Monorail line repairs at EPCOT today

[mcjaco]

Some of us actually ARE engineers and we do this kind of stuff for a living so been there done that and got the T-shirt and scars. (not to mention 'The Stamp')

I always love these responses.

I've worn an insurance badge for 15 years. We don't get shirts. Unless you're an underwriter. Then you get to go golf, and travel all over.

 

[matt9112]

Besides the anchor problem that another user has mentioned, light rail isn't any more reliable than the current monorail system. I've taken light rail to work for the past 2+ years. At least once a week a train has broken down or there is issues with signals and power lines. The Trains that the local county uses are made by Kinki Sharyo. The other light rail line near me uses Brookville streetcars and at least several times a week I'm getting a notification of an issue on the line. In the long run light rail might be cheaper but the up front costs are drastically more expensive than buses. Also I believe you wouldn't save any more on trains for light rail as I believe their about the same price as a new Bombardier monorail.

If we went really crazy how about building a hyperloop. Elon Musk has really wanted to build one so see about getting him to sponsor one.

I think he needs to fix tesla first before it becomes a firesale.

 

[matt9112]

Build a modern adaptation of a people mover:
Utilize many small capacity vehicles so routing can be essentially point to point without transfers.
Make the travel pathways redundant so a failure in a single location does not bring the entire system down.
Have each unit it carry its own energy supply to avoid the need for expensive power supply infrastructure.
Intelligently route the individual vehicles to safely and efficiently use all available travel pathways.





I just described self driving automobiles wedded to an Uber-like central routing system.

Self driving cars.....programmed to kill. think about it.

 

[matt9112]

The power can come from any number of sources: solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, even coal. The point is it's not the petroleum based buses currently in operation.

They could switch to natural gas.

 

[ford91exploder]

Self driving cars.....programmed to kill. think about it.

Don't even need that level of specificity, Just disable the brakes and rack the wheel side to side (as a team of security researchers did to a rather well known car and SUV)

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/

For these reasons I prefer older cars without connections to the internet and would NOT buy a modern 'connected' car.

The sad thing is this could be easily averted with a hardware switch which disabled remote commands just say a place in one of the storage compartments where you need to turn a key to enable the onboard computer to accept remote commands.

For example on a ford at least if you want to program new PATS keys you need to hook up a Ford IDS computer enter the security routine and WAIT 10 minutes before access is granted to modify the security systems.

 

[ChrisFL]

I think he needs to fix tesla first before it becomes a firesale.

What's wrong with Tesla? It's doing very well.

 

[ford91exploder]

What's wrong with Tesla? It's doing very well.

Yes it is - some are unhappy that Tesla is not producing a 'mass market' electric car however since the roadster sells SO well without needing a government subsidy to make it 'affordable' yes I'm looking at you Mr Volt. Why should it not concentrate on a market for which it currently has no viable competition and I know about a dozen people at my shop who own and love their Model S'es and who would happily buy another. This is not the case for those who own the high end sports cars at our shop.

 

[matt9112]

Yes it is - some are unhappy that Tesla is not producing a 'mass market' electric car however since the roadster sells SO well without needing a government subsidy to make it 'affordable' yes I'm looking at you Mr Volt. Why should it not concentrate on a market for which it currently has no viable competition and I know about a dozen people at my shop who own and love their Model S'es and who would happily buy another. This is not the case for those who own the high end sports cars at our shop.

As a day to day they are doing well. BUUUUT they loose money on every car out the door....all of there cash is from munsk himself and the investors/share holders. Not a single tesla product makes money. And in the industry that's nothing new many company's build cars that loose money but most of those company's bolster it will volume cars too. Toyota built the LFA amd even at 300k a pop still lost money...but it was a research and design expedition..and it was paid for by corrollas.....problem is tesla has no corrollas. I have faith in them but change WILL occur...

 

[matt9112]

Don't even need that level of specificity, Just disable the brakes and rack the wheel side to side (as a team of security researchers did to a rather well known car and SUV)

I love older cars....1994 miata is next buy FTW.
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/

For these reasons I prefer older cars without connections to the internet and would NOT buy a modern 'connected' car.

The sad thing is this could be easily averted with a hardware switch which disabled remote commands just say a place in one of the storage compartments where you need to turn a key to enable the onboard computer to accept remote commands.

For example on a ford at least if you want to program new PATS keys you need to hook up a Ford IDS computer enter the security routine and WAIT 10 minutes before access is granted to modify the security systems.

 

[ford91exploder]

As a day to day they are doing well. BUUUUT they loose money on every car out the door....all of there cash is from munsk himself and the investors/share holders. Not a single tesla product makes money. And in the industry that's nothing new many company's build cars that loose money but most of those company's bolster it will volume cars too. Toyota built the LFA amd even at 300k a pop still lost money...but it was a research and design expedition..and it was paid for by corrollas.....problem is tesla has no corrollas. I have faith in them but change WILL occur...

I don't think that Tesla is losing money on the roadsters please provide sources, GM is losing by some estimates $50,000 per Volt sold!. Reuters reported that and the Motley Fool also reported on the subject last year. So I can see where it would fit a narrative that no one can sell an electric at a profit.

 

[khale1970]

I don't think that Tesla is losing money on the roadsters please provide sources, GM is losing by some estimates $50,000 per Volt sold!. Reuters reported that and the Motley Fool also reported on the subject last year. So I can see where it would fit a narrative that no one can sell an electric at a profit.

We all realize an "I don't think" from @ford91exploder is worth more than a dozen other sources, but...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/us-teslamotors-cash-insight-idUSKCN0QE0DC20150810

 

[ford91exploder]

We all realize an "I don't think" from @ford91exploder is worth more than a dozen other sources, but...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/us-teslamotors-cash-insight-idUSKCN0QE0DC20150810

Very classy reply.

That being said there is a big difference between a loss which could be wiped out with a 5% increase in MSRP (and there are frequently tax advantages to operating at a small loss) and the loss at GM which is equal to 120% of the MSRP of the car. So I think my original premise holds that it's to other automakers advantage that electric cars cannot be sold at a profit.

 

[matt9112]

Very classy reply.

That being said there is a big difference between a loss which could be wiped out with a 5% increase in MSRP (and there are frequently tax advantages to operating at a small loss) and the loss at GM which is equal to 120% of the MSRP of the car. So I think my original premise holds that it's to other automakers advantage that electric cars cannot be sold at a profit.

you do know GM makes dozens of other cars....and can use those to cook books? tesla...has no other cars. its the equivalent of Every Ford being sold costing Ford money.

 

[Victor Kelly]

So, I am watching a movie called Hot Fuzz. Pretty good movie. I like the main characters. They were in a movie called Paul, which was about an alien trying to go home. My lawn mower has gas in it, so I have to run the gas out of it since the grass is not growing anymore. The main character's mom died in a traffic collision and now they are drinking pints. My work van carries 30 gallons of fuel and the leaves are changing where I live. My cat missed the litter box, now there is cat poo on the concrete floor. It is located 2 feet in from the door, and 1.673 feet from the South eastern wall of the room. I don't have the new type non-arching circuit breakers in my house but that is ok since it is windy outside right now.

Why? I figured since everyone else was off topic, I could be too.

 

[mergatroid]

Talking of monorails (or not so in the case of this thread), on 4 out of the last 6 times we visited the MK over the last 3 weeks they weren't working?

 

[ford91exploder]

you do know GM makes dozens of other cars....and can use those to cook books? tesla...has no other cars. its the equivalent of Every Ford being sold costing Ford money.

The difference is every Volt sold is costing GM more than it's MSRP, Tesla could raise it's price by 5% and wipe out the loss Tesla chooses not to. In addition Tesla has the Model R and the SUV under development if you take those costs (R&D and Tooling) out of the equation there would not BE a loss.

But It's ok for Government Motors to sell a car for less than half of what it costs because it knows Uncle Sugar will always bail it out.

 

[ford91exploder]

Talking of monorails (or not so in the case of this thread), on 4 out of the last 6 times we visited the MK over the last 3 weeks they weren't working?

This is a surprise why?, I've gotten lots of hate for suggesting that WDW is trying to eliminate the monorail system, But with it being broken so much these days I expect an announcement the monorail is being pulled for 'refurbishment' never to run again.

 

[unkadug]

This is a surprise why?, I've gotten lots of hate for suggesting that WDW is trying to eliminate the monorail system, But with it being broken so much these days I expect an announcement the monorail is being pulled for 'refurbishment' never to run again.

First they must get people used to them not working by keeping them out of order most of time.

Hmmmm.....

 

[Figment2005]

Talking of monorails (or not so in the case of this thread), on 4 out of the last 6 times we visited the MK over the last 3 weeks they weren't working?

Just out of curiosity, what days have you been visiting?

 

[mergatroid]

Just out of curiosity, what days have you been visiting?

Various days over 3 weeks. A Wednesday morning at 8am for a character breakfast, no monorail had to use ferry. A couple of times at around 3pm arrival on a Saturday and I think a Tuesday, again ferry only option. Finally this Tuesday at 8:40am, directed to the ferry boat. The resort monorail was running that day but the cm insisted we use the ferry as we weren't getting off at a hotel.