Futuristic Transit and transport methods in Fiction?

Question:

Futuristic Transit and transport methods in Fiction?

Hello everyone,

I am doing a term paper for a transportation policy and analysis class.

My topic is: Futurists and Transit. I want to study forms of mass transit in fiction, and try to make a relation to what we could possibly see in our actual future.

For instance: Robert Heinlein wrote a story where roads were converted into giant, fast conveyor belts, changing the landscape and how people moved around.

In the movie version of Minority Report, people moved around in personal transport pods that ran on electricity - and ran up and down the sides of buildings.

I've got a few more, but that's the idea. I could use some help with more examples. Mass transit or personal transport is fine.

Thanks everyone!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Both Asimov and Heinlein favored the moving roads (Caves of Steel). Anne McCaffrey favors the high speed shuttles. Oh, and Asimov also had a transport tunnel burrowed through the Earth (The Complete Robot).

The mass transport system that isn't likely is the transporter even though some scientists are learning how to assemble atoms and molecules into other forms now. Might be used for freight and non-living things, but probably not for living tissue.

In the next fifty years, I suspect we'll see more shuttles in the air and more passenger trains. There will also be a significant shift to telecommuting which is the most efficient way to take the load off the highways.