Public transport - batch processing

A consequence of the intermittent service incurred in batch processing is that both the track and passengers are idle for significant periods, waiting for the next conveyance. A commuter rail line, even with trains every five minutes, each with 1000 passengers can carry a maximum of (60/5) x 1000 = 12000 passengers per hour.

Private cars and taxis - on demand

Three motorway lanes with cars moving at 70mph at a spacing of 50yds (closer than the Highway Code recommends) have a theoretical capacity of 3 x 70 x 1760/50 = 7392 cars per hour. One lane = 2464 cars/hr. If on average they carry 1.6 people, the passenger flow is 11827, nearly the same as the rail track. In towns and cities congestion and lower speeds reduce capacity further. Desire for more speed is evident from drivers commonly exceeding limits.

BiWay track concept

The cars will mainly be ten feet (3m) long, and capable of being electronically formed into trains on the track with little or no gaps between vehicles. This gives an enormous capacity advantage. A single track has a capacity of:

BiWay speed - mph	Cars/hour	Equivalent 70mph motorway lanes	Equivalent trains/hour
40	21120	8.6	21
70	36960	15.0	37
140	73920	30.0	74
motorway	7392	1	~2
train	~4000	0.5	1

The BiWay track system is the clear winner on both performance and capacity. The fact that it can do this at a fraction of the costs of the alternatives using a very light-weight track, makes it a prime candidate for all future transport funding.

Pollution