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The ‘Old Eyes’ have It … Unfortunately |
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Voice in the Cheap Seats
By Charles Tarlow
For most of us, the older we get, the more we are set in our ways and the more we tend to view the world as we have always seen it ... through our “old eyes”.
My Mom, for example, is 97 years old. When she wants to know what is on television, she looks in the newspaper. It does not matter that there is an online TV guide one remote control pushbutton away. It does not matter that the newspaper does not have all the channels. The newspaper is what she knows; the newspaper is what she is comfortable with; and the newspaper is what she will use regardless of whether it is the best choice or not.
We all are more comfortable with what we know. The result is an undesirable lag between discovery and implementation of new ideas and technologies. Even as new technologies prove their worth, the mainstream is reluctant to embrace the change. The benefits of new ideas and better ways to get things done are often slow to be realized.
Los Angeles is challenged to resolve our congestion crisis. We have embarked on a long costly old road that leads us to a predictable solution: buses and trains. There were opportunities along the way, crossroads if you will, that gave us the option of taking another direction, but “old eyes” could only see what they have always seen. Machines that stop at every station, let people off and on at every station, and push tons of steel around a track whether they are empty or full. High cost of purchase, high cost of operation, high cost of maintenance, and only effective in concert with a traditional stop and start bus system.
There is a better way. All we need is the vision and courage to change our direction.
Mass Transportation. We need it. We need it now. But what we don't need is “old eyes” to see subways, buses, and taxis when we think about transportation. Times have changed. Technologies have evolved. Subways, buses, and taxis are “yesterday”. “Personal computer controlled Rapid Transit” is today and tomorrow.
I invite you to look into the future and imagine Los Angeles with Personal Rapid Transit, an above ground rapid transit system that would free us from the car, bus, and subway.
Non stop transportation to anywhere within the system. Pathways with solar panels to supplement the cost of operation. A system far and away more cost effective than subways, not to mention faster and more convenient.
A PRT system could add more cars during peak times and operate with fewer cars during off hours. Instead of waiting for a cab, or a bus or a subway train, cars will be waiting for you at every station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is a system like nothing you've seen with your “old eyes”, but it is a system that is available today, in service today, and a possible reality for Los Angeles ... if we have the vision to see it and the courage to embrace it.
If a system like this sounds exciting to you, just wait until you see it. Look at some of the systems available.
Cheaper than a subway, we can use existing rights of way, and we can build it a piece at a time. When we have two pieces, one interconnecting route and all stations will have access to all other stations ... NON STOP!
I get excited just telling you about it.
So here we are on the road to mass transit. We are at yet another crossroad. Let's take the right road this time. Personal Rapid Transit is faster, safer, cheaper, and more flexible than any subway.
What is stopping us? Only our “old eyes”.
Go to your PC and search on “Personal Rapid Transit”. Check out the possibilities. Here are a few:
http://www.personalrapidtransit.com
http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/prt.html
http://youtube.com/watch?v=B7hgipbHBK8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N9tAXdFOhzM&feature=related
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