The future of transport

 

I believe that the government made a bad decision when they chose to electrify cars rather than the roads.

High costs, high maintenance, high depreciation, low range, lack of charging stations etc etc make the future of electric cars bleak. It could have been so much better.

Here is an extract from my novel, 'The Lamb at Nettlesham', which proposes a happier outcome.

The predicted massive increase in the use of private cars will cause the complete seizure of the country’s road capacity by early next century. The Green Paper will address those problems and set out a new strategy to satisfy the nation’s need for mobility in the future, whilst keeping expenditure on infrastructure and its maintenance to a minimum. As we proceed, we will have to bear in mind the need to find alternative and more efficient fuels as the global supply of oil diminishes.

Private Transport.

As the nation’s wealth increases so more and more citizens will own and run more cars. It is simply unfeasible to keep building more and larger roads to accommodate this trend. It is proposed therefore that by 2025, all private, freewheeling, transport will be outlawed. Instead, people will be able to own private ‘pods’ that will run on a network of rails driven by electricity.

Pods.

The same manufacturers that now produce automobiles will make these. They will be constructed so as to run on the network but can be designed to all the usual formats and standards as at present. That is the number of seats and degree of luxury can be as varied as it is now, including drink cabinets as drink driving is avoided.

Pods will be fitted with batteries and wheels so that it can move from one’s home, say, to the nearest hub. Once there it will engage with the network by means of an undercarriage arrangement, which also initiates the payment system. Once engaged, one simply inserts the postcode of the destination and press go. The pod is taken automatically by the most efficient route to your destination and you are billed for each trip on ‘a per distance travelled’ basis.

Network.

The network is to be designed jointly by all the motor manufacturing companies who will own and run it. It is to be designed so that it will operate along converted highways and move pods along at a speed consistent with the status of the original road. For example, on old motorways it will be expected that the pods will be propelled to up to 200 mph, automatically maintained at a safe distance from each other. On an original three lane motorway there will be room for six pod lanes.

As the pods move from higher tariff roads to lower, the speeds will be reduced accordingly.

The design of this network will begin immediately and new legislation will be introduced to compel all manufacturers to contribute to the transition or risk losing a license to sell their vehicles.

The electricity to run the network will be provided by a new and safer generation of nuclear power stations.

Commercial Transport

All containers will be loaded onto larger flat bed pods at special network hubs located at railway marshalling works. The railways will be converted into the new rail system. Once at the destination, the containers will be collected by battery driven vehicles for delivery to the recipients whether factory or shop. The layout of future trading estates and shopping centres will need to bear in mind these changes.