I rode Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, the worst transit system on Earth

joshstrange

I haven't kept up with the "Loop" concept but I had heard it would use cars, not trains/similar which already felt stupid but the fact you had to wait for a car coming the other direction just feels beyond the pale. And that's before we get to the the "drivered" car. If ever there was a case where autonomous cars should excel, it's got to be this but instead we have human drivers still. So it's literally Lyft/Uber with extra steps, limited destinations, and the same speed.

HugoTea

> A quick check of Google Maps showed the route we were taking, on city streets, took 6 minutes. As we emerged into the sunshine at Westgate, I checked my timer. Six minutes. I’d saved zero minutes. Beautiful

HugoTea

If you think of the Loop system as a way of transporting people then it will obviously look insanely stupid. But if you consider what it really is - an easy way to sell Teslas to cities for no benefit, then it makes perfect sense.

Peregrine1

“I tried a prototype outside of its optimal use case and it was half baked.” Surprise surprise!

cornholio

It's interesting how Loop criticism has evolved over the years: initially, it was claimed Boring Co has no chance of duplicating or significantly improving on the speed and cost of state of the art used by tunneling companies, or that the entire concept is fundamentally impossible or cost-prohibitive to build. After building the first stations, it changed to capacity concerns or that it's not Hyperloop, an completely unrelated high speed concept. Now, after Loop demonstrated vehicle rates that would beat most light rail projects and many subway systems too - assuming they get adequate automated larger vehicles - the criticism seems to be that it's not build out yet to a significant size, or that it has minor usability quirks. I sure hope these people understand just how foolish that position risks to become if Boring Co continues good execution and build outs the entire system as planed.

ChrisArchitect

cleaned up url: https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/vegas-loop-22280647.ph...

sligor

I never understood how running a car, even electric one, in such small tunnel was considered safe.

beardyw

I use the London tube (112 miles of it underground) quite often and it is the lines which cross the center which I use most often, and from what I can tell a lot of people do the same. The new east west Elizabeth Line is now heavily used.

duxup

This video gives a first hand experience that seems to cover everything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPjODKUxV5g It looks like a project that they just gave up on ...