Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ARLINGTON – (WMAL) Now that the streetcar idea was nixed in Arlington, another idea is coming to the forefront to help relieve congestion on Columbia Pike, though the owner admits it’s a bit out there.
“Have you ever seen Willy Wonka?” asks JPods owner Bill James. “These are a network of horizontal elevators where you get in, you tell the computer where you want to go, and they move you.”
It appears to be an upside-down monorail, with a gondola-like vehicle hanging from a suspended rail.
“We can build a physical internet that moves people and cargo, with the efficiency of freight rail in our cities,” James said. “Think of the car as the right answer but the highway is the wrong network. What we did with JPods is we’ve taken the network and we’ve moved it overhead and suspended the vehicle from it instead of riding on top of it.”
Arlington officials so far have only said they are “aware” of the proposal but haven’t taken any steps toward feasibility. James said the community support is out there, but the challenge will be getting the government on board.
“I think there’s a fairly strong community response. I’m always questioning how fast governments will move, because basically we build governments among ourselves to coerce compliance. Innovation is a disruptive compliance failure.”
Copyright 2015 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: jpods.com)
