Railroads have been the symbol of beginning of industrialization. As the civilizations developed innovations through decades have evolved to make commuting easier. From steam engines to electric cars and airplanes we have tried to solve the issues of reducing time taken to travel. The important factors which have contributed to the technology and design of a vehicle are speed, convenience, fuel and cost. Today we have realized the importance of efficiency with respect to fuel usage and the impact of transportation on our climate. Cities have grown into bustling centers and commuting to work has become an issue with growing population. There are different proposals for building the new transportation infrastructure. The first thing we need to do is prioritize what do we really want to solve?
Looking at “How do we commute today?”
Most of us drive or some carpool to work and many have long commutes; Very few use the public transit mostly who travel from longer distances to work leading to very few public commuting options in certain cities which still are not well connected.
In United States we have well defined roadway structure with interconnecting highways to connect the cities but there is a need to connect the internal cores of the cities in a more efficient way to reduce traffic congestions. We do have an ailing infrastructure which needs an upgrade to make it more efficient. Modernization of infrastructure plays an important role in simplifying and providing ease in usability. The ideal role for any technology development is to make everyone independent but at the same time making sure to be safe and eco friendly. Technology enhancements should be used for making transportation more efficient keeping in mind the need of people who have difficulty in commuting. Today various user friendly apps are available for schedule and navigation but much has to be explored for developing a sustainable transit.
Exploring new innovative models
Any transportation network depends on a regions topographic and other climatic considerations. An ideal model should include cities as clusters interconnected with a robust public transit which is frequent and well connected. In some cities an underground subway works better or an elevated path which is above the road level. We have concerns in California being an earthquake zone neither scenarios work. In our current systems we do have some flyovers and ground level transit zones. The challenge is how to make it better connected in cities where its not safe to either go above or below the road level.
Creating zones with rail systems connecting various intersections of the urban centers will reduce the traffic issues. There is a need for designing roadways for tomorrow to reduce city congestion which could be easily achieved in larger cities with missing connectivity. Finding safe solutions for commuting include expanding the city networks through sky-lifts avoiding the road traffic, possibility of accidents and saving commuting time. To make commuting safer automated electric cars or pods should be an option during late evening hours connecting the transit centers. We also need to take in account how could we maximize the efficiency in land travel with respect to the air and how safe would it be?
For local power generation integrating solar with our transit network is a better use of the dead assets for a distributed grid than encroaching remote lands usable for any future developments. It has been a concern for people to think maintenance of solar panels at heights to be difficult which may not be a sensible justification if we take into account the maintenance of skyscrapers in every city. We could also utilize the transit zones as green belts.
Designing a Resilient System
The transit network today is not planned considering any emergency requirements incase of any disaster. We have repeatedly seen the complete system shut down in emergency situations which leaves people stranded for long. Many cities like Boston and New York where people are used to public commuting have seen such situations which makes it inconvenient for them to completely rely on public transportation.
Planning the system with consideration of power and reliability is very important. Regulating new standards for systems and processes which includes a distributed grid for providing power to the complete public transit will play an important role in case of any power failures. We have miles of rail tracks and station roofs that are still not utilized for solar installations. I find it hard to believe when someone would debate on maintenance of solar along the tracks since we do keep maintaining even the rail tracks throughout the system frequently. Hopefully we could soon find out a way to integrate renewables at least for some parts to test for future mass adoption for larger projects.
- Rush-hour delays
- Public transportation connectivity and frequency
- Driving distances and costs of commuting
- Transit Safety, retrofitting or redevelopment
Looking at “How do we commute today?”
Most of us drive or some carpool to work and many have long commutes; Very few use the public transit mostly who travel from longer distances to work leading to very few public commuting options in certain cities which still are not well connected.
In United States we have well defined roadway structure with interconnecting highways to connect the cities but there is a need to connect the internal cores of the cities in a more efficient way to reduce traffic congestions. We do have an ailing infrastructure which needs an upgrade to make it more efficient. Modernization of infrastructure plays an important role in simplifying and providing ease in usability. The ideal role for any technology development is to make everyone independent but at the same time making sure to be safe and eco friendly. Technology enhancements should be used for making transportation more efficient keeping in mind the need of people who have difficulty in commuting. Today various user friendly apps are available for schedule and navigation but much has to be explored for developing a sustainable transit.
Exploring new innovative models
Any transportation network depends on a regions topographic and other climatic considerations. An ideal model should include cities as clusters interconnected with a robust public transit which is frequent and well connected. In some cities an underground subway works better or an elevated path which is above the road level. We have concerns in California being an earthquake zone neither scenarios work. In our current systems we do have some flyovers and ground level transit zones. The challenge is how to make it better connected in cities where its not safe to either go above or below the road level.
Creating zones with rail systems connecting various intersections of the urban centers will reduce the traffic issues. There is a need for designing roadways for tomorrow to reduce city congestion which could be easily achieved in larger cities with missing connectivity. Finding safe solutions for commuting include expanding the city networks through sky-lifts avoiding the road traffic, possibility of accidents and saving commuting time. To make commuting safer automated electric cars or pods should be an option during late evening hours connecting the transit centers. We also need to take in account how could we maximize the efficiency in land travel with respect to the air and how safe would it be?
For local power generation integrating solar with our transit network is a better use of the dead assets for a distributed grid than encroaching remote lands usable for any future developments. It has been a concern for people to think maintenance of solar panels at heights to be difficult which may not be a sensible justification if we take into account the maintenance of skyscrapers in every city. We could also utilize the transit zones as green belts.
Designing a Resilient System
The transit network today is not planned considering any emergency requirements incase of any disaster. We have repeatedly seen the complete system shut down in emergency situations which leaves people stranded for long. Many cities like Boston and New York where people are used to public commuting have seen such situations which makes it inconvenient for them to completely rely on public transportation.
Planning the system with consideration of power and reliability is very important. Regulating new standards for systems and processes which includes a distributed grid for providing power to the complete public transit will play an important role in case of any power failures. We have miles of rail tracks and station roofs that are still not utilized for solar installations. I find it hard to believe when someone would debate on maintenance of solar along the tracks since we do keep maintaining even the rail tracks throughout the system frequently. Hopefully we could soon find out a way to integrate renewables at least for some parts to test for future mass adoption for larger projects.