Public + Private Transportation Hyrbrid = Priblic?

Image via Wikipedia

Like many people on this planet, I've always thought there'd be an easier way to get to and from the airport. Public transportation is all fine and good, but it doesn't really get you from the airport to where you're going. JFK tried to deal with this transportation issue by building the airtrain - a train that connected Queens and a NYC subway line to all of JFK's terminals. The problem with the airtrain is that if you're coming from the upper east side in Manhattan, you have to switch trains three times before you get to your terminal. If you travel like I do (read: excessive luggage) we're talking a major pain in the neck, shoulders, and biceps.

I always imagined planes could be reconfigured in such a way that they turn pseudo train cars. Take off / fold up the wings, build a tunnel, and have them drop you off under grand central in a special terminal. Even that idea, as eccentric as it is, doesn't solve the problem that the drop off location isn't convenient for everyone.


Turns out that a company based out of California has suggested a new airport shuttle system for the U.K. - http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/skytrans-personal-magnetic-transporter-physical-version-Internet


Brilliant!

The future of public transportation is a hybrid of public and private transportation - it should enable you to customize a destination while still taking advantage of a public infrastructure.

A similar concept has been proposed with City Car - cars that fold into one another in the same way that shopping carts do and "stack". It would be a membership service, and "stacks" of these cars would be strategically placed in key locations in urban areas. The one way service would enable the driver to take the first car in line, and drive it one way to another "stack" where he would simply park the car and leave it for another driver.


Public Private - that's where it's at.

Some Interesting Links :
http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2007/02/18/the_car_20/?p1=MEWell_Pos5
http://cities.media.mit.edu/projects/citycar.html