Peter is the one who pushed the WA government to build rail lines on freeways.

Lucifer,

I don't think the doom scenarios arise from the fact that we will have to make major adjustments. I think they come from the realization of how some people will react when they learn they are going to have to give up what they believe are god-given rights and benefits (god bless America and nowhere else!) How many people like this are there? How willing will people be to let go their current habits of consumption?

In the depression there was hope because people knew it would end eventually and the country would get back on track and growing again. Most people got on with their lives, making adjustments as needed and weathered the storm. During the Arab oil embargo we all knew it would come to an end eventually, yet I personally witnessed two not-so-minor altercations between drivers waiting in line for gas. There was an attitude of entitlement that pervaded the scene.

What happens when people begin to realize that things will not be getting better any time soon? When energy production is in decline people will have to make permanent adjustments that very many of them won't like. Therein lies the potential for a doom scenario.

Couple this with the fact that climate change will put additional stresses on people. They may not have enough energy to adapt to the demands of a new climate regime. What about the availability of water and food. Dealing with peak oil by itself would not be impossible - look at Cuba. But dealing with other major resource depletions and climate change along with peak oil seems to me to be way beyond anything ordinary humans have ever had to face. The real question is what is the probability that they will react without violence?

George

When the 1st oil crisis hit in 1973/74 such a people mover project was on the drawing boards of the German city of Karlsruhe. This concept failed i.a. because we could not accommodate the empty cabins off peak. Councilors did not want to convert newly built multi level car parks to become holding bays for these cabins.

Instead, Council opted to modernize the then existing trams to modern light rail. In the last 30 years, an extensive system was built up.

Dual voltage trams use heavy rail track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cS6B1Tgr5Y

They service large rural areas as "regional trams":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZ9mYTxsOo

pass through small towns and villages
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcM1xCJ_0fY
(this movie could be from a post peak oil world where occasional cars cross the tram's tracks in traffic calmed areas)

and access the city centre directly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsVNGLLQ3b4&feature=related
Amazing how pedestrians and trams mix in the shopping mall.

More details in these links:
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/karlsruhe/

http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Karlsruhe/

"In the case of JPods, transport requires 200 watt-hours to move a pallet of cargo or 4 people a mile. "

My electric bike will take me a mile for 15 watts (without peddling) and go pretty much anywhere I want it to go. You can electrify a bike for as little as $400.

The basic mechanics were recommended by US DOT in 1975 (PB-244854) as a way to permanently prevent future oil embargoes.

So hanging, moving baskets in one land mass will prevent other land masses from withoiding material extracted from the sub-soil. An amazing power hanging moving baskets have!

We will have to re-tool, but that re-tooling will create jobs and pay for itself with gas savings.

Interesting claim. Yet in other posts you claim your for-profit solution is a 'niche' solution - and here you state urban transport - not a niche market.

And yet you still have not addressed the public takings of private land for your private profit. Or how you expect others (TOD) to support your private profit.

(nice pandering/hoping to get on the government dole with the yellow 'support the troops' in the picture. Most cars/SUVs have stopped sporting such, and the stores had such Support-Americans-by-Buying-Stuff-Made-in-China in the closeout-discount rack over a year ago. If you want the governments money these days - make the jpod a weapons system.)