Puma and ski-lifts

The recession has not hit that hard that we are rid of the traffic jams that plague us. And although we make progress in getting more efficient cars, they still use a lot of gas. Public transport, although I use it, still is, as someone once called it, a 19th century solution for a 21st century problem. It leaves from a place where your are not, before or after you get there and arrives at a place where you don't quite have to be, too early or too late. Not just that, but the seats are not as clean as you might like, there is no privacy etc.
The next idea is an idea to get you out of the jam in an energy efficient way that has none of the disadvantages of public transport.

Segway is developing the Puma This is a very cool vehicle that let's you 'drive' fully on electricity. It is much smaller than a car, but does keep you dry. The small size makes it perfect for the city. But there is a big disadvantage. For any distance over 20 km or roughly 12 miles it can't do that without charging and it is also a bit slow for long distances.

My idea is to combine this with technology we know from ski lifts. Many of the ski resorts have detachable chairlifts. Very comfortably, when you arrive, the chairs move at a slow pace. But when you're settled, it is dropped on the cable and you move at a much faster paste.

Image if if we build cable systems that do roughly the same, but pick up these Puma's rather than detachable chairs. The Puma would have to be equipped with a connector, so that you drive in a small lane where the connector is picked up, just like the ski lifts do. Then you're dropped on the cable and travel a large distance to for instance the inner city.

Take for instance New York. What if you live across the Hudson. You could use your Puma to drive to a cable station. You drive in and get picked up and dumped on the cable. The cable then transports you at high speed straight over the Hudson (no need for bridges!) to a station in the city. There you are released and travel the last bit using the Puma independently.

Advantages
- low power usage and no CO2
- In the city you can move much faster due to the small size of the Puma
- much cheaper to park
- leaves when you are ready
- leave from home
- arrive directly at work
- no standing in a traffic jam
- no polluting of the cities air.

This cannot replace all car traffic, but for commuters, it would get them to work faster, cleaner and cheaper and more comfortable then by train. If this is done by enough commuters, it will also relieve the traffice for others that need bigger vehicles (i.e. trucks, vans etc.)