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Freedom Transit from Solar Transportation Technologies

Executive Summary

Freedom Transit is an innovative sustainable electric transportation system. In the initial stage, it will ferry cars, vans and SUVs between metropolitan areas on an automated high-speed roadway accessed via stations. Travelers drive into a station and then onto an electric powered ferry vehicle, which will deliver them to their destination, while paying an affordable toll for the service. Low cost, convenient, high-speed, anytime travel in your own vehicle should assure high system usage and a sustained viable return on investment. The system uses electric powered automated ferries. The speed, steering, spacing between vehicles, and safety features are controlled by a patent pending process.  The elevated roadways are constructed along highways using the existing right-of-way. The use of elevated roadways minimizes disruption of ground level traffic. Construction is done with a high degree of automation by using pre-cast concrete segments and machines to install the road surface, power and control rails.

Sample Installation

Phoenix – Tucson

Item	Item Cost	Quantity	Total Cost
Elevated Roadway	$15 Million/mile	100 miles	$1.5 Billion
Entrance/Exit Stations	$45Million	2	$90 Million
Electric Ferry Vehicles	$22,000	2,300	$50.6Million
Total Build Cost			$1.6 Billion

Revenue  (100 mile trip)

Revenue Source	Fee per Mile	Trip Total
Roadway Toll	$0.35	$35.00
Electric Energy Used	$0.03	$3.00
Ferry Rental Fee	$0.12	$12.00
Total Trip Fare	$0.50	$50.00

Annual Revenue at 18,000 trips per day  40% of current traffic

Revenue Source	Total (millions)
Roadway Tolls	$361
Ferry Rentals	$80
Utility Power Fee	$17
Total	$458

Annual Operating Cost  at 18,000 trips per day

Description	Cost	Total Cost (millions)
Utility Power	$.07 per Kilowatt	$17
Overhead/Personnel		$2
Maintenance		$10
Total		$29

Net Revenue annually at 18,000 trips per day  $429 Million

Chart shows Payback in 3.8  yrs at:

• 18 Thousand Trips per day
• $429 million net revenue annually
• Representing 40% of 45,000 vehicles per day currently

After payback revenue is 15 times cost!

Freedom Transit Travel Benefits

• Fast ferry travel at 140 mph
• Tucson – Phoenix 43 minutes versus 100 minutes avg. current travel time
• Low cost family travel $50.00 per car load
• Free time during trip (no driving)
• Safe from other traffic in concrete-barrier protected single lane
• Secure travel in own vehicle high above ground level activities
• Complete trip in own vehicle door to door
• Convenient anytime travel at 140 mph
• Automated travel
• Automated safety functions
• Automated failure detection
• Automated problem mitigation
• I-10 traffic moves to protected automated lanes
• I-10 Traffic congestion relief
• Potentially fewer I-10 emergency calls

Freedom Transit Environmental Benefits

• Electric powered vehicle
• Less oil consumption
• Small foot print
• No ground level obstructions
• Reduced CO2 emissions
• Less traffic on I-10

Business Opportunity

The Tucson – Phoenix route is a good place to start. However, other city pairs have much higher traffic volumes.   All of the cities listed below have between 100,000 and 300,000 vehicles per day.

City Pairs	Miles
Washington, Baltimore	42
Tampa, Orlando	78
Indianapolis, Louisville	103
Washington, Philadelphia	142
Portland, Seattle	147
Chicago, Indianapolis	165
New York, Boston	190
New York, Washington	203
Orlando, Miami	204
Charlotte, Atlanta	220
Los Angeles, Las Vegas	228
Kansas City, St. Louis	238
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia	259
San Francisco, Los Angles	342

Proposed Business Plan

The planned business model is a franchises  net work with the yet to be formed Freedom Transit International being the franc

The goal is to maximize system usage and therefore revenues. This is to be accomplished by expanding the transportation network to the fullest extent possible.  System usage would be maximized by providing the widest possible network access. Starting with regional access and expanding to national coverage and ultimately worldwide coverage providing worldwide interoperability.hiser that would license local franchisee to manage/own state wide or metropolitan area portions o

FTI would franchise installations. By licensing the Freedom Transit System (FTS) quality control can be enforced and the cost of installations can be partially funded by FTI.  FTI would create a super fund for system expansion by stipulating a percentage of each franchise’s gross revenue be paid to the FT super fund after initial payback.f an eventual nationwide network.

FTI would license Freedom Transit Franchises (FTF) providing:

• 50% to 70%  of construction funding
• Additional funding consultation
• Community / Government communications
• Standards documentation
• Engineering services
• Construction consultation and/or services
• Construction inspections
• Operation consultation and/or services
• Operational quality control inspections and user surveys

The minimum FTF system would be a two stations complex.  The maximum FTF could be up to 50% of a countries maximum possible FT network.

Freedom Transit will eventually generate enormous revenues and with this type of business organization local communities could be owners and benefit from some of the revenue. The advantage here is local people and communities would have a stake in the success of the system.

Starting Point

Freedom Transit does not exist. Proof of concept is needed. Independent studies of the costs, revenue, and a proto type require funding.

Jim Beregi is the technical innovator/creator of Freedom Transit. Successful implementation requires executive level experience be brought into manage the business complexities. The role of the technical innovator would ensure adherence to the objectives of the systems as component details are brought to fruition.

Summary

The high cost of transportation systems will severely limit completion from providing an alternative service anywhere Freedom Transit is currently operating.  Freedom transit is an open-ended multilevel transportation system with many possible enhancements such as electric cars equipped to connect with the power and control system. Owners of such vehicles could simply drive into a station and enter the system without using the ferry vehicles. Another enhancement is the addition of solar power on the roof of the roadway. Studies indicate more than enough solar power would be available to power the vehicles and bank power with utilities for use after sundown. This would be a new source of revenue and in many locations netting more power than consumed.

The environmental impact of a nationwide electric based transportation system is immense with major reductions in CO2 emissions, as much as 33% total reductions.  The economic impact of having hundreds of billions of dollars spent locally for transportation instead of paying for imported oil is hard to quantify.  Millions of new jobs would be created building and operating Freedom Transit. This is a game changing technology our country needs now.

Tags: Electric Car, Green, Rail, Solar, transportation

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Energy, Environment, Funding, Green, Guest Post, Transit, Urban Planning . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.