The Las Vegas 'LOOP': BUSTED!
Added 2020-12-31 16:08:43 +0000 UTCThe Las Vegas convention center ‘loop’ system is scheduled to open early in 2021. It was claimed it was to travel at up to 150mph. Its less than a mile long and cost more than 50 million USD.
Far from being a highly advanced, futuristic, automated mass transit system, in reality it’s a bunch of chauffeur driven Tesla cars driving in some very cramped tunnels. The system is way too short to allow high speeds, and way to windy to allow high speeds.
The size of the tunnels makes it even questionable if people can get out of the cars in the tunnel in the event of an emergency.
However all the empty promises are probably not what will sink this- there is no ‘WOW’ factor to driving regular cars through tiny tunnels. In this sense, the second the loop left the world of fancy computer animation, it was doomed!
Comments
As a transport planner of 20yrs with a lot of experience of Paramics this was hilarious to watch. Paramics is about as good as it gets for micro simulation but requires a great deal of training and experience to get it right. Like all models sh*t in, sh*t out. Choosing this ridiculous system over standard tried and tested airport style PRT (or even travellators) is baffling. The capacity constraints of the private car are *why transit exists* in the first place! The stations are just too small for this level of traffic circulation (again, PRT) the cars are too small (and again). The need for drivers blowing the business case is just the icing on the cake. EDIT: Ok after looking into this a little more. The initial route is less than 1.5km. Utterly insane. Most Airport shuttles are longer. When you consider that this is mean to be the first section of wider network... ok, but again a 'light metro' such as a VAL system would be a better fit. If you insist on on demand and want something 'sexy', something like the the Heathrow PRT is at least, a proven proof of concept.
Ben
2021-01-05 14:49:12 +0000 UTCJust the thought of those tiny tunnels is terrifying. They're basically driving through a sewer pipe with LED lights. Any kind of blockage at all, and there's nowhere to go, nothing you can do...
Ferawyn
2020-12-31 20:10:00 +0000 UTC
