At Velocity Valley in Rotorua, New Zealand, there’s the Shweeb: a pedal-powered monorail. It’s a fun ride: but in 2010, Google gave it a million dollars as a potential “future of transit”. ▪ Thanks to Velocity Valley: https://velocityvalley.co.nz/
SOURCES:
https://web.archive.org/web/20091109051951/http://shweeb.com/index.php?m=faq
https://web.archive.org/web/20081012033535/http://www.project10tothe100.com/faq.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20120506113239/http://www.google.com/onceuponatime/project10tothe100/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-03-27/whatever-happened-to-the-shweeb
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/business/13m-backing-for-shweeb/ERNGSPNILIFWR7YC4TU2A6DEYY/
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-human-monorail-shweeb-2010-9
Camera: Rakaea Te Rangi-Trotman
Producer: Virginia Wickham at Kevin & Co https://www.kevinandco.co.nz/
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Thanks to everyone at Velocity Valley! And also thanks to the perfectly-timed screaming people on the Giant Swing.
imagine how frustrating the 149,996 groups were when they saw this nonsense had got so much cash from Google.
The Shweeb seems like such a terrible method of transportation, but it does look like one of the most fun rides you could possibly build
So many of these startups are computer generated fantasies such as hyperloop. All it takes is an engineer to sit down for 5 minutes to tell you how it's not feasible. But they always manage to get one sucker or another to invest before any investigation into the technology is done. Often Governments.
This would be great if it was electric and computer controlled. The main issue with public transport is that you have to stop everywhere, this could solve it.
What I'm taking away from all this is… google has 1m to waste (this project alone). And I as a consumer haven't paid them a single penny yet
So bigger question. What if you made them hold two people. Then only let one person peddle for pay? If they both wanted to go around the same place. I hear money on the up charge.
I sense that Google (Alphabet) saw a tax write-off here.
2:11 The skirt bit is just hilarious!
They spent a million on that? I'm sure they learned their lesson on spending more wisely before they came up with Google+
Google: We want to revolutionise public transit! Let's pump a million dollars into this bat-Brexit crazy looking but also surprisingly awesome suspended bicycle concept! 🚟🚵👍
Also Google: Installs it in a part of the world that can only be accessed by air, and at significant cost to reach from countries like the Netherlands where bicycle culture is developed enough for something like this to ~ahem~ take off… ✈💸🤔
I can see this as a cool form of transit in a theme park?
It was interesting to hear Tom Scott use the term "gadgetbahn".
This is a recumbent bike that needs more infrastructure…
Brennan Montrail- in the 60s, looking at an inverted gyroscope 👊
' Sorry bout' that ' Made me laughing 🤣🤣🤣
Best would be a convertible bycycle that goes inside the Shweeb and then again disconnects to run on road.. the front tyre can be big..rear a small one
I think the key to understanding why Google would decide to spend a million dollars on this is that you need to know tech people are extremely stupid.
60 Kph isn't fast enough with that rail system required., It needs electric power or with pedal assist, It need multiple lanes. It needs 2 seater pods or for up to 4 people.
Bribe
1:00. Ah, where the Polynesian Spa is.
But seriously, nifty invention here.
what in the frutiger aero
The shweeb is still cool as hell, sure, it might be more of a gimmick than a practical transport ride, but it works, and it works very well.