So by “trackless tram” they mean long bus?
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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The technical term is "Bendy Bendy Bus"
I remember watching a video during lockdown here and melb of a dudes reaction to a news report about these 'trackless trams' and to this day it still sticks in my head
"Haven't seen the family in months, can't go to the pub, but FUCK I CANT WAIT TO GO CATCH SOME BUSES"
Also, this is my first post from Boost, so uhh, go easy on me!
But seriously, what sets this apart from a Bus?
I think they set the self driving settings to "smooth like a slow tram" rather than "driven like it's stolen" the way transperth busses often are.
It has 3 sections (instead of 2 on a standard 'bendy bus') and no driver.
It's self-driving, I guess.
It gives rise to all sorts of trolley problems. Philosophers of Perth, prepare your points!
Maybe they've finally solved the trolley problem by passing the buck and handing off the repsonsibilty to some program. No matter how it fails, no one will be at fault and any injuries or deaths will be the cost of progress.
But then whoever presses the execute command for the program would then be at fault? Or the designers of the program? Or an apportionment of blame share?
The trolley problem! Hours of fun to be had!
Busses can go anywhere the driver wants to go.
This will have a programmed route. It will stop and go autonomously but can not deviate from the route.
Why not just spend that little bit extra and build either a BRT (which is what this actually is) with signal priority, or a real tram line with overhead wires and rails and stuff?
Because they want to build something which sounds cool and exciting whilst not actually helping much
A bus holds 50 people, or 70 super uncomfortably. A tram carries 3-4 times that number. As someone who started sceptical of trams when moving to Melbourne and became an avid convert, I'm cautiously optimistic.
I wish we still had our tram network. If these can fill that niche without all the support infrastructure of a real light rail implementation, I'm in.