CyberTran: How to break the chicken/egg deadlock

Time for the feds to step in 7

My previous post about CyberTran described a mass transit system that is highly energy efficient compared to conventional transit, and is inexpensive enough, and supports small stations well enough, to work in suburbs as well as cities.

Some readers were disappointed to find that CyberTran is not currently running anywhere -- that it is still experimental.

Well, it is disappointing. CyberTran was invented around 20 years ago. It has been alpha tested every imaginable way. They had a fully functioning prototype people could ride down in Alameda for two years. They had quarter-scale models running for years before that. They have run simulations for decades. Nothing is left but the beta test. A functioning, real-world CyberTran system really is the next step.

And it is not like CyberTran systems aren't available for sale right now. CyberTran has made all sorts of proposals to various municipalities where they (rather than the city) would take most of the risk. But, perhaps understandably, no municipal government wants to take any risk of this size. If it fails, it is a major scandal; they risk a humiliating defeat in a future election.

This is a classic case for a one-time grant of federal funds. The potential energy savings are enormous -- and the cost for a 60 mile system (say, six lines averaging ten miles each) would be about the same as two F-22s.

Gar Lipow, a long time environmental activist and journalist with a strong technical background has spent years immersed in the subject of efficiency and renewable energy. He has written extensively on the economics of solving the global warming, and why pricing externalities (though important) cannot be the main driver of such solutions.

His on-line reference book compiling information on technology available today, “No Hair Shirt Solutions to Global Warming”, is available at http://www.nohairshirts.com.

His articles on the economics and politics of solving the climate crisis have been published in Z magazine and a number of small journals.

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  1. GRLCowan's avatar

    GRLCowan Posted 10:15 am
    15 Nov 2006

    The pitch would be well directed ...to a federal, state, or municipal government that did not rely for several percent of its income on consumption taxes on petroleum-derived motor fuels.
    --- G. R. L. Cowan, former hydrogen fan

    Burn boron in pure oxygen for vehicle power

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  2. David Roberts's avatar

    David Roberts Posted 12:17 pm
    15 Nov 2006

    For what it's worth, Gar,I asked Terry Tamminen today if he'd heard of CyberTran. He said no, so I sent him a link to your first post after our interview. Who knows, maybe it will capture his fancy.

    www.grist.org

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  3. JimM Posted 1:01 pm
    15 Nov 2006

    What about Universities?Have systems of this sort been properly pitched to the nation's large northern universities for use on their own campuses?  Why have they not been adopted there?  If anyone is getting grant money at this point, one would think that instead of using it to reinvent the PRT, they could instead use it to implement one.  

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  4. Gar Lipow's avatar

    Gar Lipow Posted 3:53 pm
    15 Nov 2006

    variousJimM
    The problem is that universities would likely only need circulators - such as are already used in airports. The CyberTran quarter mile test bed that ran for two years was a circulator. If the early adapter is to convince others to adapt it, it needs to have several lines, and run through an area with significant retail, residential or commercial activity.
    David Roberts: Wow! Thanks.

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  5. Whiskerfish Posted 4:40 pm
    15 Nov 2006

    Look South to Cape Town...The CyberTran folks need to pitch in Cape Town, currently pondering spending hundreds of millions on public transport for the World Cup (soccer 2010). I can arrange media buzz and access to politicians if someone is seriously keen...
    Whiskerfish in Africa

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  6. Gar Lipow's avatar

    Gar Lipow Posted 8:17 am
    16 Nov 2006

    Cape TownI don't work for CyberTran, so have no influence with them. But email me offline, and I'll give you their phone number and email.

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  7. Gar Lipow's avatar

    Gar Lipow Posted 9:21 am
    16 Nov 2006

    Oh andSince my email is public in any case you can write me at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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