The Boring Company will develop an underground “people mover” for Las Vegas(citylab.com)
citylab.com
The Boring Company will develop an underground “people mover” for Las Vegas
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/05/elon-musk-tunnel-las-vegas-loop-boring-company-electric-cars/590287/
379 comments
Yes, it is. With one that caveat that if it's built 10x cheaper than comparable tunnels, it is. Moving our roads underground is a vastly superior transportation system than we have today. It can be safer, better for the air, better for light and noise pollution, unlock vast amounts of land in our urban areas for parks, etc. I grew up near Boston during the big dig and the city is a drastically different place before and after the Central Artery. The same is happening in Seattle now. The problem is the cost. If Boring Company can solve that (and he already has a history of doing comparable things in the rocket and battery industries) it very much is the future of public (and private) transportation.
The submitted title was "No, the Las Vegas 'Loop' Is Not the Future of Public Transportation". That broke the HN guidelines, which ask submitters to use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait, and not to editorialize. We remove submission privileges from accounts who post like this, so please don't.
Note: if this was the article's original title and, as sometimes happens, they changed it, then none of this applies. Usually it's just the NYT who do that though.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Note: if this was the article's original title and, as sometimes happens, they changed it, then none of this applies. Usually it's just the NYT who do that though.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Maybe Elon should visit Europe or Asia and check out an underground mass rapid transit system or two. They have two orders of magnitude larger capacity. And even their capacity is finite.
And keep in mind that the NYC Subway and the London Underground are NOT a good example of a modern mass transit system.
And keep in mind that the NYC Subway and the London Underground are NOT a good example of a modern mass transit system.
The math on this is highly questionable:
The only way this can work with Model 3s or similar will require a loading/unloading experience similar to the Test Track ride at Epcot in Disney World, including the line and the numerous staff helpers to make sure you are buckled in.
Combine that with also needing to move those people down to the station and back up to their destination, and the likelihood that any of the three stations are in a location you already are or want to be, I'm not sure how useful this is going to be.
The contract posted on the LVCVA website projects an
operating capacity of 4,400 passengers per hour using
“autonomous electric vehicles at high speeds,” which
might include a Tesla Model X or Model 3, or another
Tesla chassis converted into a 16-passenger shuttle.
The only way this can work with Model 3s or similar will require a loading/unloading experience similar to the Test Track ride at Epcot in Disney World, including the line and the numerous staff helpers to make sure you are buckled in.
Combine that with also needing to move those people down to the station and back up to their destination, and the likelihood that any of the three stations are in a location you already are or want to be, I'm not sure how useful this is going to be.
So what’s this fascination with tunnels? In Chicago, there are overhead elevated train tracks, and they work just fine. They seem a lot cheaper to build and maintain than tunnels. You can even build them over existing avenues. Why don’t we have more of that?
If they can do this for 49MUSD then it’s a revolution. It’s a ridiculous amount of money for something like this. Just the management overhead of a project like this would cost millions, and the fact that it is short does not make it any easier. I will be very curious to see how they pull it off, and take the lesson whatever the outcome is.
I believe in Elon. He’s always late, but he mostly delivers. If he gets 10x faster instead of 14x and does it cheaper, it’s a huge boon to society (forces other companies to innovate). Cost disease for infrastructure is in my opinion the biggest drag against gdp and the economy.
The car itself may not be the future, but cheap tunnels and multi-car (let's call them trains) will be the future.
Asian cities already have amazing subway systems that just work so much better than surface streets. The biggest improvement would be to have express lines that only visit every ~10th stop. Financial viability due to massive ridership make these possible in Asia, lower tunneling costs could make them viable elsewhere.
Asian cities already have amazing subway systems that just work so much better than surface streets. The biggest improvement would be to have express lines that only visit every ~10th stop. Financial viability due to massive ridership make these possible in Asia, lower tunneling costs could make them viable elsewhere.
If they aren’t going to finish the Vegas monorail, maybe they can build a tunnel from the airport to the Strip?
While not revolutionary (or even all that evolutionary) it at least generates a bit of revenue while garnering more practical experience for Boring. I'm not really sure there's a future for Boring, but it is nice that an additional company is trying to improve mass transit.
I don’t see this doing $50M of good for easing congestion. I would prefer it if they’d commit to a much larger budget project connecting the airport to the convention center and several major hotels and casinos than this low density single lane tunnel.
Where did this title come from? I usually can't stand HN's fussing over titles but this one really seems tendentious.
TIL The Boring Company is the name of an actual company that bores, and "to bore" is to drill a hole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boring_(earth)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boring_(earth)
[deleted]
Now I understand why people hate HN besides other stuff: but this Elon worshipping
> ...it will dig a pair of concrete tunnels, 12 feet in diameter and less than a mile long. The asphalt-paved tubes will be just wide enough for a single vehicle to drive down.
So... it's a... subway
So... it's a... subway
Only technology being worked on ? >> Digging.
What a coincidence, that's pretty useful for oil too.
The market uses money to burn oil to burn money to burn oil.
What a coincidence, that's pretty useful for oil too.
The market uses money to burn oil to burn money to burn oil.
I believe those are called subways, we had them in Europe in the late 19th century. /s
The horrible title font made me think it was only $4.9 million at first glance.
Sooo, another tunnel flood when it rains only half a cm.
Vegas. Now there's a place for Musk.
this trend of condescending answers to a question no one asked for article titles really needs to go.
1. Electric cars for transport, Check.
2. Solar panels and batteries for power generation and storage, check.
3. Tunnel digging equipment for making underground bases and transport, check.
4. Satellite communications for an entire planet, check.
5. Then finally, the actual rockets to get us there.
Hopefully he will continue development to the point where the tech can be used on Mars.