Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Esco-slide

Travel to and from destinations via a network of escalators and slides
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As a school boy I don't like walking to school and thought it would be great fun to travel there by escalator and ride home on a slide - roller-coaster. It would be 50p per mile for the escalator and free for the self powered rollercoaster.
gizmo, Oct 15 2001

Urban ski-lift mass transit http://www.halfbake...lift_20Mass-Transit
See also... [hippo, Oct 15 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

MetroCoaster mass transit http://www.halfbake..._20Transit_20System
See also... [hippo, Oct 15 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) Your wish is my command, stupop http://www.halfbake...-Surf_20to_20School
Try this fer kicks, gizmo. [Guy Fox, Oct 15 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) Giant Goose Fossils http://www.msnbc.co.../794961.asp?pne=msn
Imagine these in your yard, blissmiss [thumbwax, Aug 18 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

BikeTrans a new closed bike system http://www.biketrans.com/info.html
http://www.biketrans.com/info.html Closed bike transport system [pashute, Aug 28 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

[link]






       whooooaaaa there. Explain this self-powered rollercoaster.
lewisgirl, Oct 15 2001
  

       The rollercoaster could maybe be powered by the escalator? [gizmo] I assume that your school is on top of a large hill.
stupop, Oct 15 2001
  

       conservation of momentum?

Oi, pottedstu, I'm not that heavy.
lewisgirl, Oct 15 2001
  

       Yeah, I wanted this as a child too. Just sliding all the way home would be better, but you need something to get you gravitational potential energy. I thought as a child you could move the school down in the morning and upwards at night. Possibly a little complex, though it'd look damn cool rising up in the evening with a network of multi-coloured rope slides coming out of it like a may-pole.   

       How about a slide with lots of little wavy hairs like cilia that propel you along flat or uphill, giving you the sensation of movement, without having to inveigle Mr Gravity into the transportation scheme? No, I doubt it'd be as much fun.   

       Maybe you could have big fans to blow you on the uphill section. That would be a cool way of travel: sit on a smooth surface or little cart, open your jacket and whizz along wind-powered. Damn, driving to work just isn't the same.   

       [lg: I'm assuming the self-powered rollercoaster is actually gravity-powered, driven by your weight.]
pottedstu, Oct 15 2001
  

       //a slide with lots of little wavy hairs like cilia... I doubt it'd be as much fun.//   

       Ya kidding, pottedstu? Make this out of little robot arms, give it a nu-metal soundtrack and let the kids crowd-surf to school. It's a guaranteed winner. I'd use it to get to work myself (bounce bounce whee I'm upside-down bounce whee oops there goes my shoe bounce oh I feel a bit sick now bounce bounce whee). Stage-dive from the bike-sheds when you want to go home. In the current age of minigoths and four-foot Fred Dursts, surely this is an idea whose time has come.
Guy Fox, Oct 15 2001
  

       [Guy Fox/Pottedstu] brilliant! I recommend you post 'Crowd surf to school' as a new idea.
stupop, Oct 15 2001
  

       "Sorry I'm late Miss Teacher - I got caught in the mosh pit and lost my homework"
hippo, Oct 15 2001
  

       Whaddaya say, pottedstu? I think you have first dibs, but I'm happy to post it and go haufers with you on the croissants/fishbones, if you want.
Guy Fox, Oct 15 2001
  

       [Guy Fox] You're welcome to it. I think crowd surfing's just as creepy as having lots of microscopic hairs pushing you to school. Also, I think the shift from cilia to crowdsurfing's big enough for you to take the credit (or fishbones). Maybe I'm just not a touchy-feelie person, though. Would they drop you randomly, and would there be bouncers to beat you up when you got there?
pottedstu, Oct 15 2001
  

       Sorry to take so long to reply I've been working very hard at school and then had the Simpsons to watch. I would have a big tower at the School where the roller coaster starts and is powered by your own weight as pottedstu suggests. The carriages would be stuffed with sweets. To leave the roller coaster you would have to press a button which chucks you out to land on the Bouncy Castle which I would have in my garden, the escalator is flat and would not need to go to the top of the tower
gizmo, Oct 15 2001
  

       [lewisgirl]: Sorry! We would of course have an army of blissmiss's geese to assist you on your way. Not that you'd need an army. Damn! And I wonder why girls never speak to me.
pottedstu, Oct 15 2001
  

       Perhaps magnets? I don't know. I remember that they're building some trains that can conserve much energy by using magnts to keep them going. That'd be fun.   

       Then again, I can't see how the tracks of these "slides" would be laid. If everyone had one, there'd be a lot of clutter in the streets/skies. Even if we created "highways" for these slides, a lot of people will bump into each other causing many injuries and even deaths.
Spread, Jun 02 2002
  

       Flightless megafauna such as reanimated half-tone(ne) geese would make nice land transports. See link.
thumbwax, Aug 18 2002
  

       I used to bicycle to university in Jerusalem. I took the short and steep route up and then glided for kilometers till I reached the U. Then on the way back I again chose the steep way up and glided for kilometers back home.   

       You need several towers where people can be "picked up", and from there glide. It could be two ways, or in a mountainous area, one way.
pashute, Aug 28 2002
  

       Ride the cilia upwards, and then have a waterslide on the way back down. My commute is solved.
RayfordSteele, Aug 28 2002
  

       When I was your age we had to WALK to school uphill BOTH ways! In the snow! And we at dirt for breakfast... and we liked it!!   

       <punk kid>
demtangs, Jun 20 2003
  
      
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