Quote:
Originally Posted by makr3trkr
When automation arrives in the form of self driving electric vehicles (and it will arrive, sooner, rather than later) mass transit will seem like a quaint, obsolete idea of the past.
That said, freeway infrastructure like the viaducts will be obsolete as well when vehicles can communicate with each other and pilot busy intersections efficiently and potentially without stopping.
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Such a belief reflects a wilful disregard for the simple geometry and space availability of our road network. Transit in general, and rail mass transit in particular, is simply the most space-efficient way of moving people and the cores and major corridors of cities are long past the point of being functional in the absence of transit service. Run the automated cars bumper to bumper and you still won't move people as efficiently as mass transit.
I fully agree that a point will come when automated personal and shared vehicles will be the norm, and I eagerly await it, but it's simply incorrect to believe that they will replace public transit as a mode of transport. At least that's my opinion.
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