Friday, May 28, 2010

Drive Train

People in America love driving. But hate paying for gas. Many routes follow identical routes, and the most cost effective way to haul mass is a train, so...
Imagine a large train with many many car-sized platforms. It stops for 3 minutes at every big city, then speeds along at 100+MPH. At the stops, cars can drive on or off.
Every morning, a train goes through the country to the city, and back. There's a 6:00am shift, an 8:00am shift, and a noon shift. Most of the traffic is to the city, so it doesn't stop on the way back. The pattern reverses for trips at 4:00pm, 6pm, and 8pm.
The stops are a platform exactly aligned with the train in height, so cars can drive right across. A ramp from there goes to the nearest road.
For a bonus, the train doesn't have to stop completely if no one is getting on, merely slow down to an acceptable speed.
Drivers would save fuel on the common part of their route. How to pay for the train?

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