[acqq]

Yes, people have orders of magnitude better comfort in metros and buses. You can exit the city metro or the city bus every minute. You can sit, stand up and walk in them. The buses for longer distances have the toilets and can stop whenever somebody really needs it. Here you'd be locked in the slanted chair for half an hour where you wouldn't be even able to stand up or stretch the hands! Sounds awful and has real implications on the public acceptance.

Especially after the first case of somebody going sick after he enters the tube and having to remain in it the next 29 minutes. Imagine you sitting next to that person. Imagine you being that person. Imagine your kid being that person. Imagine the press ("Mother watched her kid dying for 29 minutes in Hyperloop"). Imagine the reactions. The project would be dead for good after a few such cases.

You can't put normal people in the capsules for astronauts and just think "what could possibly go wrong." Health issues and effects are real problems and have to be considered. The public is used to car traffic accidents. It won't be so for the whole new transportation suited only for astronauts. This can be the start of the grand failure.

[travisp]

>Yes, people have orders of magnitude better comfort in metros and buses. You can exit the city metro or the city bus every minute. You can sit, stand up and walk in them. The buses for longer distances have the toilets and can stop whenever somebody really needs it.

This is not universally true.

For example, here in New York, the express bus from Staten Island has at least 45 minutes of no stops and has no bathroom (just a regular bus). If you do somehow convince the driver to let you off, good luck finding a bathroom anywhere near the places you'd probably find yourself. Some of the Subway trains (such as the N train between Canal St and Atlantic Ave) run express and is about 10 minutes non-stop (and you're a long trek from a bathroom at either end).

Plus, try going to the bathroom in the first or last 30 minutes of a flight. You have a reasonable chance of being arrested.

[free652]

It's totally true about NYC, you picked an extreme case of the SI express bus. And if you're sick the bus driver will drop you off.

> (and you're a long trek from a bathroom at either end).

And that's total BS. The long trek is less than 5 minutes on either side.

[ricardobeat]

You're exaggerating. As mentioned in the original thread, if any of those situations happen in a taxiing airplane, or during take-off/landing, it's going to be the same or longer time until you get to the gate. Same goes for an intercity bus, stopping in the middle of nowhere doesn't help with anything.

The vehicle carrying version is a tad larger (1.85m height), without adding much to the cost, and would probably be chosen for an actual build. Given the capsule will be coasting for most of the trip, it would be possible to walk around like in an airplane, if it's not doing a sharp turn.