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Scientifictionist, v. 1, issue 4, April 1946
Page 10
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the purchase to the nearest distribution center, and then find the purchase immediately delivered by the tube. Similarly, such a tube can, if the service is desired, be used to deliver prepared food to city-dwellers from centralized kitchens. The householder will merely consult a menu which will resemble a telephone book. After selecting her dinner, the householder will dial the numbers of the courses, the quantity desired, and then a code number indicating exactly what time she would like to have the dinner delivered. At precisely the indicated time, the tube signal will ring, signifying that the dinner -- packed in insulated containers to keep it hot (or cold) -- is ready. In the container with the dinner will be the exact dishes and utensils needed for the particular meal. After dinner, the householder need only pile the dirty dishes back in the container and push a button. The container will then be whisked to a central dishwashing plant where the dishes will be cleansed and returned to the central kitchen. Besides the buildings, utilities, and 'tube' system as integral parts of the city of tomorrow, an adequate transportation system, especially roads and streets for automobile transportation, must be included in the design. The congested traffic, high accident rates,and inadequate parking facilities of today's cities will be no more. It is probable that a large part of local transportation in cities will continue to be handled by public transportation systems. These public transportation systems, however, will not be the slow, uncomfortable, noisy, inadequate, street-car and bus systems of today, but will be high-speed, luxurious, quiet, efficient rapid-transit units whose only function will be to provide efficient transportation. From the standpoint of efficiency, it will be more practical to provide all local transportation free of 'charge' rather than set up the fare-collecting and accounting systems which would be necessary if Energy Certificates were involved. With the efficient public transport system which will be possible when Price System controls are removed -- and with the consequent elimination of the 'loss of prestige' which is now associated with riding on street-cars and busses -- it is probable that most city-dwellers will prefer to ride in public conveyances rather than take the trouble to drive themselves. However, for those who will for various reasons be using individual vehicles, entering and leaving the urbanate, it will be necessary to build all city streets according to the most advanced engineering designs. All parts of the city will probable be connected with a network of high-speed, one-way, multi-lane, sunken boulevards. No two o f these boulevards will intersect at the same level, but instead 'cloverleaf' intersections will be used -- eliminating the hazards of cross-traffic and left-hand turns. A projecting ridge will separate the two sides of each roadway, making head-on collisions impossible. Pedestrians will not be able to reach the roadways at all, but will be confined to walkways and crossings bridges above the level of the street. And last but not least, sodium lights will eliminate the hazards of night driving. Since all functional activities will be carried on continuously with equal 'shifts' coming on or off work every hour of the day and night, there will be no periods of peak traffic or 'rush hours'. Similarly, since the four-hour working periods will be staggered equally throughout every day of the year, there will be no peak periods of 'week-end traffic' or 'Sunday driving'. Consequently the traffic load factor will be nearly even during every hour of every day and night of the year, thereby eliminating a large factor in the traffic congestion problem. The parking problem will probably be largely solved by Technocracy's Continental 'drive it yourself' automobile system. As described by the Technocracy Study Course (Lesson 22): "The sequence of Automobile Transportation would page 10
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the purchase to the nearest distribution center, and then find the purchase immediately delivered by the tube. Similarly, such a tube can, if the service is desired, be used to deliver prepared food to city-dwellers from centralized kitchens. The householder will merely consult a menu which will resemble a telephone book. After selecting her dinner, the householder will dial the numbers of the courses, the quantity desired, and then a code number indicating exactly what time she would like to have the dinner delivered. At precisely the indicated time, the tube signal will ring, signifying that the dinner -- packed in insulated containers to keep it hot (or cold) -- is ready. In the container with the dinner will be the exact dishes and utensils needed for the particular meal. After dinner, the householder need only pile the dirty dishes back in the container and push a button. The container will then be whisked to a central dishwashing plant where the dishes will be cleansed and returned to the central kitchen. Besides the buildings, utilities, and 'tube' system as integral parts of the city of tomorrow, an adequate transportation system, especially roads and streets for automobile transportation, must be included in the design. The congested traffic, high accident rates,and inadequate parking facilities of today's cities will be no more. It is probable that a large part of local transportation in cities will continue to be handled by public transportation systems. These public transportation systems, however, will not be the slow, uncomfortable, noisy, inadequate, street-car and bus systems of today, but will be high-speed, luxurious, quiet, efficient rapid-transit units whose only function will be to provide efficient transportation. From the standpoint of efficiency, it will be more practical to provide all local transportation free of 'charge' rather than set up the fare-collecting and accounting systems which would be necessary if Energy Certificates were involved. With the efficient public transport system which will be possible when Price System controls are removed -- and with the consequent elimination of the 'loss of prestige' which is now associated with riding on street-cars and busses -- it is probable that most city-dwellers will prefer to ride in public conveyances rather than take the trouble to drive themselves. However, for those who will for various reasons be using individual vehicles, entering and leaving the urbanate, it will be necessary to build all city streets according to the most advanced engineering designs. All parts of the city will probable be connected with a network of high-speed, one-way, multi-lane, sunken boulevards. No two o f these boulevards will intersect at the same level, but instead 'cloverleaf' intersections will be used -- eliminating the hazards of cross-traffic and left-hand turns. A projecting ridge will separate the two sides of each roadway, making head-on collisions impossible. Pedestrians will not be able to reach the roadways at all, but will be confined to walkways and crossings bridges above the level of the street. And last but not least, sodium lights will eliminate the hazards of night driving. Since all functional activities will be carried on continuously with equal 'shifts' coming on or off work every hour of the day and night, there will be no periods of peak traffic or 'rush hours'. Similarly, since the four-hour working periods will be staggered equally throughout every day of the year, there will be no peak periods of 'week-end traffic' or 'Sunday driving'. Consequently the traffic load factor will be nearly even during every hour of every day and night of the year, thereby eliminating a large factor in the traffic congestion problem. The parking problem will probably be largely solved by Technocracy's Continental 'drive it yourself' automobile system. As described by the Technocracy Study Course (Lesson 22): "The sequence of Automobile Transportation would page 10
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