Pneumatic tubes work for passage delivery in buildings and cities. Passenger transport is another matter. It could probably be made to work for some value to work, but I fail to see why it'd be advantageous over rail. There's a theoretical advantage in sheer speed in a near vacuum tube, but lots of problems with failure modes and switching and comfort. Musk claimed a cost advantage but he got that by ignoring the expensive parts of the project, connecting to SF and LA downtowns.
Sailing ships solve the problem of ocean transport without fossil fuels, where solar doesn't work because it's not intense enough and nuclear doesn't work because it's really expensive plus we'd be nervous about many loosely regulated power plants. What problem is pneumatic tube transport an answer to?
no subject
Pneumatic tubes work for passage delivery in buildings and cities. Passenger transport is another matter. It could probably be made to work for some value to work, but I fail to see why it'd be advantageous over rail. There's a theoretical advantage in sheer speed in a near vacuum tube, but lots of problems with failure modes and switching and comfort. Musk claimed a cost advantage but he got that by ignoring the expensive parts of the project, connecting to SF and LA downtowns.
Sailing ships solve the problem of ocean transport without fossil fuels, where solar doesn't work because it's not intense enough and nuclear doesn't work because it's really expensive plus we'd be nervous about many loosely regulated power plants. What problem is pneumatic tube transport an answer to?