Well ain't that something

Long-distance/intercity buses suck. Nothing here to change my mind

If only we had high-speed rail to provide an alternative to some of the fights between certain city pairs (Los Angeles - Bay Area is one of the busiest air corridors) and provide connectivity to small and medium-sized cities.

I'd LOVE the ability to book a bus from the airport. The idea sounds like partially a marketing redo, but it also fills a transportation need at a reasonable price.

Intercity buses can be grimy, but that's not inherent. They're simply the only way you can get between most cities without a car or a plane ticket. Make them more popular and you immediately dilute the problem.

I took Greyhounds in a big US circle decades ago, then a Greyhound once maybe five years ago and a Bolt around the same time. No problems and both very quick.

Metrolink is First Passenger Rail Agency in the Nation Powered by Renewable Fuel

https://metrolinktrains.com/news/met...enewable-fuel/




https://content.presspage.com/upload...3205.jpg?10000

Switzerland Moves Ahead With Underground Autonomous Cargo Delivery

https://spectrum.ieee.org/cargo-sous-terrain



• Video Link




https://spectrum.ieee.org/media-libr...200&height=807

Of course.

Canada might be getting a 1,000 kph vacuum-tube train

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/f...oop/index.html




https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/q_...2-transpod.jpg

I see someone's trying to get Canadian politicians interested in a boondoggle instead of just going for that actually working technology that is HSR?

Always pregnant with the future. I guess Canada is inflicted with that too.

A new rapid transit hovercraft service coming to Niagara Region and Toronto in summer 2023

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...812095312.html

That's insane...and wonderful!:yes:

The engineering involved in an HSR track


• Video Link

Not sure what underground battery operated forklift highways with a whopping max speed of 18 miles per hour but cost eleventy-gazillion dollars to build using TBM's offer. Eventually there will autonomous electric trucks that can operate on conventional highways which will make the whole idea unnecessary. What the trucks can't do, hmm, do the Swiss have trains ? /s

I think this actually a good idea.

Where some family lives, in College Station, TX, the regional airport (Easterwood) has expensive and low frequency puddle jumper flights to DFW and IAH. It's about 90 miles from Houston and 75 miles from George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). I've flown from Easterwood to DFW before plane(usually a prop plane like an ATR or Saab) never even gets above the clouds, you literally take off and then land. College Station, because of Texas A&M, has an above average amount of travel demand for flying. In the past, there were passenger trains(hence the name) but nothing has ever gotten very far in reviving them.

So what you see in CS that you don't see elsewhere are a couple local companies that run sort of upscale Sprinter vans down to the airport in Houston. The biggest one is called Ground Shuttle. They have a "terminal" building and a private park and ride facility in College Station and you see their vans on highway 6 going back and forth constantly.

Suppose an airline like American or JetBlue or Spirit branded some buses and had a kind of virtual airport terminal in cities like College Station where you could go through TSA and check your bags and everything. Then the bus would run to the actual airport, and go directly to the terminal to a special bus station that is essentially just another gate, past security and everything. Your checked bags get unloaded by the bus by a crew and get hauled over to the plane by a crew just like if you were on a connecting flight.

Tangential, I read an article about how in China, they have what they call trackless train stations for high speed rail. In places that the lines miss, they have a whole terminal but you get on a bus to take you to a hub. Same concept.

holy mackeral singapore changi airport, already the nicest major airport, is about to build a new terminal 5, which will be as big as terminals 1-4 combined and which will also not be in isolation, but an extension of the city state:


more:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/s...cmd/index.html

hmm … it flew for 8 minutes:


Alice, the first all-electric passenger airplane, takes flight

By Jennifer Korn, CNN Business
Published 7:01 PM EDT, Tue September 27, 2022



more:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/tech/...ght/index.html

I think this'd cost to much. The whole TSA & bag check-in etc, that is.
Having a nice bus that goes, in this case, DT College Station - University - Airport - DT Houston, that would be real nice probably. Especially if it was run in cooperation with the airlines at the airport so you could book the whole trip in one go as one ticket.

yeah its a great idea, can you imagine? very user friendly, but even if there was an available terminal gate area to do it the airport tsa security is the expensive bottleneck.

outside of a direct terminal linkup, why not if its feasible? the more busses you can take to an airport the better.

Terawatt plans electric truck charging stations from LA to El Paso

By Joseph White
Reuters
Oct. 20, 2020

"DETROIT, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Terawatt Infrastructure will develop a U.S. network of charging stations for medium and heavy trucks along Interstate 10 between Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas, the electric vehicle charging startup said on Thursday, anticipating a significant increase in electric truck traffic along that largely desert corridor.

Terawatt said in September it had raised more than $1 billion from investors to begin building large-scale charging centers for commercial vehicle fleets..."

https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...so-2022-10-20/