Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
I mean, maybe. But if the pods are multi-occupant and have to stop at multiple hotels (or apartments, etc) then riders are going to be frustrated by the slow, meandering routes downtown. I used to hate that on airport shuttles. On the other hand, if the pods are single-occupant, then why even build a tunnel at all? We have the Kennedy.
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Sure, if we eventually migrate to a system of networked pods that quickly and efficiently move large number of riders between the CBD and O'Hare, then some of the utility of a point to point train might be lost. So let's say that is far in the future but that driverless taxis have become common.
In that case, assuming tunnel capacity, imagine both single and multi-party options where the single party tunnel "taxi" has access to at least a limited CBD area and can use several tunnel entry/exit points that bypass the terminal(s). Voila, speed and convenience combined.
Anyway, I am not saying this is how it would be implemented, my point is more that I would expect Musk's proposal to have some interesting ideas for how a system could evolve and hopefully take into account the full experience (travel time, connections and so on). After all, the city's goal is to get people from point A to point B, not just to construct a train line