Get on the Botsi, public personal transit pt I
October 19th, 2009If you want to design the perfect transit system, try riding the bus for a few years. Then rethink what perfect is. Most mass transit systems and vehicles are designed by people who never use them, for people on the bottom of the Economic totem pole. When you ride a bus system where design goals place greater value on urine-resistant seat fabric than on human happiness, set your expectations low and go down from there.
I’ve been riding the bus for 11 years. I’ll save you the time by summarizing what’s bad about bus transit, some no longer the case for Silicon Valley’s VTA.
- Vehicles are noisy, the ride uncomfortable, crowded at peak times and sometimes valley times.
- Frequent Stops.
- Sometimes a long wait because stop is a scheduled stop.
- Uncomfortable, exposed, difficult-to-reach stops. Stops that are unsafe at night or in unsafe neighborhoods. El Camino Real is a 6 lane throughfare, old people struggle to cross the street in the time given them.
- Knowing where you are, what stops are coming, especially at night. VTA has a digital sign system and automated voice announcements that solved this nicely.
- Old buses with hydraulic platforms to haul wheelchairs up and down, awkward and dangerous. VTA’s newer buses are kneeling and don’t have steps, but still has old 3-steps.
The system works, and have worked, by-and-large for years. There are designers who do ride the bus and put in great creativity improving the rider’s experience. There are systemic changes driving this change of heart. Communities are battling congested highways, pollution and seeking sustainable means of transportation; the ridership is changing, now professionals are commuting by bus. Callousness is now being replaced by mass transit love.
But no matter what, there is not a single bus system that will compete with what’s coming.
I will share with you a vision for a Public, Personal Transit system centered around unmanned, robotic vehicles. There is research going on for this, and in small scale, pilot systems already running. It has many names, but my name for this is Botsi.
Botsi is short for Robot Taxi. Robotic vehicles that will safely and comfortably transport you from point to point, from as close to your door to your destination’s door as possible.
More details in Part 2. http://ajaxofalltrades.com/sustain/community/get-on-the-botsi-public-personal-transit-pt-ii/
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