Editor:
Ever since flying pods appeared in Popular Science magazine people have wondered if it would ever happen. Now it is happening for real and, curiously, the mainstream media seems to be ignoring the news of this great leap forward in transportation.
Twenty years ago, [Douglas] Malewicki engineered a personal rapid transit system using magnetic levitation propulsion under computer control. One year ago, a test operating system was built by NASA in Menlo Park. Finally, Tel Aviv has become the first city that has agreed to build the system to alleviate its traffic problem. Once Sky Tran has been shown to be truly viable, it should spread like wildfire throughout the industrialized world because if will largely eliminate the need for automobiles and save us from a global meltdown.
Pods levitated on overhead rails will speed nonstop to their destination at speeds of over 100 mph. Our awaited Expo Line could have been built for one tenth the cost, and it will be obsolete almost as soon as it is completed. Sky Tran would mean that the Central Valley light rail line should be re-examined.
James Kohfeld
Santa Monica