via Agrodome
What do you get when you combine a human, a bike, a monorail, exercise and a roller coaster together? A pedarail? Sort of. You get a fun innovative and earth-friendly park ride New Zealand calls a Shweeb.
A Shweeb is pedal powered monorail capsule that requires no motor or electricity to ride. It is completely pedal-powered like a bike, but with seven gears to rise to, so it is much faster than a bike. Each capsule holds a single rider. Each capsule hangs suspended from a rail, allowing a fun scenic route as well as a worry free ride (no hands needed, no accidents). The seat adjusts to people’s individual height and the seating is compared to as comfortable as sitting on a hammock. For fun a person can race their capsule against that of their friends or against the clock.
"You jump into an aerodynamic capsule and race like a bullet for three laps" (The Shweeb). Unfortunately, Shweeb exists in no other place, but at the Agroventures Adventure Park in Rotorua, New Zealand and riding it isn’t cheap. It will set you back $35-45 depending on your age (kid or adult).
What if Shweeb did exist elsewhere, like a busy often traffic-jammed city? If it were made possible to install such an infrastructure like this within a city what kind of impact would it have on the city and on the people that live in that city? Would vehicle congestion dramatically lighten up? Would pollution problems improve? Would riders of the Shweeb become more physically fit? Would cyclist feel safer riding pedaling in the sky? Since not as many parking lots would be requires would trees be saved? It is definitely something to think about. Either way from the look of things this is one ride I would love to test out. It looks like a ton of fun. Watch for yourself in this YouTube video
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For more information visit the Shweeb website here.
Via Oh!Gizmo
