Japan's magnetic levitationtrain has set a new world speed record at over 600km/h

FREEWAYS are a “failed technology” and the future of transport is no longer the car, says one of WA’s leading planners and experts.

Professor Peter Newman, director of the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute and the author of the new book The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities Are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning, has described this decade as the “end of car dependence”.

He said cities the world over had “hit the wall” with traffic, and planners were finally realising the answer was not to build more roads but to “build rail projects that go over them and under them and around them and are a much faster way to travel than in a car parked on the freeway”.

“Cars are good for flexible trips but not as a way of getting to work in the city during peak hour or to major destinations. In fact, they’re hopeless because the roads they rely on cram up so quickly,” Prof Newman said.

“We’ve seen a dramatic change around the world where cities have hit the wall on traffic. Perth is there now, we’ve hit the wall as well.”

He said the future Perth would have a ring of heavy rail linked outside with rapid bus transport and inside by a network of light rail, moving commuters by train and leaving the car for those who need to make flexible journeys.

In the final instalment in a series on the future of transport that kicked off with a look at the RAC’s electric highway initiative, The Sunday Times today puts six innovative transport solutions under the spotlight.

THE NEW FRONTIERS

ALL ABOARD THE AIRBUS

Chinese innovators have designed a futuristic bus service that runs on-time regardless of congestion — because it doesn’t share the same space as cars.

Called the Land Airbus and designed by transport company TBS China, the “bus” is more like an elevated train that runs on rails which sit above a traditional highway.

The rails straddle the road below and vehicles pass underneath it, while passengers in the bus travel in comfort as they look down on traffic which can stream through unhindered when it makes a stop.

Glass elevators connect the station to the bus at each stop and deposit people at the platform to board.

TBS China say the creation is cheaper and quicker to build than conventional bus systems and there is the benefit of never getting stuck in traffic.

RECYCLED HIGHWAYS

A disused rail track was converted into New York’s popular High Line public park, and Seoul is also taking recycling to a whole new level.

The South Korean city is recycling an old elevated highway that is no longer used by cars into the “Seoul Skygarden”, a sprawling park that will feature more than 250 different species of trees, shrubs and flowers along the 800m, 16m-high former highway overpass.

As well as being a park, the Skygarden is designed to become an urban nursery so that it can provide plants for neighbouring suburbs.

And cafes, street markets and a library will be incorporated to lure city dwellers to the recreation area, much like the New York example which is hugely popular and has boosted local real estate prices.

It’s a far cry from the original purpose of the Seoul Station Overpass, which was built in the 1970s. When safety inspectors deemed the elevated highway too dangerous for vehicles, a design contest was held to look at how else the space could be used.

PEEPS IN A POD

There’s no need for a shuttle bus to or from the business carpark when passengers fly in or out of London’s Heathrow Terminal 5.

Instead, small personal rapid transport pods are used to whisk people between the terminal and carpark.

The pods travel autonomously at up to 40km/h through a guided system so it’s a quick, smooth, almost silent and safe way to move people.

And the pods come at a relatively cheap price with a comparatively low infrastructure cost of less than $10 million per km. There are no timetables and no waiting, as a central computer ensures that pods are distributed at each station according to passenger demand.

Heathrow says it moves 800 passengers a day using 21 low-energy, battery-powered, zero-emission driverless pods that travel a total of 3.8km stopping at three stations.

NO WHEELS, NO WORRIES

Forget axels and rails — “MagLev” is a method of train transportation that uses magnetic levitation to gain lift and propulsion.

It harnesses the power of opposing magnetic forces to provide a buffer between a carriage and the tracks it would normally run on.

Commercial MagLev systems are used in Shanghai, China and Linimo, Japan, while more lines have been proposed.

Greatly reduced friction compared to conventional rail means there is less wear and tear on the rails and wheels, cutting down on cost and maintenance while allowing the train to travel at greater speeds for longer.

FLIGHTS TO MIMIC MIGRATING GEESE

Transport innovations aren’t limited to land.

Plans are afoot among the world’s aviation companies that could revolutionise the way we fly.

Airbus has plans for more economical air travel that could cut fuel costs and make flights cheaper for business travellers and holiday-makers.

Among the tactics it is investigating is an “eco-climb” feature that would catapult passenger aircraft into the sky and a “free-glide” landing system to slash noise and pollution on the approach to the runway.

Highways in the sky, called “express skyways”, are also being investigated for frequently flown routes.

Aircraft would fly in formation, mimicking migrating geese and using slipstreams to reduce fuel consumption.

THE HYPERLOOP

Picture riding a train inside a tube at speeds approaching 1000km/h and the result is the Hyperloop.

The high-speed “floating” train was initially proposed as a fast, safe way to travel between the US cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Research and development is under way.

The Hyperloop uses magnets to accelerate pods holding passengers or freight.

It works by sucking most of the air out of the tube it operates in, creating a vacuum that eliminates resistance.

It is self-powered by its own solar panels.

However, critics say it is very expensive to build, making it feasible only between major cities as a slightly faster and more convenient mode of transport than flying.