Tomorrow’s Taxis



New York City held a design contest for new taxi cabs and have winnowed the finalists down to three designs, none of which are very exciting, but could make the manufacturer of the eventual winner rather wealthy. However, the city reserves the right to reject all three and start the competition over. Enter Neatorama's own Steven M. Johnson, who quickly supplied several ideas of his own. The taxi pictured is designed to allow bikes to pass easily, without changing lanes! See more of Johnson's taxis in The New York Times. Link to article. Link to slide show.

Ok, Ok, i missed it: the taxi has one door per passenger. But looking at the slideshow... OMG. This people never ever designer anything real!
1) it exists, is called minibus.
2) no innovation here
3) just plain stupid.
4-5) the designer has no idea of the mechanical complexity of an harness like this on a vehicle.
6) just like 1, with the additiona feat that is hard to park in a busy city like NYC
7) man, i appreciate the satire, but came on...
8-9) structurally weak, uncomfortable and a real danger on the street. How do right side passengers pay?
10-11) We are in sci-fi territory here. Robotic cars barely manage to succeed in a full oval ring lap, the cassette system is a mechanical nightmare on a rugged surface like a road, and the tiny wheels are an alert about how clueless in engineering the designer is.
12) Maybe good for Baghdad, but, hey, NY....
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The fact there's a tunnel is completely superfluous (if the cab were thinner the cyclist could go around it). However, it would be good to have some sort of "embarking" method, so one would enter the taxi (or a bus) with the bike, stick it in somehow, and then leave the bike directly into the taxi/bus, entering it without having it stop
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Rory: Thank you as always! Deckart and Baro: Uh, these are supposed to be jokes, okay? But Deckart, can't you see that each passenger has his/her own door? Baro: I tried to design a way for a bicyclist to enter the taxi while it is moving but I could not make it work, but if I spent more time on it, I suspect I might have worked toward a solution.
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What happens if the taxi turns while a cyclist is inside the tunnel? What happens if the cab is sandwiched between two regular cars such that a cyclist inside the tunnel cannot escape?

Furthermore there are no axles in between the wheels. How does the taxi even move?

Good idea but needs refining.
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@Brobro
Must be fully electric so each wheel has a motor. But then you normal 10 minute trip will take 2 hours because you will have to stop for a 2.9 hour charge to travel 5 miles.
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