Making Transit Pay
Profitable Mass Transit
Gravitators unique design properties generate far more revenue at far less cost than a conventional metro. This makes it profitable in situations with a concentration of origins and destinations, such as:
Portable lobby/entrance - make an attractive-but-inconvenient site as accessible as the central business district
Metro expander - make underutilized real estate convenient to mass transit
Hub/destination connector - connect a train station to the heart of downtown
Campus connector - make a large campus as convenient as though it were a single building
Air train - make door-to-door air travel much faster and connect an airport to business district or main line train station
Lower CapEx
Half or more of the construction cost of a new subway lines are attributable to stations. Gravitator’s design allows stations to be right at the surface—less than 1/3 the cost of building stations underground.
Gravitator’s high speed allows a single tunnel to provide the same capacity and frequency as a conventional twin tunnel subway for distances up to 2 miles. This cuts the cost of tunnel construction (and of the associated systems) in half.
The high speed also means that fewer vehicles are required to provide a given level of service. Thus, the cost of rolling stock for a Gravitator system is approximately 25% lower. Gravitators use the same equipment and technology as a conventional automated guideway transit (AGT) system. It can run on steel wheels, rubber tires, or potentially something more exotic (such as maglev), depending on the planned capacity and speed, as well as on the economics of a given project.
Taken together, total CapEx is less than half that of a comparable subway line.
Higher Revenue
How shall I get to work? How shall we get to the restaurant? How shall I get to the store?
Usually these questions translate into “what is the (1) quickest and (2) most convenient way to get there?” Cost is often a major consideration, but it is typically less important than speed and ease/convenience for shorter distance travel, such as trips within a given city.
Gravitators are faster than any existing mode of urban travel, which is tremendously valuable to users.
Gravitators’ speed is amplified by the fact that stations are located right at street level. Unlike most modern subways, there is no need to travel through a labyrinth of escalators and elevators. Step-free boarding at street level makes it even easier than boarding a bus.
It’s as easy and convenient as stepping on an elevator—and just as quick as an elevator ride.*
The real estate maxim “location, location, location” means that a property’s location is the most important factor in determining its value. There are several relevant aspects of location, such as the beauty of a property’s surroundings. A fundamental aspect of location, however, is the accessibility of a property, especially for commercial real estate. A beautiful-but-inaccessible property becomes as valuable as if it were adjacent to a major transportation hub by connecting it with a Gravitator. In fact, it becomes even more valuable if the property is indeed attractive, such as a waterfront site.
Lower OpEx
Gravitators are also slightly less expensive to run than a conventional metro or people-mover system, because (1) the gravity-assisted acceleration and deceleration reduces energy consumption and (2) Gravitators have less track/guideway and fewer vehicles to maintain for a given capacity.
*118 seconds is reportedly the average duration of an elevator ride in New York City (https://hbr.org/2012/01/why-you-need-a-better-elevator), although I have not been able to find the original source of this figure.
Modern subways can be beautiful, but depressingly expensive—and often inconvenient to access.
Subways are costly to build, and driving is often faster
Profitable urban mass transit for cities
Public agencies and existing institutions aren’t keeping up, and newly-built infrastructure is not fundamentally different from that built 70 years ago.
Conventional mass transit is generally unprofitable, and not attractive to entrepreneurs and investors.
Streets are congested, but right beneath our feet, the urban underground remains largely unused—a desert waiting to be capitalized on.
