Where are Our Political Visionaries?

Whoosh autonomous aerial tramway vehicle

Professor Joe Goldblatt

Edinburgh Airport recently announced it would raise its drop off charge to a whopping £6.00 per vehicle. This punishment was of course designed to encourage airport uses to use public transport as an alternative to individual automobiles. I have another idea that may now be seen as radical, however, the term radical is derived from the word root so it is now time that our leaders might wish to consider examining the root of the problem to encouage more folk to use public transit.

Once upon a time there was a man who was labeled “Monorail Max” by local media pundits. He had the radical, some would describe it as “visionary” idea of using a monorail, similar to the system at Walt Disney World to transport millions of commuters from the the Dallas – Fort Worth (DFW) airport to the center of one of America’s largest cities. In the early 1970’s this visionary city councilman was also referred to as “Mickey Mouse Max” as his Disney like ideas were seen as silly and whimsical by his adversaries.

Fifty years later, his idea is now being considered for use all over the world and after previously being used by major attractons such as the New York World’s Fair of 1964 and is still in operation today at Walt Disney World.

The later day roots of this innovative aerial transport concept were planted within Google who needed a low emission and efficient transport system to connect its multiple campuses and they turned to Holmes Solutions consulting who eventually created the Swyft Cities concept. The current Whoosh transport system is currently testing an autonomous aerial tramway transport system in New Zealand.

In 2024 the Swyft Cities organisation apprached five Dallas area large cities and invited them to consider using Whoosh to reduce their transport congestion. In the greater Dallas geographic area, it is projected that there will be growth of 1 million or more new residents every seven years. Therefore, there is a great need in this geographic area for rapid, easy to implement, and sustainable transport solutions.

The Whoosh system is similar to visionary idea of the man whose planshe were looked at with great skepticism in the 1970’s. His reasoning was simple and straight forward. He wanted a system that would not disrupt the natural beauty of local neighbourhoods and therefore he believed an aerial tramway was the perfect solution. His skeptics continued throughout the 1970’s to sensationalise what they deemed his preposterous ideas and in one news story he was told that in Seattle, Washington where an aerial tramway gondola system had recently fallen to the ground after a baby elephant had boarded the vehicle during a publicity stunt.

The man who was being attacked simply responded that the wise city council could easily pass legislation banning all elephants from using public transport! And that was the end of the story.

According to Whoosh, their system, as compared to petrol operated buses, will reduce energy usage and resulting pollution by 84% and because it is city centre focused it will also reduce the need for parking. Furthermore, it will provide passengers with a maginificent scenic view of their surrounding environment during their transport time.

The man whose ideas were laughed at fifty years ago was described by one journalist as a visionary who was much more than a political gadfly. In fact, the journalist wrote about this man that his ideas were so visionary in scope that he was actually a firefly, a bright bio luminescent organism whose interesting ideas attracted his fellow citizens to follow him to see where his visionary thinking might lead them.

His thinking continues to lead others as evidenced by the innovation of the Whoosh transport system being considered now for his home city. Perhaps we need more politicians who are ready, willing, and able to use their talents to propose bold and visionary ideas. Then it will be up to the citizens they represent to decide whether they wish to follow them to see where they may lead.

The man once labled “Monorail Max” was my father, the late Max B Goldblatt. I hope if the City of Dallas or their neighbours implements this transport scheme they might consider naming it the Maxi Ride in honour of Papa whose twentieth century visionary ideas are now finally being considered once again and embraced in a positive manner due to the twenty – first challenges of overpopulation, climate change, and global warming.

I also hope that one day my grandchildren shall return to the land of their birth in Edinburgh, Scotland from an international journey and board an low emission aerial autonomous tram system to fly them from the airport to the centre of our awe inspiring world heritage city whilst prividing them with a breath taking view of the future of cities once governed by visionaries.

Professor Joe Goldblatt is Emeritus Professor of Planned Events at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland. His views are his own. To read more about his views visit www.joegoldblatt.scot

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