certainly thought through the details of an underground transportation system.

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jakecopp7y ago· 3 in thread

You can't just appeal to Elon Musk assuming he knows all and has figured this out.

Have you ever travelled beyond the US and seen an international subway system? I haven't travelled much but there are some amazing systems out there. Japan had 130mph bullet trains in 1964, can you believe that? They're maxing out at 375mph with levitating trains now, and they actually exist unlike Elon's ideas. Why do you give ideas more credit then something that already exist and work brilliantly?

Last year Japan Rail issued an apology because one of their trains left a station 20 seconds early [1].

Even in my town of Sydney, with huge suburban sprawl, we have beautiful, quiet, air conditioned, double decker trains that go to most suburbs and cost $1.50 to $4.

The future has already arrived, the US just doesn't have it yet.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-17/japan-train-apolog...

dashundchen7y ago

New Yorkers don't have to cross an ocean to see good transit. Even closer to New York at just a day's train ride, the third busiest North American transit system is Montreal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro

I was recently there to visit - the metro is beautifully efficient, on-time, clean, and frequent. Trains every 4 minutes during work hours like clockwork. Connected to an extensive underground pedestrian network downtown, and frequent bus service outside of the core (even on Sundays).

And an unlimited weekend pass valid on both the bus and metro was only ~13 USD.

paulsutterOP7y ago

Yes I lived in Japan for a few years and love the transportation system there. The shinkansen is wonderful, but the hyperloop will be substantially faster in door to door time, because hyperloop cars will also transit the local loop system.

Most transportation systems are not designed to optimize door to door time. Even by express train, it's a long trip from Narita airport to Tokyo.

shanghaiaway7y ago

The hyperloop won't do anything because it will never exist.

The distance between Tokyo and Narita Airport is the same regardless of mode of transportation.

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otabdeveloper27y ago

> A guy who lands rocket boosters for reuse has certainly thought through the details of an underground transportation system.

Landing rocket boosters is about a thousand times easier than underground transportation.

Reusable booster tech has existed since the 1960's. It wasn't developed further for two reasons:

a) It's massively wasteful because you have to carry the fuel for the return trip.

b) The boosters need to be refurbished afterwards anyways, which is actually more expensive than building a new rocket. (More ways to screw up and less leeway for economies of scale and standardization.)

As far as I know, Musk hasn't solved these problems and isn't even planning to.

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