People in India may soon be able to commute in futuristic pods
The worst book I had to read in college, Aramis: or the Love of Technology, was written partly from the point of view of a failed French public transit system involving pods that could carry one or several people to precise destinations. I've tried to block it out, but the memory came back because that model sounds similar to one some entrepreneurs are trying to implement in India (apparently they never read Aramis to learn that the transit system failed — that, or they learned from its mistakes).
That might seem crazily futuristic, but if Ollie Mikosza has his way, India's next big public transit system will involve "suspended, driverless pods," as Fast Company's Co.exist blog writes. Mikosza is the managing director of Metrino PRT (which stands for "personal rapid transit"), a company that has reportedly received clearance from the Indian government to build this public transit system on the congested 27-mile commuter route between Delhi and Manesar. Now they just need funding.
"It's a self-driving car, except it doesn't move on the general network of roadways, but on the dedicated, non-collision network of its own rail system," Mikosza told Co.exist. Metrino pods would be able to get commuters more precisely to their destinations by branching off from the main rail network.
Mikosza claims PRT systems can carry 10 times as many people as subways or light rails for the same construction and operating costs, and they'll even shine your shoes and Q-tip your ears en route! OK, fine. I was kidding about that last part.
Believe it or not, New Jersey was looking at implementing a PRT system last year, but construction of these JPods, as the system is known, has not begun "because of regulatory hurdles."
At any rate, a developing nation like India may be better positioned than the Garden State for the next big transit breakthrough. Mikosza says, "They have much less money to throw around than the U.S. or European countries, so they are probably going to jump a whole generation of technology, similarly to how they jumped over copper landlines straight to mobile phones."
Here's to hoping Mikosza has more success than Aramis.