Atlas City Project

Summary from Zeitgeist forum

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I think all roads should be this.

www.solarroadways.com

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Eventually, this could be used when the world adopts a resource based economy. Atlas City will probably have a transportation system that may not utilize cars (unless you are going on public roads and then you will check out a green car from fleet). We will have lots of solar panels (and other technologies) to power the city and may also run our transportation. What others forms of transportation will be good for Atlas City? Light rail? Conveyor? Trams? etc.

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I support the idea of not using vehicles for transportation in the Atlas City. In a town of 1,000 people, that really won't be necessary and it will serve solely to de-beautify and infringe upon the health of the community with pollution, asphalt, concrete, and other variables critical to maintaining that form of transport. I look forward to seeing a town with grass separating the buildings, rather than concrete and asphalt; is this what you had in mind? Or had you intended another form of transportation, other than walking?

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I agree. The city should have a similar look to a college campus. Lots of grass and flower bed. I've seen a system developed in the UK where people of the city are given magnetic badges to bike racks for all to use. They are securely fixed in the bike rack without this magnetic card so that outsiders don't come and steal them, but everyone inside the city respects the property and everyone shares it free of charge. Electric carts (like the ones used on high school and college campuses) would probably be very common. The only question would be what we have for larger loads. It would need to be the equivalent to modern semi trucks for mass transport, but small enough to either fit on the thin public trails or maybe be attached to a supply cart in the monorail system.

Everyone should have the option of their own personal transportation vechicles of some sort. I hate mass transit but I think mass transit should be an option but not the only option.
We could have eletric cars/solar powered cars or golf carts that have a way of heating and cooling while driving.
There are people out there who can not take mass transit due to disablities. How we will accomndate those? I am NEVER for the option of ONE form of transportation.
Unless I can personally drive the bus, train or whatever this is a definate no for me!

Now the solar roadways sound like a good idea as long as I can have my own personal transportation method. I do not like the idea of trusting someone else to drive me around. I know roadways are unslightly and crack but maybe we can design a different roadway.
IF we have electric cars instead of gas stations we could have charging stations. Everyone would also have a charging station in their garage or near their parking space. A person could charge it up overnight and it could last 10 hours or so then the person would recharge. We would also have small elertical generators on hand just in case.
Solar power could also be utlized as well.
Would this work? If not I am open to heated and cooled golf cart type vehicles. It would have to be enclosed though. I would even be open to something small just so I can have my own transportation that is reliable.

Although its expensive, there is ways to make the fully electric car Nissan Leaf cheaper...its fully enclosed and its very stylish. It also has solar panels on the top of it so not only does it charge when you are driving but when its stationary (also used for heating and cooling). Check out the Nissan Leaf using the linked text or the video below.




I really like the Aptera Electric Car's design:


Its a bit pricey, but I think its worth it...

honestly, personal vehicles are a waste of resources. for a small fraction of the resources it would take to make everyone an electric car, you could make a very efficient city-wide tram system which would also take less land space.

Solar roads could be problematic in a few ways, if there is too much traffic the vehicles will block the sunlight reaching the road surface, scratches and dirt may also impact light getting in.


A door to door taxi service might be a solution that combines the best of both public transport and convience:

www.taxibus.org.uk


As one of my projects is a low cost solar powered vehicle ($1k), and as our available budget maybe rather small, it could prove a suitable vehicle for either personal use, or as part of a taxi service.

It is currently in the very early stages of development:

forums.bravenewdawn.com/viewforum.php?f=63