The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

Hi

Here you go.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_...lines/36390419

Amazing, this I have got to see as soon as it is built.

Other countries have far more innovative ways of dealing with traffic, we seem to be to be stuck in a rut.

The Skytrain in Bangkok is fantastic, a simple low cost way of moving vast numbers of people.

Just stick some pillars up in the middle of existing roads and run a train on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s34wCLeiLW4

35 minutes to cross London, 15 minutes to get into the centre of Manchester or Birmingham, no hassle, no pollution.

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

An excellent idea.

I just hope it allows for bad road positioning.

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

Good idea but a bit scary, I wouldn't like to be underneath it if it stops.

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

What a brilliant idea.
The only drawback I can see, looking at the model, is the likelihood of taking the top off of a large pantechnicon!

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

We are indeed stuck in a rut. It seems that just about every country in the world has invested in an efficient transport infrastructure, except for us of course.

If we go back to the '50s and '60s we see other European countries rapidly building new motorways and investing in electric rail locomotives, whilst we were 'experimenting' with the occasional bypass and retaining our steam locomotives which, although nostalgic and even exciting, were really quite inefficient.

Compare, for example, current motorway maps of Britain and Germany and see what wise investment in the past (or lack of it) has led to.

A lack of foresight and willingness to invest for the future is what has made us what we are now, and we're still failing to do it. A poor transport infrastructure will lead to a poor country.

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

I don't think the buses would be much good here on our packed narrow and windy roads , more something for those countries with wide roads like the USA and Australia.

There was an item on the radio the other day about China using the sun to produce power in the form of solar charged power packs mainly for off grid areas. The packs can power all sorts of things including cookers.

Obviously if there is no sun they don't work but I think there is great potential there in the future for additional alternative energy.

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

JB I think leaving the EU could be the kick up the behind that we need to spur the country on to better and greater innovation.
Through the centuries we have been the world leaders in so many things, a bit of uncertainty about the future and the 'will to succeed' could be just what we need right now .

Re: The Chinese answer to Traffic Jams.

You're perfectly correct. Just look at our history from the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s up to the 1950s. Look at the advances that we have made, not only for ourselves but for the whole world. Over 200 years of leading the world and then, thanks to the Second World War, we fell heavily into debt quickly followed by our governments selling off everything we had to foreign countries, notably America.

Now we are giving away, not selling, our sovereignty to a collection of European nations who demonstrably do not have our interests at heart, and thus we continue on our downward spiral.

In four weeks' time we shall have the opportunity to extricate ourselves. I wonder what 'we' shall decide to do. It could be our last chance to reverse this downward trend. I'm not saying that we can ever regain our national standing as leaders of the world but perhaps we can, with much effort and by working together, regain at least what we had in the 1950s.

On the other hand, even if we regain our independence, it could be too late anyway. The rest of my lifetime will certainly be interesting either way.