I think we should try to keep these as compact as possible, and also energy efficient like the rest of the city. Those big, bulk ambulances are an unnecessary nuisance. -- Being an EMT and a driver on the roads, I can see where you're coming from. One thing, though... is that when you're in a true emergency, ambulances really don't have a lot of room to be doing what you need to do. I'm 6'0" and have to hunch over and try to maneuver around the cab of the ambulance to treat a patient. When there's a true emergency, CPR for instance, you *should* have more than one EMT in the back with the patient. I've found that having 3 in the back with one driving is perfect for drug administration, ventilation (bag valve mask) and CPR. Not to mention trying to communicate with the hospital, check out the EKG monitor, etc.
And because our vehicles will be much smaller, they may have something closer to a specialized driving path instead of a road. I think something closer to a large electric cart you see around college campuses could be altered for this purpose. -- that sounds nice in theory, but one thing we must remember is that the climate is not always our friend. You have to take into consideration the temp, wind, sun (or amount of light if at night), precipitation, etc. Having a special path for emergency vehicles of ANY kind is a great idea. Or even have a perimeter "off switch" for other vehicles in the area so that the emergency responders can get to where they need to be without any problems at intersections. (by off switch, i mean something along the line where that if the "signal" that an emergency vehicle is in the area coming down the path, that the vehicle will automatically move to a safe area, not impeding any intersections or crosswalks)
It would need to be big enough for the EMT, patient and supplies, but not as bulky as some transports today. One main reason is because they won't be stuck in traffic for 40 min while their patient dies. Our emergency vehicles will have specialized driving paths and be relatively close to the hospital. -- Again, great idea with driving paths. The majority of medications that are on an ALS (advance life support) ambulance are all inside a box the size of a large fishing tackle box. Then we also have "jump kits" or bags that have supplies such as gauze, saline solutions for wound irrigation, IV kits, IV bags (saline or specialized), BP kits, oral glucose, etc etc. The majority of "wall mounted" supplies in an ambulance are a suction unit (for clearing out an airway), supplemental supplies, controls for inside lights, climate control, radio, etc.
EDIT: I should have clarified that due to not being stuck in traffic it leads to less time on the road, which in turn leads to less supplies/medications/etc that will be needed to be carried by the vehicle. If you've ever been on an ambulance, they are like mini hospitals and have to have enough materials for many many victims in case they can't restock during their shift. This is something we shouldn't need. The majority of "big ambulances" are made for the "worst case scenario". One thing we must also think about, is what our medical facility will be able to handle. If we're able to have a "Level 1 trauma center" or something near that, we shouldn't have to worry about having larger trucks for long transports. Plus, *if* we do have to go outside our city for a medical facility, we'd have to consider having SOME sort of agreement with a medevac transportation (helicopter). But again, that will be more in depth once we have a more solid foundation of what our community will be like, its location in proximity to other cities, etc. Hope this helps with some insight.
