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Old 03-02-2019, 01:50 PM
 
1,927 posts, read 1,050,807 times
Reputation: 879

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Quote:
Originally Posted by beachhead View Post
I don't get what the fascination with choo-choo's is? It was a great technology...in the 1800's, but not so much today. If you really want a modern, adaptable public transportation system, the city should take the lead with an autonomous bus system that is not restricted to expensive, fixed route rails. And for nostalgia's sake, they could always hook one up behind the other, so it feels like a choo-choo, and even design the cars so they look like trolleys.

Of course, while they are at it, perhaps they could hire some competent traffic engineers to move all the way into the late 20th century, and synchronize the traffic lights, and add a few presence sensors so you're not sitting for 5 minutes at a red light, while no other traffic is in the intersection.

But choo-choo's, we want choo-choo's!!
I think many of the lights here use the cameras as a presence detector but they are often not working. There is one near me that doesn't seem to work once the sun gets low on the horizon and it will always hold you for at least 2 complete light cycles at that time of day before turning green, but does not happen any other time.

I reported it to the county because people get frustrated and start running the light, but they haven't done anything about it. Of course, you'd have to be brilliant to use cameras that get tricked by the sun in one of the sunniest places on earth to control traffic.

 
Old 03-02-2019, 01:54 PM
 
1,927 posts, read 1,050,807 times
Reputation: 879
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruff View Post
LVOC:
Re: your autonomous vehicle. Forget the separated lanes.
First question: How long do you think it's really going to take to get RoboCar up and running? Decades! Why? Because too many people will insist on driving. Lawsuit city. But until, there's a solution. Uber et al, which have already proven that transit is DOA, will be ready, willing and able.

But let's build wham bam tram, regardless. And let's use it. Or try. The year is 2025 and it's finally built.
You've landed at LAS and have just scored your luggage. You (and yours) are already exhausted. You're headed to the Golden Nugget downtown (for some strange reason, mostly because it will be close to the new transit line. Yah right). Next question: Are you going to drag yourself, spouse, kids and bags to the new transit stop, pay a separate fare for everyone in your party, wait 15 mins for your ride, load-up, endure a half hour ride with strangers, 25 stops (plus traffic signals), unload, walk a quarter (or half) mile to your destination, etc., etc."
OR
will you let Uber (human-driven for now, autonomous maybe in 20 years) take you direct to the Nugget check-in, no stops, no smelly armpits or terrorists, 15 minutes - and cheaper than the wham bam?

No brainer, right?
The are already autonomous taxis and buses running here in Las Vegas. For now, they have a "driver" who is just watching the console to make sure nothing screws up. I wouldn't be surprised if this technology is ready much sooner than 20 years - probably more like 5.
 
Old 03-02-2019, 01:59 PM
 
1,927 posts, read 1,050,807 times
Reputation: 879
Quote:
Originally Posted by EA View Post
By 2025 cars have to get 54mpg. Taking humans off the gas pedal is about the only way they are going to do that. Computer controlled acceleration can save quite a bit of fuel as it can measure how much gas is being used and adapt.
Virtually all computerized cars made in the last 15 years are "throttle by wire". They don't even have accelerator cables anymore. The gas pedal is simple shifting position on a sensor and the computer is adjusting the air/fuel ratio for power output.
 
Old 03-02-2019, 02:00 PM
 
1,927 posts, read 1,050,807 times
Reputation: 879
Quote:
Originally Posted by EA View Post
Not having to risk life and limb on the roads with other drivers = priceless.
Instead it will just be risking life and limb with all of the homeless crackheads on Maryland Pkwy. Brilliant!
 
Old 03-02-2019, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
142 posts, read 97,434 times
Reputation: 233
I remember growing up in Ohio in the 1960s and driving down Clifton Blvd in Lakewood, where the speed limit was 35 mph, there were signs saying the lights were timed for an average speed of 32 mph. That was over 50 years ago and they had figured it out and implemented back then!
 
Old 03-02-2019, 02:09 PM
 
1,927 posts, read 1,050,807 times
Reputation: 879
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScoopLV View Post
The big-picture problem is we must drastically reduce petroleum consumption. The obvious strategies to do so include self-driving trucks (7% of our fuel goes to air-conditioning semi-truck cabs while the truck is stopped for the evening, idling); transitioning to more public transportation; reducing consumption of plastics; and reining in the Air Force.

Really getting tired of the "trains are so 19th century" whinging from the troglodytes. They're still one of the most efficient ways to move population from a fuel-use standpoint. That's what matters.

I don't know exactly when this country was taken over by a bunch of Disney Princesses who are too good to wait in a line, or sit with strangers, or walk a few blocks. But those who want to "make America great again" should start by telling these princesses to get over themselves.
I fail to see how a light rail or electric vehicles will reduce petroleum consumption. The electricity used for light rail/electric vehicles is less efficient a delivery method than direct burning of fuel. At any rate, the generators used here run on natural gas which is a direct byproduct of petroleum production. There isn't nearly enough solar/wind/hydro in place to cover the electric usage of electric vehicles. Not to mention, it doesn't really reduce total carbon emissions by any real amount - it simply shifts the point in the lifecycle in which most of those emissions are produced to the time of manufacture.
 
Old 03-02-2019, 02:47 PM
 
Location: Lone Mountain Las Vegas NV
18,058 posts, read 10,285,869 times
Reputation: 8828
Quote:
Originally Posted by equid0x View Post
I fail to see how a light rail or electric vehicles will reduce petroleum consumption. The electricity used for light rail/electric vehicles is less efficient a delivery method than direct burning of fuel. At any rate, the generators used here run on natural gas which is a direct byproduct of petroleum production. There isn't nearly enough solar/wind/hydro in place to cover the electric usage of electric vehicles. Not to mention, it doesn't really reduce total carbon emissions by any real amount - it simply shifts the point in the lifecycle in which most of those emissions are produced to the time of manufacture.
Generally not true anymore. The loaded cost of solar has now reached the point where it is less expensive than the variable cost of fossil fuels. At that point you duplicate all your fossil fuel sources with solar. And you run solar whenever available. This is particularly true in places like S. NV where solar yield is maximal.

And roof top solar will soon reach the point at which it will pay for itself in a few years including charging a car. Unfortunately the marketing system for rooftop will not be competitive with utility scale solar. The problem is that half the price of roof top solar is marketing and overhead. So rooftop will be over twice as expensive as utility solar.

Eventually the storage problem will get solved. Or the price of solar will get low enough that things like generating hydrogen become possible. Probably some years away though.
 
Old 03-04-2019, 11:53 PM
 
44 posts, read 49,589 times
Reputation: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tek_Freek View Post
I find the dumbest decision made by "engineers" here is stop light timing. I've played around with speed on a couple of major streets and find going 55-60 on a 45 mph road lets me make the lights.

And I surmise that this is part of the problem with so many speeders here. They've figured that out, too.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I swear the people who design these systems either don't drive, or never drive the streets they make decisions about.
In 2019, my Audi can get traffic light timing information indicating how long to the next green light and at what speed to drive to make as many green lights as possible. When at a red light the car will indicate as to how much time until it turns green.
 
Old 03-05-2019, 02:00 AM
 
1,927 posts, read 1,050,807 times
Reputation: 879
Quote:
Originally Posted by usafwso View Post
In 2019, my Audi can get traffic light timing information indicating how long to the next green light and at what speed to drive to make as many green lights as possible. When at a red light the car will indicate as to how much time until it turns green.
It's a fancy feature. I prefer that the government at least need to use their own resources to find out where I am. No sense to have OnStar send it to them in real time.
 
Old 03-05-2019, 02:56 AM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,143 posts, read 28,910,546 times
Reputation: 32494
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruff View Post
McCarran surveyed passengers as to how many would use this light rail. Fewer than 1% said they would. Would you?
Why are they asking tourists in this survey? They're irrelevant to a light rail system as light rail spells residential use! I've rode both the 108 and 109 buses to and from the Airport, and I've seen a number of people with luggage, coming and going, and a great number of the service workers at the Airport ride these buses, and if light rail were available, they'd ride the train instead.

They should be asking those along the Maryland route is they'd use it, like the students at UNLV.

Building one light rail line will advertised to the rest of the country, where light rail lines have proliferated, that conservative Las Vegas has finally decided to join the 21st century!

If I understand it, McCarren gets some kind of kickback for every taxi or Uber ride from the Airport. Why on earth should we trust McCarren with vested self-interests not to have a rail line to the Airport!!!
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