Vehicle: Car: Ferry or Transporter
CarBus   (+2, -1)  [vote for, against]
Car Transporter for the Daily Commute

Fairly Simple Design a car transporter to accomodate 15 cars, (stacked three high, 5 long...NO SUV's. The front of the tractor trailer is designed to accomodate 15 passengers in a high state of comfort. 1st application. For persons who commute at peak hours, singly, and therefore unable to use the carpool lane, they could pay a fee, have their cars stacked on the transporter, and climb in for their journey. The Transporter is only for highway use. and of course, would not be making getting off at all the exits. 2nd application Persons going on long road trips, it would be cheaper than renting a car when they get there, and is saves the wear on the car. (of course in some areas, trucks are not allowed in the carpool lane)
-- senatorjam, Sep 04 2002

(?) Rods Tiger's Conveyed Vehicles? http://www.gemcarso....com/gem3825-4p.htm
Best efforts to fulfill Rods' design specifications, as currently being marketed in Southern California (without the handy bus). [jurist, Sep 05 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]

I saw something like this 20 years ago on the Wonderful World of Walt Disney, except it was a car carrier for sleepy travelers.
-- Mr Burns, Sep 04 2002


Bad news if you need to get off before someone else whose car is blocking yours on the car transporter
-- hippo, Sep 05 2002


// would not be making getting off at all the exits. // Hmmmm..... makes me think of the Minis getting into the moving bus in "The Italian Job" ....
-- 8th of 7, Sep 05 2002


I love the GEM vehicle. "An environmentally safe way to travel" Shame about other kinds of safety.
-- PeterSilly, Sep 05 2002


More practically (no new designs necessary), put the drivers in a minibus and the cars on a regular transporter, and have the bus tail the transporter. I always thought it would be easiest to provide a drive-on, drive-off service, but apparently it is illegal (in the States at least) for drivers to remain in cars on car transporters or being towed.

More half-bakedly, create one of UnaBubba's conga lines with the cars.

Getting off at all exits: wouldn't the vice squad kind of frown on that one?
-- DrCurry, Sep 05 2002


Conveyor belt motorways, like moving walkways in airports, but move at about 60mph. You drive at around 10mph and still get there at the same time. No crashing. I'll let y'all figure how you get on and off at either end.
-- Zircon, Sep 05 2002


Your futile attempt to get rid of pollution by this clever gadget of yours will just cause as much pollution as an SUV. See, your rule on //NO SUV's// will make pollution, for not letting SUV's on doesn't cut down on their pollution and you make more, because, as hard as you try, you CANNOT pull all these cars with out at least a V8, if not a diesel, engine. If you did let these "Savage Unrelenting Vehicles" on, then you would cut pollution significantly. Think about it.
-- tustin, Oct 03 2003


Tustin you missed the point completely....I was not attempting to get rid of pollution, nor do I carry a grudge against SUV's. All I want to say is, instead of 15 cars moving and tying up trraffic, now you only have one truck, which should theoretically make traffic move faster.
-- senatorjam, Oct 08 2003


That is a diffrent story. In that case I might change my vote to positive, we defentatly need to keep traffic moving.

Q: What kind of truck are you using? One of those that moves the new cars to the dealers?
-- tustin, Oct 08 2003


Yeah,slightly modified to make loading and unloading easier
-- senatorjam, Oct 09 2003


This would be ideal for long trips ( I independantly sugested this a few weeks ago), you could also use a train. I don't see why you would need this for a commute, unless you drive around all day at work.

Unfortunately you have to get the law about not being able to have passengers in trailers.
-- SystemAdmin, Oct 09 2003


A good analogy would be to call this idea a "Land Ferry", since it would operate much the same way a water ferry does.
-- SystemAdmin, Oct 09 2003


It occurred to me this morning you might save a ton of money on tollbooths in some jurisdictions, since trucks are often charged by number of axles, while cars are charged per car.
-- krelnik, Oct 09 2003



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