TRANSPORTATION FALLACIES

Consider the false notions that have contributed to transportation decisions over the past 100 years or so :

The Athletic Fallacy : thinking that the average person --- let alone the visually or physically handicapped, out-of-shape, or elderly person --- can travel to work, school, medical appointments, or shopping, by bicycle or on foot.

The Meteorological Fallacy : Just consider the enervating heat or “frog-choker” tropical downpours of a Florida summer, the snow and ice in much of the north for months at a time, or the lightning storms and tornadic winds almost anywhere in the heartland of this country.

The Asphalt Fallacy : believing that adding more lanes to current roads will solve the traffic nightmare. As the Mayor of Milwaukee said, in 1997, “Adding highway lanes to reduce traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to fight obesity”.

The Traffic Engineering Fallacy : thinking that current road designs contribute to traffic safety. Turn lanes are badly designed and demonstrably dangerous; traffic circles --- given up as unworkable even by New Jersey ---are being proposed for Gulf Coast Florida. There actually exist lists of treacherous intersections that publicize the most dangerous. We know what and where the problems are but, like the buffalo in the herd standing around and watching as their just-killed companion is dragged away by hunters, presumably thinking “Well, there goes Old Herb. What a shame ! Oh, well ! This certainly has nothing to do with me”.

The Gas Mileage Fallacy : believing that improving automobile gasoline mileage figures will decrease our dependence on foreign oil. It is a futile --- and at best only temporary --- method of saving gasoline that has little impact on the problem.

The Passenger Fallacy : Considering only the problems associated with transporting people from one place to another. Even as far-sighted and intelligent a group as The Monorail Society does not pay sufficient attention to monorail use for freight traffic -- an absolutely obvious and natural concurrent associated need. Indeed, it may well be the income provider that, like Mighty Mouse, Saves the Day by paying for the installation, covering ongoing costs, OR, dare we say it, makes a profit. This is particularly ironic because it is often factory-installed monorail freight systems that power assembly lines in many large factories.

It’s not just a question of dependence on foreign oil. Even oil-rich states in the Middle East and Asian-Pacific Rim are building and operating Monorail and MagLev transit systems for transit needs.

Every country without blinders is beginning to subscribe to the dangers of massive carbon dioxide production, whether or not it's the cause of the Global Warning that, while denied by many, is an ice-melting fact of life in the Arctic and Antarctic. While the debate goes on, the ice roads melt into puddles of water, making road traffic impossible and impeding vital transport needs ---- food and medical supplies to polar settlements, as well as the availability of emergency medical services and the transportation of oil drilling machinery and re-supplies. The Canadian government recognizes and acknowledges these needs, and is looking to innovative transport methods such as huge Lighter-Than-Air freight carriers (Zeppelins, dirigibles, blimps) to satisfy those needs. See the scientific and technical papers presented at Dr. Barry Prentice's Airships to the Arctic conferences .

It takes mental blinders or obsessive-compulsive behavior for people to sleep on airport floors for days --- as is reported in the national media every year during heavy snow storms --- because of bad weather or cancelled flights, instead of taking readily available, comfortable, fast trains that would take them to their destination in a few hours.

Readily, widely available Monorail would ensure safe, comfortable passage far above even a three-foot snowfall, while other air, road, and foot travel are snarled, unusable means of getting about .

Rails-to-Trails is a sadly misguided, quasi-permanent transformation of railroad right-of-way --- potentially usable by large numbers of travelers for necessary work and travel --- into biking and hiking trails usable only for optional recreation by a small number of people for leisure time activities. It's sardonically amusing that, often, this occurs in areas naturally well-supplied with recreational opportunities, like waterfront communities and rustic areas .

Even worse is the blatant disregard of the “rail-banking” concept upon which the authorizing legislation is based, as no withdrawals are ever made from this bank. Once the rails are ripped up and the roadbed converted to trails at great public expense, these same recreational users fight --- tooth-and-nail --- any re-conversion to transportation purposes when the need for rail service arises later, despite the original premise upon which this change was made. The taxpayer, of course, continues to pay for the maintenance and policing of these underutilized stretches of linear recreational areas throughout their (perpetual?) existence.

What is particularly vexing is availability of vast, existing, tax-payer-maintained, dedicated recreational areas already in place. This entire concept exhibits a hugely unbalanced political favoritism catering to the never-satisfied demands of the recreational biking-hiking-and-running-lobbies, which contribute next to nothing to cover the costs of purchase and maintenance, a never-satisfied Black Hole. See also, the Athletic Fallacy.

Quick Notes and Impressions of Ultra-Light Rail --- a New Quicker, Easier Branch of the Model T⁴ Interest

It pays to look at older periodicals in your reading collection ; there's an article on the prototype on page 6 of the January 2002 issue of Tramways & Urban Transit , a superb UK magazine with international coverage of all our favourite topics . The prototype runs on electricity and !!! a flywheel !!!

Parry's People Movers provided major impetus to this whole Ultra-Light Rail movement in the prototype . The models are easier to build (no teeny-tiny catenary parts, wiring, fumble-fingers), and easier to transport to exhibitions

Shades of Lionel center third rail OR of no current carrier at all, whether third rail or overhead . NYC subway (and other transit system) modellers have been doing without overhead catenary [redundant and, obviously unprototypical] for years .

Advantages accrue to those who are taken with small English rural and suburban scenes, like those in the Miss Marple films based on the mystery novels popularized by Agatha Christie about the delightful (and always successful) English detective . Also to those who enjoy the magnificent , inexpensive David Winter collectible cottages as easy-to-place background accessories .

                                      
PARRY PEOPLE MOVERS David Parry and a model of his ultra-light rail vehicle to a scale of 2 inches = 1 foot , one-sixth full size at an industrial Exposition

Barbie dolls and GI Joe military action figures make perfect passengers for the models, once they have been de-glamorized and de-militarized, respectively, by modifying their clothing to the appropriate scale in street clothes and civilian work clothes.

Please note : I have absolutely no financial interest in Parry's People Movers (although its Return on Investment is probably going to be better than the 0.5 % interest we're getting at the bank); NOR in Mattel OR whoever manufactures GI Joe .