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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Kari WatkinsFive metro Atlanta governments bit on entrepreneur Mike Stanley’s idea for what some thought might be too good to be true. His Boston-area company Transit X proposed developing affordable transit using flying pods that would hang from overhead monorails and be entirely privately funded and owned. Officials in Henry County and several southside cities agreed in recent months to negotiate access to public rights of way along roads for a future system. Some mentioned being impressed by Stanley’s background as an MIT graduate. Kari Watkins, a Georgia Tech professor who focuses on transportation systems, questioned whether a Transit X system would have enough capacity to meet needs. And she suggested some communities might not want its visual impact along streets. She cautioned communities about selling one private company broad access to land along roads: “Don’t tie yourself to some sort of technology that is not yet proven.” So far, Stanley’s only example of Transit X pods hanging from a rail is on a 40-foot-long test section inside a building in Leominster, Mass. He said he is trying to raise private funding for an outdoor test track that could be operational later this year in Ohio.
