Many human transportation systems use lots of energy and as energy costs more this means we have to charge riders more money. Yet if we add cost to the tickets we find rider-ship drops off significantly. Those who chart price versus the number of riders see quickly that there is an exponential curve. The more you charge the less riders and for every slight incremental rise in prices the number of non-takers or non-riders increases by two-fold, three-fold, four-fold and so on.

Without lots of riders we lose the economies of scale needed to make sure the transportation project remains profitable. We see systems like Amtrak failing miserably, drowning in debt. Yet those transportation systems with lots of riders do great, those with the lowest prices do even better, those which are free really serve the civilization as they end up being used by many and taking traffic off the road, saving our lungs from vehicle pollution and allow for increased efficiency in ground transportation and commerce which equates to more jobs, better profits, meaning more taxes are paid in which supports the people moving efforts of transportation management systems.

Any way that we can make the transportation systems more energy efficient is getting closer to such goals. I there for propose using the vibrational energy in these systems to power up LED lighting systems in the units; have a 287 Billion Dollar Highway Bill, but they are already considering making an amendment to that. You see Hurricane Katrina and Rita may end up re-directing monies to fix roads and infrastructure there rather than the projects that were allotted. Since some of this legislation is going back to Congress I propose that we do research to make this concept a reality.

Fuel has seen sharp price increases, in the last few years in our nation and it is costs our economy billions. This technology I speak of is already being used on a much smaller scale, there are now flashlights, which use electromagnetic induction technology to charge a capacitor instead of working off a battery. Currently there are some nifty micro-flashlights being used which you can buy which use a similar technique and are available thanks to the Everlite Flashlight technology research lab. These smaller flashlights work by shaking them for about thirty seconds and shine for about 6 minutes and they shine quite bright since they use a very bright LED light. Here is a link to this home use flashlight:

http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/ee_shakelight.html

I propose we use the rumble of the trams and trolleys bumping along and turn that vibrational energy into power to run LED lights in the units. If they get too dim from too smooth of a track, yah, we wish, then the system would revert back to the battery or main power. Perhaps this is a good way to save fuel or power which ever the case is? Think on this.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/