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illlustrates entry and exit lanes of a tube running next to a highway, not
relative vehicle size.| You hop on your bike. In 3 minutes you arrive
at the designated apartment in a neighboring residential complex. After
inserting your card into the door slot, it opens. You roll your bike inside
and store it with the others. About 20 carts are still hanging from
the walls. A winch squeals as you pull one down with little effort.
You grab the handle, and the side wheel set of the cart touches the floor.
You roll it over to an electric connector for testing, and the power wheels
whine up briefly, they are not touching the ground. You pull the exposed
section of the brake cable, it is tight, as is the reserve brake. You stand
in line for a few seconds, there are four departing riders in front of you
just getting into their carts. You wheel the cart, still on its side, up
a little slope. After you arrive at the black carpeted section you let the
cart down on all wheels, pull open the plexiglas hood, and seat yourself
rapidly leaving the hood half open. The cart rolls down the carpet
on its wheels, and the sides of the carpeted section narrow,
steering you toward an embedded rail set. You reach outside toward some
protruding metal handles should the auto transition from the carpet to the
rail get stuck. If it had, you could easily have pushed or pulled the cart
sideways to align the front-end with the embedded rails. The front wheels
click into the rails, and you watch the rear wheels, still with your hands
outside should you need them. But the rear wheels also transfer with a satisfying
"clack" onto the rails. The vibration of the rough carpet stops, and
the power light on your instrument board turns green. You close the
hood. You are rolling inside a Plexiglas tube over the lawn of the apartment complex. You follow the binding membership instructions and push the accelerator to reach about 30 mph. The tube rises and you look down on the neighborhood. You are running just higher than the top of the telephone poles. You comply with the next sign to accelerate to 60 mph. Because there are no intersection waits until you reach the highway, the run to the main tube lasts only seconds. Your behavior is recorded by $ 15 videocams embedded in the tube. A red light, and you can see in the distance the rear end of one of a number of waiting carts. The LED shows two numerals: 15 carts are waiting to join the main line, a countdown shows 17 seconds are remaining. You brake and gently touch the cart in front of you per standardized procedure, to minimize horizontal space. The gel/foam portion on both carts deforms just slightly, the driver in front of you is a female on her cell phone. You have no worries about her reacting to the upcoming green light. If she misses it by more than 2 seconds she will receive a warning, and after further violations will be excluded from the system for a month. The light turns green. The gate at the front section of the cart group opens. All drivers depress their pedals to full speed, and lights in the tunnel flicker slightly from the sudden demand load. You and the others move as one unit, in the space of 10 seconds onto the main grid. You trained for this procedure many times, because rapid merging is critical in a system without passing. All the engines whine loudly, and your cart feels warmer from the heat produced by the motor. You look down. At 9: 15 am the highway below you is clogged, and driving is stop and go. You rush through holes in highway signs. Each time you speed through overpasses, the tube above you comes close to the top of your cart. The carts have now spread out more, and you are already almost downtown, time to take your exit. Outside of your window runs a thin touchbar, 300 yards long. You and others touch this bar intending to exit, as you are riding. The system tracks the number and order of the carts and the sequence of touching, and rapidly moves a rail switch as your cart approaches the intersection. You brace yourself for the side impact, rollers touch your cart from the outside to counteract any possibility of derailing. Behind you, a loud snapping and hydraulic hissing as the intersection turns straight again for the next rider. You follow the speed signs and drive straight into the shopping center near your law firm. You release the safety latch of the hood. The cart bumps from rail onto carpet. Signs flash in loud colors "Get off and store your cart quickly". You click the hood open, jump out while bending your knees: the ground is moving below you. A conveyor is moving you and your cart away from the exit of the tube to make place for new arrivals. You go down on your knees and lift the cart up at its side handle. You rush to wheel it off the moving carpet and walk toward the wall. As nearby cart storage spaces already have been taken, you roll it to the back of the room to the stacking tower, and simply wheel your cart into the empty bottom slot, and press "up". A grinding noise as your cart is pulled up and the next empty slot comes into view. You check that the video camera lights are on green, so that your proper handling and storage of the cart has been documented. You place your card into the exit door slot, and leave the station. It will be another 20 minutes until automobile commuters from your neighborhood will reach this area. |