General characteristics

The translation of the design objectives (see above) into general characteristics is considered ``common sense''. It is a collection of opinions from different people that are supposed to know the potentials of state of the art technology. Note that these are the characteristics primarily from the user's point of view. More detailed aspects that are important for developer, producers and operators are addressed in Sections 1.2.

Increase in life quality

Here, only those aspects of life quality are considered that are directly related with transportation. Other aspects are discussed in Sections 1.1.2 and 1.1.3. Concerning transportation, it is understood that people will perceive an increase in life quality if their latent demand for mobility and flexibility can be satisfied. Therefore, the important characteristics of the new TS should be:

• door-to-door transport, without intermediate transfers
• individual vehicles, people should have the possibility to reach their destination individually, or with persons of their choice
• on-demand availability. Vehicles should be available on-demand and 24h a day

• short trip times, especially for medium and long distances. This means no congestion and high traveling speeds for long distances

• high ride comfort: people should be able to work, sleep or eat during the trip
• transport flexibility. It should be possible to transport different items like shopping trolleys, pushchairs, skis, bikes or smaller furniture. It would further desirable to be able to do some ``useful'' activities during the trip, like reading, working with a computer etc
• easy and consistant to use

For professional users, (mainly freight transport) the following (additional) points are of importance:

• reliability: vehicles should always arrive in time
• integration of in-door and out-door transportation, in wharehouses and to production machines
• transport services: a flexible transport system should offer services, supporting trends in manufacturing that prove to increase productivity and efficiency as for example just-in-time delivery and decentralized production (out-sourcing, modular sourcing, down-sizing)

Social aspects

• High safety for users and non-users: the system should be safer than present car and public transport in order to reduce injuries and avoid casualties. This would help to increase public health.

• Low pollution: the system should have low, if possible no emissions while keeping noise levels at a minimum.

• Available for everybody: for people off all ages and abilities.
• Affordable for everybody: for people of all social groups.

• Low land use: cities and countryside should be for the people to live in and not for transport.

• Stress free travel: would further contribute to a healthier live. Passengers should feel in control of their destination and have a smooth and comfortable ride.
• Family trips should be possible, assuming vehicles large enough for four adult persons plus space for baggage.

• Arrangement of seats: persons should be seated such that they can easily communicate during travel.

Environmental aspects

The TS should be low in consuming natural resources and polluting the environment. This means:

• low energy consumption
• low consumption of materials
• low emission of toxic matter
• low noise
• low interaction with nature and wild-life
• low land use

All items apply to the entire life cycle of the system and components, comprising production, operation and recycling/disposal.

Aesthetic aspects

All visible parts of the TS (mainly guideways, rails and stations) should be aesthetically appealing and they should compliment the architecture of the city and be unobtrusive in the countryside.

Economical viability

The system should be economically attractive for system users, service providers, operators, and manufacturers. More details are developed in Section 1.2.

Other aspects

• Compatibility with other transportation systems: on the one hand the new TS need to provide a certain compatibility or option for cooperation with the present TS, in order to allow a co-existence and a smooth transition. On the other hand the new TS must be a useful complement to the entire transportation infrastructure (both passenger and freight transport) after its implementation.
• Fun: the introduction of the new TS will be a lot easier if people just like to ride it.

Preliminary conclusions

A TS that must be available1 24 hours a day, easy to use by almost everybody and at the same time efficient, flexible, economic, environmental friendly, safe and reliable. This can only be accomplished by a complete automation of the transport system . However, it needs to be shown that such a system can be efficiently solved with today's technology.

Vehicles need to be as small and light as possible in order to reduce space, costs, visual impact and to increase flexibility of infrastructure. A vehicle sharing option would further minimize land-use and pollution. For freight that is too large or too heavy to be transported in one or more smaller vehicles, there would be the following options:

• Transport with conventional rail, ships or trucks (as special transport). Industry that is dealing with large or heavy products has usually access to one of those transportation means.
• Transport with an automated transport system that has a separated network for heavy freight. This network should also be compatible with the small vehicle size network.

Electric moters can provide high energy efficiency, low emission and low noise, but the flexibility of electrically driven vehicles is limited by the inherent storage problem of electrical energy. The tracks should be small, inexpensive, flexible and with low visual impact. Of special interest are elevated guideways that can help to remove high density through traffic from ground level. This may also help to facilitate a transient from present transport systems to the new TS as it separates the new TS from car traffic and pedestrians. However, it is not expected that elevated guideway structures can provided everywhere door-to-door service. They may also be aesthetically unacceptable in historic city centers with narrow streets.

It appears that there is no single technological solution that sufficiently satisfies all criteria. Therefore, the new TS need to consider solutions that integrate different transportation technologies.