Quote:
Originally Posted by montydawg
In the end, these technologies are risky for a city of Atlanta to implement on a large scale. How long will these transit vehicles last? What is the cost per mile? What repair costs will these vehicles incur over time? Will the manufacturer be around in 10 years to supply spare parts?
With so much tech involved in these vehicles, it is likely technology will be vastly different in 10 years, and I am not seeing these autonomous vehicles having the 25-40 year service live that transit agencies are currently getting out of vehicles. There are also a lot of mechanics involved to move around 10 or fewer people per vehicle. That means you will have 5 sets of motors/batteries/complicated electronics to move around the same number of people as one streetcar. That is a lot more to break and repair over the lifespan of the vehicle.
I believe when they run the numbers, the cost per mile and metrics on repair costs will be much lower on a high capacity transit vehicle than these devices which are essentially glorified minivans. I don’t want to think about the safety concerns for pedestrians with these vehicles either.
While the streetcar is very capital intensive initially, it is a very long term investment
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Good point! Let's see them run the numbers, I could basically ask almost identical questions for Beltline rail. Let's see the numbers and pros/cons of multiple options before dropping $1 billion plus into a legacy technology that won't be fully delivered in less than 10 years.
BTW, if anyone has ever done Risk Assessments - cost is a major factor in making decisions on risk. So without running the numbers you can't just guess the level of risk to the city.
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