WHY MONORAIL?
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Economic & Health Benefits:
Ecologic benefits:
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Welcome to Mass-transit.org, future home of everything you need to know about Monorail, the Future of Mass Transit.
Do we really have to drag two tons of ugly, hazardous, smelly and noisy confabulated steel/plastic down to the quickie Mart with us just to pick up a pack of Nabs? Yes, your car. My car. We all have cars.
Our transport system, next to militarism, shows perhaps most glaringly how we have gone wrong. We all spend far too much time riding in cars. We can't look anywhere without seeing them, can't listen without hearing them, they mow us down in the very streets that have paved over our green planet. An extraterrestrial alien would likely address a car in wanting to find our leader.
The most difficult issue before us is one of human, rather than materials, engineering, in that it involves de-programming values inculcated from years of GM and Chrysler's billions spent on advertising. It is clear that our present generation surfs on a wave of hydrocarbon oil, from the energy that transports us, to the brightly-colored products that ultimately float forever in the ocean's gyres, to the very tar that binds the gravel in our roads into a flesh-searing abrasive. It is not so clear, however, that commuting great distances to cube farms makes us happy or that the internal combustion engine is more efficient than muscle, wind or water power.
This site is designed specifically with the realization that in order for our transports to be sustainable, and to recoup the lost sense of community with which we evolved, the infrastructure surrounding us needs to revert back from machine scale to a human scale. Part of this means incorporating human powered vehicles (HPVs) into a community-based society that is scaled so that HPVs can work as human transport. Another part is determining how we can bring the most satisfaction to a deeply human need for a 'magic carpet ride' with as little environmental impact as possible -- which will probably mean a synergism between HPV principles and electric motors.
Mass-Transit.org exists as a means for sharing information about monorail projects. In what is hoped to be the best tradition of the World-Wide Web, some of the current and projected facilities of Mass-transit.org are free, and some, to support the ongoing work, are provided for a fee designed to be an excellent marketing value for small entities with limited promotional budgets.
The resources here will include a regionally-sorted DIRECTORY of
... a BIBLIOGRAPHY of selected, web-published articles on aspects of mass transit, submitted by the public at large and reviewed by a mass transit expert for topicality.
... a MESSAGE BOARD that can be posted to with information related to questions and answers people have about monorail systems.
... and an EVENT CALENDAR to which postings may be made.
