The EU is investing in brilliant solutions to revolutionise sustainable commuting.
One of them is Monocab 🚆
A gyro-stabilised monorail cabin offers autonomous, on-demand transport.
It's designed to complement public transit by enhancing mobility in less populated areas and making your journey both planet-friendly and convenient. 🚆
Have you heard of any other innovative transport solutions?
📸©Monocab Owl
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@EUCommission
Seriously, I'm all for innovation and investment into public transit, but this isn't it. It doesn't add speed, capacity or affordability to any projects.
This isn't even a new idea. It was done in 1910. It failed for a reason back then.
@EUCommission You can just invest in things we know work, like trains and trams, they work in lower density areas too don't worry. Also I find it funny that you pose a question on this platform for engagement, when that doesn't get you more views (unlike on other platforms), yet you never reply to anything at all, especially when people are quite critical of you here.
@EUCommission
Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system was built in 1975 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgantown_Personal_Rapid_Transit
@EUCommission Ahh that looks very accessible for people in wheelchairs, he lied in sarcasm. 😒 Did COVID make you lot thick as mince? If you are going to put our money in your back pocket just do it and shut up. We are not this dumb and you’re giving yourselves away 🤷♂️
@EUCommission I don't want monocab, I want privacy. Drop chat control.
@EUCommission who got bribed by the techbros to consider this -thoroughly debunked- abomination?
@EUCommission Never heard of it. Can this be used by disabled people, without external help?
Of course I have heard of other innovative #transport solutions. Including some really wild shit, like "reopening of disused railway lines", or "re-nationalizing railways to make public transport affordable again".
But that's naive SciFi, of course. Let's stick with proven stuff like new monorails, and airborne taxis.
@EUCommission why not a train? This sounds stupid, expensive to use and too expensive to repair.
@EUCommission I'm strangely OK to just burn that money in front of the EU building... What the actual duck is that stupid thing??? Give me back my money!
@EUCommission I used to be very pro EU, but if this kind of nonsense is what you want to stand for, in addition to illegal pushbacks, Libyan torture camps, chat control and all the rest, I'm forced to reconsider.
@EUCommission Does anyone know how people (and bots) of commercial platforms react to BS like this?
@EUCommission It's a neat starting point, but I think we can do better.
First, accessibility. From the screenshots these look very cramped; I certainly doubt a wheelchair user can use this, to say the obvious. They're going to need to be bigger.
If they're going to be bigger, then let's accept that and see what we can do. If environmentalism is a factor here, then it probably makes sense to make these bike-accessible; people will still need to go places to and from the monocab, after all, and there's no cleaner transport than a bicycle. Give them some free space where occupant can store bicycles, or maybe large bags and cases.
And then, capacity. Look, on-demand access for a couple of a people at a time sounds nice, but in practice lots of people are usually travelling on similar routes at similar times, and it's far more efficient (and so environmentally friendly) to allow lots of people to travel at once. Plus, that will enable families and friend groups to travel together easily. If scheduled stops are regular enough that no-one needs to travel far to get to them, you get the best of both worlds; comfortable, clean travel, catering for large numbers of people, available at a stop near you. So given we're making this bigger anyway, let's scale up significantly; we can get multiple dozens of people in a cabin with the footprint of a couple of cars.
With that amount of size, we can probably spare space for a few amenities; maybe every second monocab can have a small toilet around the are for bikes and bags, or every third can have a small staffed area to buy drinks and snacks, offset the costs a little bit. It all improves accessibility and overall quality.
Although, now I think about it; now it's a lot bigger, it may be a bit more difficult to reliably stabilise with a gyroscope. And besides, a gyro adds a good amount of weight and complexity; if we just add a second rail alongside the first one, the vehicles won't need any fancy tech to stay upright; at most, perhaps some suspension to handle turns, depending on how tightly and how fast it goes. That'll let us get even more usable space, as well.
...Hang on, did we just invent trains and trams again?
@EUCommission this is actually quite cool, I like that it looks super nice to ride in: comfy seating and big windows. We can make mass transit a better experience than driving cars. I already reguarly experience this taking the RailJet and CityJet through Austria.
@EUCommission Stop wasting public money on bullshit gadgetbahns and invest in real rail, for fucks' sake.
@EUCommission Not sure if this a fake account or a bot post looking for engagement farming, because god damn it.
Most idiotic thing I have read today, and it's not even half of the day.
@Illuminatus What part of "less populated areas" did you miss? This looks to me like an attempt to revive the really tiny small-scale trams of the late 19th century, which provided transport to villages/suburbs before automobiles were a thing. Also looks to be an on-demand service. (Misses the point that we should not be building and living in suburban sprawl!)
@EUCommission This is almost the very definition of a #Gadgetbahn... no better than a private car or robo-taxi without route flexibility!
If you want public transit to succeed while efficiently transporting the masses and reducing dependence on private vehicles, then fund cycling, buses, trams and light rail instead.
@EUCommission Although I don't mind small-scale monorail solutions, this one feels like a scam?
It looks too cramped, and if you're already having to place all that rail you may as well just scale it up slightly so at least 8 people could fit in it right?
It also looks too glamorous making me doubt this will survive in the actual open.
@cstross @Illuminatus AdamSomething had an excellent video about these things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJnyhPGH2cw
There's probably much better solutions for less populated areas than things running on weird technology and made out of techbro ideas.
As a quick thought, on-demand bus lines exist, they can very well be electric and provide much more flexibility in pathing than "monorails".
@EUCommission
Doesn't look very vandalism-proof. Will be damaged within a week. Will be damaged beyond repair within a month.
@EUCommission wait, is this a parody account? If not, whose son-in-law is getting our tax money for a gadgetbahn *this* time?
@cstross @mina @Illuminatus He's also fairly well listenable (as in the visuals aren't crucial), but unfortunately I haven't found a text post around the topic with a quick scroll although he regularly posts community posts on Youtube.
@EUCommission please you have to realize that this is pure scam aimed at diverting funds, efforts and focus away from actual public transportation initiatives and projects 🙏 I sure hope not a cent of public money went to such a wasteful endeavour...
@phl @mina @Illuminatus I don't absorb information well by listening—can't do podcasts, either. I'm 100% written text, all the time.
YouTube does generate transscripts automatically for many videos, this one included.
They're not nicely formatted, though.
@mina @phl @Illuminatus Google only offers transcripts if you give the G-monster permission to cyberstalk you around the internet. Which I refuse to do, on principle. (And I completely block all Meta products.)
@cstross @mina @Illuminatus And here I thought CCs and the transcription just came with the video
@phl @mina @Illuminatus Am pretty sure you have to be logged in with a google account somewhere *and* have granted google permissions to track you. If you don't, they disable a lot of functionality.
@EUCommission not sure if this account is run by the EU commission or just rage bait.
Mastodon users are thankfully not stupid enough to fall for microtransit, train reinvention etc.
@cstross have you heard that in Switzerland there is actual train to even the smallest villages? And they are usually on time too! I lived there for couple of years and while it is quite shaity unemphatic country they are living proof that rail transportation can be done well and can cover even the smallest of places.
@dieTasse Yes, rail *can* be done well—where there isn't a car industry in cahoots with a concrete industry propping up a suburban development bubble.
@EUCommission I suggest you investigate who is profiting from this and other scams.
We can help with that.
Why were you in the fediverse for, again?
@EUCommission I find it disappointing that the ALT descriptions of pictures look like it was written by AI.
A good ALT description must explain the *meaning* of an image, and not describe irrelevant graphic details like the colour of the sky. And it should not start with "This image shows"; screen readers already know that it is an image.
Please make sure that humans write those texts, this is important for visually-impaired citizens.
@EUCommission
1. because humans are not yet lonely enough let's give each person their own private cabin.
2. Simpsons 🎵Monorail🎵
@EUCommission So train, but dumber? Are you seriously wasting our money like this?
@EUCommission yes, I have. Only recently:
1. Bicycles
2. Trams
3. Trolley buses
4. Hybrid trains
Do you happen to know what they have in common?
No? - Existing infrastructure.
Apropos infrastructure: to this day we have different gauges on main lines in #Europe. To change that doesn’t sound as glamorous as a monocabrailthing.
@EUCommission The most sustainable solution is called <train> and you’re letting EU member states let theirs decline so the service is worse every year (the perfect excuse to privatise them).
Stop wasting money on stupid, feel good “solutions”.
Not with my taxes.
Hello @Razemix, the unique approach of repurposing single-track rail infrastructure not only revitalises rural transport networks, it also connects people, improves quality of life, and fosters economic growth in these rural areas.
@EUCommission So I noticed this seems to be meant for about as many people as a car, but that it doesn't have the one actual benefit of a car because it's on rails. I can't imagine very many of these things can be deployed, otherwise they'd block the traffic of real trains and either hold up potentially thousands of people or millions of euros in cargo.
Wouldn't it just be easier to, I don't know, run a smaller train to those less populated areas? Just take the trains you already have and deploy them with less train cars? That's what Chicago did with the Yellow Line (which admittedly had other problems unrelated to this thread) and American cities are not exactly known for being better at rail infrastructure than literally any European city.
@EUCommission Search for the Adam Something video on youtube that reveals this nonsense for what it is before throwing our money at dodgy companies.
@EUCommission this was tried as Aramis in the 1970s, and failed. Aramis is now seen as a gadgetbahn, a cool but expensive and suboptimal solution in search of a problem https://fabricofparis.com/2020/02/25/transport-that-never-was-aramis.html
@EUCommission hey EUCommission, question: How do you say: "I'm writing shitposts for money" without saying: "I'm writing shitposts for money"?
How much money did the person responsible for that post get? Number of digits will suffice.
"Personal" Rapid Transit is dead. Stop beating its dead carcass.
This is a stupid transport solution for anyone else than those who get to make a buck selling these tin cans.
Invest in on-call taxi/minibus setups instead, or put in the effort to build proper rail transit.
@EUCommission as a European citizen and taxpayer, please stop "investing" in this nonsense gadgetbahn. Put money in **proven** tech: rail, metros, trams, buses.
@EUCommission When you focus on "innovative" in the sense of "never been done before" rather than "is a realistic solution to a real problem". Normal people would've discarded this idea as the obvious bollocks it it.
Sorry folks, you've been taken in by con artists and subsidy hunters.
@EUCommission The Monocab is actually developed partly at my university in Lemgo. One of the project partners is the Fraunhofer IOSB-INA @FraunhoferIOSB @FraunhoferLemgo
(AFAIK no other parties involved in the development are active in the fediverse)
@EUCommission this has been shown to not working becasue of physical impossibilities.
You would gain more for europe by dumping all this money into the european hackerspaces.
They would create working and cheap stuff. License free and open source.
@EUCommission
Ooooor we just restore the rail lines that have been shut down across Europe in the past 50 years. Why do we need to reinvent trains all the time instead of funding the existing ones?
@EUCommission oh I heard of an innovation that will blow your socks off! It can move *a lot* more people, is sustainable, available right now, and has a proven safety record built up over decades:
“funding the local the local bus service” 🤯
@cstross @phl @mina @Illuminatus pretty sure I've read transcripts while being a google-dodger, but they may have made it worse since I last did. But the headline is that villagers generally want trams or express buses with rain shelters, info points and bike racks at stops, not ableist tiny slow pods, so please don't use us as a scapegoat for wasting money on more gadgetbahns.