Are trackless trams here to help solve our light rail problems? - Create
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https://createdigital.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/icon_time.png 6 minutes It's not a bus and it's not a light rail – trackless trams are a mix of both, and they can bring myriad benefits to  public transport systems in Australia's cities and suburbs.

Benefits compared to buses:

  • Smoother ride. The tram is computer guided on a virtual “rail”, meaning that the driver doesn’t have to actively make micro adjustments to the steering wheel. Gives a train-like ride, no swaying.

  • Because it doesn’t sway from a centred path nearly as much as a bus, a reserved right of way for it can be much narrower. This saves space and materials.

  • This isn’t really a benefit, but just look at it! It’s cool AF!

  • Electric vehicles, as a rule, last over twice as long than engine vehicles, with the exception of the batteries.

Benefits compared to trams/light rail:

  • Very low construction time for the system if you already have a road. Just close off a lane for this thing and you’re good (probably don’t even need to do that if you’re willing to run it in mixed traffic, but honestly fuck cars, this deserves it’s own lane). Compare this to building rails and stations which can take years.

  • A lot cheaper. The article I linked references a paper says it can be as low as 10% of the upfront costs of light rail. Though it does seem to me like an overly generous estimate, if it’s even in that ball park, it would make it basically on par with regular busses cost wise, not that surprising since this basically is a bus with train-like bogies.

  • Flexible routing. This can go basically anywhere, whereas with a tram you’re stuck on existing rails. You can divert in a pinch if a roadway gets closed, and you can easily revise routes as the city changes.

  • Less materials. This is said to be lighter than a tram or a diesel bus so you already have that, and depending on the exact infrastructure it’s run on, you might even use less materials on the infrastructure compared to rails, or use more but have it last a lot longer (still using less in the long run).

  • More energy efficient than rail trams? See this somewhat heated thread on Reddit.

  • A lot less noise than steel on steel.

The disadvantages I can think of are the tire participates that get into the ecosystem, the sustainability issues with lithium ion batteries, and the fact that this would probably be expensive as hell just because it’s new technology.

  • Tristano@lemmy.ca
    4·
    1 year ago

    The problem with rubber tires is they wear the ground out a lot more, this increases with weight, these teams are going to be heavy. And if they run along the exact same spot each time it’s going to damage the ground a shit ton. This why why steel wheels on steel rails are better, they can handle a lot more weight with less maintenance.

    If you really can’t put in a real tram with rails in, use trolley busses. Trolley busses can be fairly long and high capacity, while having rubber tires for hills. The benefit is they don’t drive over the same spot each time. There’s a ton more benefits to trolley busses and they are greatly underrated.

    This sounds like a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist. Ok well, maybe cities too cheap to pay for rails is a problem.

    Edit:

    Even worse, it runs in batteries. This is terrible for weight and efficiency. Just throw up some centenary wires, reduces weight and it’s more energy efficient.

    Many newer trolley busses come with very small batteries so they they can drive to and from their depot’s. The smaller battery means limited range, but that’s not the point, it also saves on weight vs a battery electric bus.

    Here’s a few videos on trolley busses:

    https://youtu.be/SB9EARKvCTc https://youtu.be/Z22UUbpgJSc

    Here’s a video on a similar systems that’s been removed cuz it’s a dumb idea: https://youtu.be/Kr4EZwZbxwQ