Hyperloop

There is a video on YouTube that details the proposed HyperLoop, a transit system that would get someone from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes.  The idea is to have tubes that stretch between the two cities.  The tubes are very low pressure - close to vacuum - so that there is no air resistance.  The pod could thus zoom at 800 miles per hour.  That sounds pretty cool.  You could work in San Francisco and work in LA.  Neat.

It sounds great and even doable but I don't see this working.  First, the proposed pod can only accommodate 24 passengers.  Even with a pod leaving every 5 minutes, that's less than 300 people an hour.  Also, unlike a standard train or subway, there is no getting off at your stop.  This is more like a small jet.  Thanks to the energy efficiency aspect, it may offer private jet-like speed to more people but it won't have the expandable capacity (its a lot easier to build more jets than more vacuum tubes) or the freedom of destination (that private jet isn't stuck in a vacuum tube).  As shown, it looks to be a novelty that isn't really mass transit.  The test of its viability will be its funding source.  If government pays for it, it is a boondoggle.  If private industry pays, it might have a shot of turning a profit and expanding.

 

Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla, PayPal) is the big proponent for this.  Here is a man with big dreams and a string of amazing accomplishments.  That he thinks this is viable is a good argument against my doubts.  Perhaps this is meant to be profitable with a relatively small number of passengers.