Commuting in the future
Skytran is an evolving concept aiming to lift public transport off the ground and eliminate city traffic
Cities are densely populated regions teeming with activity, home to a vast variety of job opportunities. But when an area becomes popular with people, packed streets and laborious commutes are never far behind. If you’ve ever found yourself becoming agitated stuck in a standstill queue of vehicles between you and your destination, the idea of flying above it might sound ideal.
This is the intention behind skytran. First envisioned in 1990 by American aerospace engineer Douglas Malewicki, the concept has since developed, bringing it closer to reality today. As the problem of traffic escalates in cities around the world, personal rapid-transit systems are becoming more valuable as a solution to reduce travel times in urban areas. Small, electrically powered pods are designed to attach to a network of elevated rails. While moving at high speeds, these vehicles won’t need to stop for other passengers to board or depart. Over busy streets, they’ll travel at speeds of 50 miles per hour, and between cities this can increase to over 200 miles per hour.
Buses, trains and other forms of public transport can be uncomfortable and stressful places, and can become stuffy and cramped at the busiest travel times. However, skytran commutes could whisk you through the air in your own personal pod. Installed with artificial intelligence, each pod travels at the same speed, only slowing to a stop when entering the lower line at the destination point.
For the system to work, these towering lines will need to cover large urban areas with a network of pathways. When the passenger selects their desired location, the automated vehicle should effortlessly cross onto new lines without slowing down other travellers.