DRAFT

I have been working on Tulips Transit Delivery in some fashion for about 35 years, beginning in the 1990’s. The concept has evolved and has gone through various iterations.

VOCATION: Thirty of those years of development were during my “lived experience” , working with the Oregon Department of Transportation and wearing various hats: surveying, roadway design, 3D mapping, and roadway construction.

AVOCATION: Outside of working hours, and since I retired, I have spent thousands of hours doing research about transportation innovation: about autonomous and connected vehicles, about electric vehicles and battery technology, about artificial intelligence, about best practices for transit, and much more.

CORE VALUES

People should valued using these metrics:

1) People are listened to and respected. From this, we say that where people live (the community, city, and the planet) are likewise valued.

2) People who are suffering are never ignored and are always given a voice.

3) People means all people. All people are created equal, and “we hold that truth to be self-evident”.

4) Business is important but, when people are not valued, it becomes dangerous.

5) Government is important but, when people are valued, it becomes dangerous.

6) Government-by-the-people and Government-for-the-people does not exist in the United States or anywhere else. It is, however, a value, an ideal, that is always worth blood, sweat, and tears wherever it is weak and lacking in the world.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of Tulips Transit Delivery is to act on the basis of the Core Principle and the Core Values shown above.

KEY CONCEPT: ZERO ZONES

What are Zero Zones?

Zero Zones is a tool that is unique to Tulips Transit Delivery as these Zones are centered around the Transit Network and adjacent areas for the purpose of carbon-free deliveries.

These Zones have three significant benefits that give them the label “Zero”:

1) Zero Zone Protection Benefit - means no one gets injured when autonomous vehicles or robots are used.

2) Zero Zone Cost Benefit - means the operational costs for moving a parcel is zero (effectively zero since the cost is a fraction of a penny). It also means that there is a positive feedback loop where investment in the Tulips Transit Delivery infrastructure returns benefits to personal mobility.

3) Zero Zone Environmental Benefit - means that Tulips Transit Delivery is a path towards eliminating the use of fossil fuels for moving goods while creating an enhanced transit network for people to substantially increase ridership.

Since Zero Zones are so critical to how Transit Delivery works, they are addressed briefly in the Q and A and more thoroughly in the CONCEPT SECTION. These claims are admittedly large and bold, but the concept is solid and backed up by a great deal of research.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROTECTED ZONES FOR TULIPS TRANSIT DELIVERY

What are Protected Zones?

Protected Zones are areas, in the inside of transit vehicles and surrounding transit stations, where people are blocked from entering, using signs and barriers, to avoid any injuries.

1) Interior Protected Zones - These may be entire cars of a Light Rail train or sections of those cars.

2) Exterior Protected Zones - These may include the station boarding platform, portions of walkways and parking lots and garages around the station. They may also extend to bike paths adjacent to transit stations.

Are these protected areas always blocked off?

Usually Not. In most instances they are blocked temporarily, opening back up based on time and place.

TIME BASED PROTECTED ZONES

During peak hour traffic - protected areas can return to full access when demand is sufficient and blocked access would cause delay to riders.

During non-peak transit traffic - protected areas are put in place as demand subsides (mostly during late night/early morning hours).

PLACE BASED PROTECTED ZONES

In dense urban areas the Exterior Protected Zones may be more limited due to the high demand for space. In less dense areas (i.e., suburbs) there will be more opportunities for creating these zones.

Do these zones interfere with people’s use of transit vehicles?

No. The system will be carefully designed to avoid interfering with riders’ use of transit. Non-peak transit traffic is normal and is usually a significant drop late at night. This vacancy is an opportunity to more fully use the transit system.

Transit Delivery will change transit in ways that will actually increase service.

(CONCEPT: See Transit Delivery as a Plan for Transit Enhancement)

Why is the use of Protected Zoning so important?

Protection is one of three benefits (the other benefits are cost and environmental) provided by the “Zero Zones.” All three benefits are described more thoroughly under the CONCEPT Section of this site.

The protection benefit provides an extremely high level of ridership safety while creating a way to move packages at high speeds.

This is the only system designed to create this level of safety, while moving at freeway speeds, while moving a large volume of goods.

Are Protection Zones expensive?

One role of Protection Zones is to provide storage which can be very expensive for delivery companies. Using underutilized and publicly owned space is a way to reduce the cost of storage, especially in urban settings.

The Zero Cost refers to operational costs but what about capital costs to build the infrastructure? Those can’t be zero?

The earliest implementation of Tulips Transit Delivery will have hardly any infrastructure costs.

The highest infrastructure costs come from the autonomous vehicles used to load materials onto transit. This cost is not a factor since this would likely be done by others.

The details are described in the Concepts page -

see Scalability: Minimalist Infrastructure with Maximum Benefits;

see also, Tulips Transit Delivery Costs

CONCEPT: Scalability: Minimalist Infrastructure with Maximum Benefits

Jarrett Walker, International Transit Consultant, speaks to the issue of scale using the simple phrase, “If it doesn’t scale, it doesn’t matter.”

When people have heard about Tulips Transit Delivery, they often use words like “huge’” or “gigantic.” When I first shared the concept with the Inventor’s Network their response was: “Usually, people come to us with much smaller endeavors and we’re not in a place to give you good advice on something this big.” One of the leaders of this group, a chemist with experience in building and managing a company here in Portland, got to the crux of things by saying, “The question here is whether the cost of the investment to make this happen can be offset by the revenue that can be generated to the extent that investors can make a profit.”

Both comments, Walker’s, about scalability, and the chemist’s, about the return of investments versus the cost of infrastructure, are valid points. One assumes that anything huge, any venture that might compete with UPS or Amazon, must require a large infrastructure and big money to become a reality. As a result, I realized to need to clarify my thoughts around the costs and benefits, and to find a way to minimize the former and maximize the latter.

see also, Tulips Transit Delivery Costs

INTRODUCTION - Readers, I am looking for anyone to add any question that introduces a significant problem that has not been addressed in the FAQ here. That is, any problem that would keep Tulips Transit Delivery from being the obvious thing we should be doing.

AND NOTES:
Jasmin: Earlier we were considering just small AVs but now we should reword the Q/A to expand the use of Autonomous Vehicles to using BOTH small and large AVs.

Jasmin: Also, we need to talk about using Transit Vehicles or Light Rail for “making deliveries” instead of ONLY moving the AV itself on and off of the vehicle. My patent refers to AVs riding transit vehicles OR depositing materials onto the vehicle.

I also want to include something in the Q/A on in a new tab (CONCEPTS) about the AV problems, attempting to separate the Hype (failure and extremely slow progress in AVs in busy traffic) from the Hope (success in moving millions of miles around colleges moving at a walking pace with lower levels of traffic to something in between for AV Trucks on freeways.

How will small AVs be used? And large AVs?

Small AVs that can be ride transit vehicles moving into the narrow aisles. These can enter and turn down the aisleways just as people do.

Larger AVs can be used in two different ways:

1) They can move straight through the doors (and not down the aisleways) to ride the transit vehicle.

2) They can load and unload delivery materials into the space at open doorways.

Yes. However, it should be noted that transit delivery may happen ONLY in areas where people are blocked off from entering into areas where there is any robotic movement.

The following pertains to extended zone deliveries BEYOND the restricted areas. In the extended zone:

1) Vehicles can move very slowly and carefully - walking speed or less.

2) Moving very slowly means they can stop very quickly.

3) The extended zone can be selective in using areas that can be mapped in great detail where autonomous vehicles do well.

The ones being proposed here can safely be around people for several reasons that overcome the “quick hard decision problem” faced by many other autonomous vehicles.

About five years ago AVs were the rage of Futurists and Urban Planners were scrambling to figure out the positive and negative consequences for cities. That hype has given way to the realization that autonomy is still in the experimental stage.

Transit delivery takes a different approach by recognizing the underlying problems and determining where they work without undermining public trust.

SEE ALSO (CONCEPT -THE EVOLUTION OF AUTOMATION)

This is a term that we are using to describe a two-fold problem for Autonomous Vehicles carrying people at high speeds and in complex traffic.

Problem One: To move in these conditions they require fast processing power to anticipate the ever-changing movements of all the traffic surrounding them. This usually means complicated software (Artificial Intelligence) that is far too difficult for normal programming.

Problem Two: Life threatening decisions have to be made in milliseconds! Otherwise, vehicles will crash, and people will be killed or hurt.

Q; Do companies who make AVs talk about the HDFD problem?

A: They would rather not. Companies who build sensors or otherwise provide solutions to the problem talk about it.

The problem is real, and it is the reason why the hype and hope for AVs has not materialized in any substantial way, why AVs have a very limited applications, and why their cost is so high.

Q: How does the HDFD problem contribute to the costs of autonomous vehicles?

A: AVs manufactures are concerned about safety and the image conveyed when accidents occur. To the extent they attempt to move in any area with considerable traffic they need to invest enormous sums into software and sensors and processing to avoid problems.