The capital, energy, and time economics of an automated, on-demand transportation system

Many transit and rail planners believe that the only way to decrease the capital and operating cost of rail and transit systems is to decrease the size and weight of the vehicles. The authors discuss the requirements of such a downsized transportation system and the benefits to be gained by decreasing the size of the operational vehicles. Not only can the capital and operating cost of the system be dramatically decreased, but the operational requirements of a system involving the use of smaller vehicles permits its use as an on-demand system, further increasing system utility to the passenger and system operator. The capital cost, energy economics, and the economics of the CyberTran transportation system are reviewed.<>