BOSTON — The options few and familiar: roads, rails and runways move us from point A to B. But a local entrepreneur has a new way to travel that he's trying to get off the ground.
"It's a four-passenger vehicle that weighs about 75 pounds” said Mike Stanley, the CEO of Transit X.
The new form of public transportation looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
"I started Transit X in March of 2015," Stanley said. "That was after a series of snow storms decimated the whole area and nobody could get around."
Transit X uses solar-powered pods that travel on a network of thin, elevated tracks 15 feet above the ground.
The pods operate without drivers or fuel and Stanley says your tax dollars are safe.
"It's not costing the government anything, so we're finacning it. So for us, it's costing about 7 million a mille, but government is not paying for it,” he said. “If you reduce your costs and still charge people what they are now paying for mass transit it's very profitable.”
Six communities near Atlanta are showing serious interest in Transit X, signing agreements to install the pod tracks.
“I really don’t see any cons other than let’s get it done” said Lake City, Georgia Mayor Ronald Dodson.
Stanley has also been trying to entice communities across Massachusetts: including Boston, Cambridge, Waltham, and Foxboro. But so far, the reception has been luke warm.
“Boston region has the seventh worst congestion in the nation,” said Matt Casale, a staff attorney at the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, or MassPIRG. The consumer advocacy organization studies congestion and mass transit. %
%
"I'm glad that there is research and development happening and people are thinking about it, but it remains to be seen whether it would be possible here," said Casale.
Stanley believes the possibilities are endless with a push to move the masses forward and up.
"Everyone believes it’s impossible until it exists,” he said.
Stanley says here in Massachusetts, Transit X has signed letters of interest from Watertown, Chelsea, Ayer, Bridgewater, and Everett.
[ MBTA proposes plan to raise fares by 6.3% starting in July ]