Atlas City Project

Brainstorming time - transport is a necessity for any successful, functional community - people need and want to go from A to B to C and back again. I want to hear some more ideas focused on transit specifically within the city and why. Perhaps the project is not yet at this stage because a city design has not been agreed to, but from what I've gathered thus far, preliminary transit planning might be appropriate, no?

Let's discuss the various types of transit, their merits, their challenges and how they integrate into the overall vision of Atlas City.

jinx wrote


This is very close to what I imagine could be a transport system within a city.

The cars would have 4 folding seats and run on rails like trains, the user would schedule a car to be at their door at a specified time and take them to their destination (children could use these cars since they are computer controlled), cars would also be available on demand for the return journey but people would have to wait while the car comes from the storage area or last user (unless it needs cleaning), between carrying people the cars could deliver food and parcels to the citizens home, leaving them in a special receiver for when nobody's home.

Transport outside the city would be something different, maybe trains, maybe cars, possibly airships which ought to be safer than planes, there's no need to hurry so why not take the time to enjoy the scenery on your journey?

It explains some around the forum and on the Wiki. Basically, there are two forms of transportation:

1. Inner city: this will likely be a small proof of concept city. Land that we have found is around a square mile. We should probably concentrate on walking, bikes, scooters and other small and healthier alternatives to get around since it is small. Emergency vehicles are likely to be the only full sized vehicles seen around the inside of the city. If you can't walk a few blocks to get around you can get an electric scooter of other alternative.

2. Outside the city: people can bring in or sell their current personal vehicles. However, they will not be allowed to drive inside the city with anything that off-gasses. To go on vacation or travel around outside the city Atlas City will have a fleet of electric and other non-harmful vehicles for use.

As the city grows, something like this may be useful.



It was not safe on normal roads but would be fine in our city.
There was a small locker behind the driver for carrying stuff.

That's an interesting design. Is that an old commercial? It's similar in concept as the electric vehicles that most staff members use in high school and many college campuses, which would be sufficient for short distances.

It's from 1985, there is a wikipedia article on it if you want to know more.

steve wrote:


Something like this.......

gettherefast.org/bc-ms2.html

I think this is a great system - as this one is built for a work campus - so they could be used in downtown areas or other building clusters - not sure about all over a large city - too complex and likely too slow. Still, there is potential here.

I'm also into the idea of airships between cities - they are safe except for in more extreme weather conditions. NIce and quiet compared to conventional aircraft and they can be setup to mate with larger buildings for loading and unloading, even have freight potential. I agree - why hurry? Why not enjoy the view and travel less stressfully if you have the chance??

well you see, if we bought a piece of land which was 1 square mile, you couldnt need to move too far from point a to point b. maybe even bicycles would be sufficient.

Oh definitely wouldn't need this for a small area - more along the lines of campuses or downtowns that are expansive. Clearly for the future directions of any city project, not initially, but the concept is great!

I think we all basically agree on a PRT (Personal Rapit Transit) System. However, as the first post mentions, the DESIGN of the city will largely dictate what transportation systems to use, and how to develop the infrastructure. I think one of the first things to think about is HOW BIG SHOULD THE CITY BE?

Obviously we don't have the expertise or resources to build a city for 100,000 people.

But can we do it for 5,000 people?

If so, will this be a flat city or will it reach for the skies, or some mixture of the two?

We need to answer those questions first, and then actually lay out the city before we start making plans on how to convey people. Maybe the city can be designed such that the average person can literally walk everywhere they need to get (which would be ideal as a PRT, or any other transportation system is VERY expensive). Or if its a vertical city all we really need is some multi-level elevators, which is a totally different concept than PRT.

Lets make the cake before we put the icing on.

From what I have read here, the city is going to be very small with no intention of getting bigger in future decades, so walking will be sufficient, and healthier.

I encourage everything to think big. We have not settled on a size though we have talked about 5000 people as a starting point. Talking about transit is necessary because we can expect the city to grow its initial boundaries eventually and if this wasn't thought about ahead of time it could lead to some construction problems later.

Lets the ideas flow!