The Future of Transportation

[Midwinter Mist]

What does the future hold for travel and transportation? It's something I often wonder about.

As I sit and type away to friends across the water and we discuss the plans we'd make if we could come together, I do a typical thing by imagining a world with instantaneous transportation. It's an interesting thought, one I daydream about before coming back to reality and imagining the realistic and feasible options. But I've read about the expenses and other issues that come with the likes of faster travel.

Here and there, I've seen discussions of future air-travel in particular and it seems, if anything, the aircrafts could become slower and packed out with gadgets, creating comfort over convenience. Whatever the case, one day travel will change a fair bit, from cars to planes, but what changes can we really expect and how will they affect the development of the world and the environment? How much will these changes cost us?

[firenexx]

I see zeppelins and horses coming back.

Zeppelins got a bad rap after the hindenburg. They are generally filled with a non-flammable gas, but there was some dumb situation involving helium back then so they used hydrogen or something.

Also horses are great if there is an oil shortage and gas stations no longer have gas.

In terms of fast transportation, I see super high-speed maglev trains travelling in a vacuum tube, as well as efficiently designed city streets and intersections. (One city, I forget what country, completely eliminated the slowness associated with "rush hour traffic" by re-designing their roads and intersections)

[peacetalks]

Whatever it may be, I'm sure the fare will increases to the extent where only rich people can afford or these kind of transportation maybe too expensive for one to have it.

[Midwinter Mist]

NY to LA in 12 minutes