I love to get lost in the world of transportation. I’ve always been fascinated by means of getting where you need to go – although I am not a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination. But give me extensive subway and light-rail systems (and the corresponding MAPS! –> Transit Maps of the World is one of my favorite books) and I’m soon finding myself lost in reading all about them.
You may have heard about the Hyperloop in the news recently. It’s Elon Musk’s latest high-minded concept and I freakin’ love it. Is there any chance it’ll get built? Probably not, but it’s awesome to think about. I downloaded the PDF from his site, http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/hyperloop, and read through it, probably drooling the entire time. I love when someone comes up with something that would really have an impact while also being super freakin’ cool. Mr. Musk talks about initially just the LA to San Francisco route, but then there’s a map….
How amazing would it be to be able to travel between these cities (LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and San Diego) in this manner? The Hyperloop method would theoretically get you to San Francisco from LA in about 35 minutes. That’s insane. Then can you imagine being able to get to Vegas in a similar quick fashion? The estimated costs for the LA-SF route is around $4-5B….certainly not chump change. Mr. Musk compares the costs directly to the in-progress California High Speed Rail, which will take a very long time to build, and will cost in the realm of tens of billions and take 2.5 hours to travel that route. I like the idea of both, but the Hyperloop is so much more exciting. And hello, can you imagine riding along in this? It’s a freakin’ spaceship:
I think it’s exciting to think in the mindset that the Hyperloop addresses – it isn’t talking about an LA to NY distance or something over the oceans, but looking at getting between major regional cities quickly and effectively. The station would then theoretically drop you in to a local subway/light rail system that you can take to get to your final destination within the target city. I LOVE THIS KIND OF THINKING.
Elon Musk isn’t putting up the money to do this, only hoping that this kind of blueprint intrigues someone somewhere to want to build it. I wish I was a billionaire. So maybe it won’t happen, but you know what, the Tesla line of electric cars is out and is profitable and feasible. So I wouldn’t count out his imagination. BTW, I totally would love to have a Tesla Model S. Those things are sweet.