FtWorth - JPods TX

Key features of the JPods networks:

Cleaner, 100% solar-powered. Support walking and biking.
Faster. Non-stop from origin to destination is quicker that cars most of the time. 24x7 availability eliminates waiting for Mass Transit.
Safer. Grade-separated preempt crashes. Compliance with theme park standards requires a 3,000 times safety improvement. Preempt risks of crimes by not riding with strangers or waiting at bus stops.
Affordable. Equity provided by on-demand mobility regardless of age, ability, or wealth. No requirement to borrow $30,000 to buy a car.
No cost of deployment or operation carried by the tax payers. JPods networks are privately funded.
New source of revenue for governments from the 5% of gross transportation revenues paid for non-exclusive used of airspace over public Rights of Way.

Special features for very large events, such as the World Cup

Mass of vehicles is known. So explosives cannot be hidden by the mass of a truck.
Camera monitor risky situations.
Vehicles can be re-routed to a secure area if there is an appropriate cause for concern.
False-risk events cause those affected minimum unhappiness.
Sensor can monitor for dangerous substances.
Capacity can surge to accommodate extraordinary demand.

Features to for visitors:

Service in people's native own language:
- Your phone app and/or the on-board computer is your interface, in your own language.
- Phone and computer support is available in your own language.
Ability to pay through your phone in your own currency.
Eliminating risks of travel during celebrations from distraction or impairment.

Background

Commerce and Community are Pedestrian

Only 1.2% of land area in the 35 largest US cities are walkable land and generate 20% of GDP.

JPods grade-separated networks safety support walking and biking.

UnWalkable Cities

In 1972 the US, Sweden and Denmark had the same per person oil consumption and pedestrian safety record. Following the 1973 Oil Embargo:

US policies continue sprawl.
Sweden and Denmark changed highway-centric policies to focus on more walkable and bikeable streets. Per person oil consumption was cut to 60% below the US. Pedestrian and bike rider kill-rates were cut to 400% below US policies.

Building on the success of Morgantown PRT:

Create a walkable city. In the half century of operation, Morgantown's PRT cause zero reportable injuries. 2.4 million people are seriously injured on highways per year.

Grade-control of freight railroads allows them to achieve 470 ton-mpg efficiency. Grade-separation of JPods and other PRT networks enables approaching freight railroad efficiencies and achieve the 3,000 times better safety record of theme park thrill rides over highways.

History of the Morgantown PRT, Oct 24, 1972 from Bill James on Vimeo.

Congressional Study, Automated Guideway Transit, 1975

This study was published to identify solutions to the 1973 Oil Embargo. Finding were that government “institutional failures” blocked Automated Guideway Transit innovations for “four to six decades (aside from some relatively minor cosmetic changes)… Compared with many other areas of entrepreneurial endeavor, the environment for innovation in transportation should be favorable. Urban transportation needs are extensive… In retrospect, the new systems efforts have served not to stimulate interest in new technology but to discourage already reluctant local transit operators from considering it.”

"Proponents of PRT view this concept as a reasonable supplement to the private automobile in high density urban areas and claim that PRT can provide a very much higher level of service than other modes of public transportation. Thus, it is argued that PRT systems would attract a significant percentage of the rides now being made in private automobiles and offer obvious benefits:

less traffic congestion in urban areas.
less land and fewer facilities used for automobile storage. . reduced travel time under more comfortable Circumstance. . less noise and air pollution.
reduction in consumption of petroleum-derived fuels.
reduction in requirements for new arterial roads and urban freeways.

It is contended that PRT would provide greater mobility for the transportation disadvantaged, i.e., the young, the elderly, the poor, and the handicapped."

Attempts by New Jersey's Legislature to break these "institutional failures"

1. NJ Law 2004-A2031:

- "c. It is in the State’s economic interest to investigate new types of service which may improve the usefulness and integration of existing platforms, provide fast, inexpensive travel options, reduce capital costs of projects, and reduce pollution from motor vehicle travel. Personal Rapid Transit (hereinafter “PRT”) is one such technology currently being made available."

- "d. According to the Federal Transit Administration, average capital cost per two-way mile for heavy rail is $150 million, and for light rail is $70 million. For operating cost per passenger mile: heavy rail is $1.20, light rail is $1.80. However, PRT has the potential to cost 37 much less than heavy and light-rail applications, carry high capacity, be flexibly located, and require much less physical “footprint,” potentially reducing easement impact for currently scheduled projects. PRT studies have shown a capital cost of about one-tenth the cost of existing rail technology, with similarly low operating costs."

1. New Jersey Legislature Study by BAH 070515 Associated TRB slidedeck.

Vote by North Central Texas Coalition of Governments, breaking "institutional failures"

End of Affordable Oil

Without action, it seems the oil price crisis of 2008 will repeat by 2026:

1. 85% of 153 oil executives agreed with the Dallas Federal Reserve survey question: "Do you expect a significant tightening of the oil market by the end of 2024, given the current underinvestment in exploration?"

1. Cited comment: “Shale core exhaustion and inventory concerns are mainstream and well-documented issues. Shale will likely tip over in five years, and U.S. production will be down 20 to 30 percent quickly. When it does—this feels like watching the steam roller scene in Austin Powers. Oil prices in the late 2020s will be something to behold.”