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Edmonton - Red Deer - Calgary Hyperloop | ?m | ?s | Transpod

What do you think of a Hyperloop between Edmonton and Calgary?

  • Total voters
    72
^. ^^
You might want to add “5 Rules For Tomorrow’s Cities” by Patrick Condon and “A Pattern Language” by Alexander, Ishikawa, Silverstein to your reading list as well although they can be heavier reading than Jacobs.
 
archited said:
I may have mentioned this to you before, but a good starting point for understanding is Jane Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities".
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I'm actually gonna order that book online soon! Been hearing great things about it. :D

Look, I think we both agree here, you're just going a level deeper into the topic. I agree that there's no "one-size-fits-all" approach to urban planning and that different areas in a city can be unique in their style of planning and construction. I agree that areas should have a mix of the things you mentioned. What I'm saying is that we can take the general idea of new urbanism and apply it to new situations and make fusions with other styles, such as the example of Vancouver and its point towers which are often brought up. That imo is an example of new urbanism (people-oriented streets) mixing with the high-density downtown skyscraper style.
 
As we start 2021 with feelings of hope and renewal, we wanted to first take this opportunity to thank you for supporting and following the TransPod project.
We are moving full steam ahead in Alberta, Canada: We will deliver a full feasibility study this year, and will also be finalizing the private investment that will finance the development of a high-speed test track in the Edmonton-Calgary corridor.
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'We believe using unproven transportation technology to link two of Alberta's largest cities, which haven't been linked by passenger rail for decades, will be a great success!'

We don't need Lyle Lanley coming here and selling us a monorail when tried and true HSR systems have been successful worldwide.
 
Avenuer said:
'We believe using unproven transportation technology to link two of Alberta's largest cities, which haven't been linked by passenger rail for decades, will be a great success!'

We don't need Lyle Lanley coming here and selling us a monorail when tried and true HSR systems have been successful worldwide.
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As of recent I've come to this conclusion regarding this situtation: Let them test and research this technology here in Alberta if they really want to, that's perfectly fine and can only be good for further building our reputation as a great place for research and innovation. However, should they be allowed to start building the Edmonton-Calgary connection as soon as they can? No!! It's still not proven that this system will even work, much less be safe and practical for passenger usage. While they start developing their technology, let's get the ball rolling on a functional normal rail connection in the interim to build ridership along the corridor. Even a 150-200 kph train would be so much better than a 100 kph bus or a $500 plane ticket. I personally still think HSR reigns as the best option in our case but, of TransPod can prove their tech works and address all concerns regarding safety and costs, then I'm for it.
 
Call it my love of trains, but I remain sceptical of hyperloops. It seems to like monorails or people movers, which were similarly exciting (and gimmicky) technologies that ultimately failed to have any significant impact on the nature of mass transportation. I don't think its proponents really account for the incredible vulnerability of the concept itself to breakdowns, mechanical faults, and flaws in design or construction. Traditional high speed railway, or perhaps even maglev, is definitely the way to go here.
 
TAS said:
One concern I have is that the proposal is from Edmonton airport to dt Calgary. So someone going to Edmonton pays $150 for ticket and then another $50 to get dt? Or hope on public transit for another 45 minutes?
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Their test track will be between Edmonton and the city proper, so I guess it depends on where the city stop is located. Ideally it'd at least be located near an LRT station.
 
“140,000 jobs” wait what?? I get the hype over this but that job claim for this is wildlyyyy optimistic.

Granted that’s direct and indirect jobs, but that’s essentially stating this project will have more of an effect on Alberta’s employment than the AHS.

Idk about y’all, but I’m really apprehensive about the hyper loop for some reason.
 
^^^^

i would love to see the analysis...

mine says they say their cost is 30 billion. infrastructure projects like this need a 10% return to be financed in private markets. that's 300 million a year. assuming 50% of that $150 ticket price is needed for maintenance and operating costs, that leaves $75 per ticket. 300 million divided by 75 is 4 million passengers a year. assuming no difference between weekend and weekday traffic, that's just under 11,000 passengers a day. every day. a single pod can carry 50 passengers. that's 220 pods a day assuming each pod is full. assuming the average is likely to be closer to 50%, that's 440 pods. assuming a realistic 14 hour a day window that most riders will actually travel in means 31 pods an hour. this is without allowing for their freight pods. their own design maximum is a 2 minute headway between pods...

which means if the numbers they're putting forward are accurate, there's no way this makes economic sense. firstly, i don't believe potential ridership is anywhere close to what would be needed to make this financially viable and if there was that much ridership available their system can't support it.

but what do i know. i'm just a dumb developer.
 
Don't forget Ken that there is two-way traffic which would cut your numbers in half in terms of usage in one direction -- 16 pods going south; 16 coming north. And there could be other revenue streams besides ticket sales and freight charges. Still it is an ambitious number!
 
^^

that jobs number was the annualized cumulative number of jobs over a 9 plus year period. annualized that's 15,566 jobs for one year.

presumably it also included transpod's staff and their engineers and consultants and the concrete and steel plant employees and the pod manufactures and seat suppliers etc. i don't believe it was ever "alberta jobs", never mind on-going jobs.

i'm a bit surprised they didn't extend it for 30 years rather than just 9 but my guess is that the number of actual permanent jobs after 9 is so low that it would bring the annualized count down more than doing so would add.
 
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