Monocab is an attempt to make trains more useful by allowing both rails to be used at the same time in different directions by utilizing gyroscopically self-balancing rail cars. Or in other words, a monorail. The advocates claim this makes things more environmental and socially conscientious for ‘fairer mobility’. This claim is pretty vague but seems to relate to an effort re-use abandoned rail lines to help people in rural areas have an alternative to the cars they drive.

Adam Something calls out some of the…er…questionable hype. Firstly, rural people need to get to those lines. By nature, rural areas are dispersed. People would have to walk, bike, or…drive to the rail line. They then call the pod which comes from town to you. But now it’s got to get on the other track to go back to town. Do I need to ride this thing all the way to the end of the line to the spot where it switches sides? What happens when 3 or 4 or 15 people all try to go different direction at the same time. Sounds like people will be sitting around a lot, or waiting around for their turn at a ride. So much for the promise of calling a train out to service you night or day. Sure, it might not need a driver, but the capacity and latency would be dependent on the length of the rail line/turnaround points. And since it’s rural – we have to assume it’s many miles.