Yeah, I know the title sounds like gibberish. The Shweeb began as an innovation in mass transit. It is a monorail system in which people ride in pods slung below the rail and propel themselves by pedaling in a recumbent position. The folks at Google were so intrigued by the idea that they granted the company a million dollars in 2010 to develop the idea. Tom Scott takes a ride in one and shows us how it's done. Would you commute to work in a Shweeb? To me, it looks scary, uncomfortable, tiring, and liable to induce motion sickness. Imagine having to take your grandma or a small child with you. So far, the Shweeb is only in operation at a theme park in New Zealand.
When I first read the title, I wondered "who is The Schweeb?"
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a fraternity nickname. I figured Tom Scott had taken to referring to himself as The Schweeb for some reason.
There used to be a 'pedal assist' ride in Legoland California called Sky Cruiser. Since Legoland is for small kids, it was a lot slower. Still, they ended up closing it down because of safety concerns.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are tired of me saying that they'd get a lot more ridership on the local BART rapid transit train if they put a loop-the-loop in the middle of it.