Rue de l'Avenir

Moving walkways: real-world designs and experiences

• Many commenters like airport moving walkways and wonder why multi‑speed systems aren’t common; safety and reliability are implied concerns.
• Examples cited: accelerating walkways in Toronto (YYZ, now reportedly closed) and a high‑speed one in Paris Montparnasse (initially ~11 km/h, reduced to ~9 km/h due to frequent falls and accidents).
• Some find accelerating escalators fascinating but intimidating; others say they feel smoother on exit.
• Anecdotes cover odd signage/announcements (e.g., “moving walk” misheard as “wooing walk”) and unusual inclined walkways in airports like Charles de Gaulle.

Fictional and exotic people-movers

• Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke are referenced for layered, very fast moving roads used as mass transit.
• Concerns mentioned: stepping between speed tiers, potential crashes if a fast belt stops suddenly, and wind effects.
• Paternoster lifts are compared as another dexterity‑requiring, higher‑risk transport; their accident rate is described as far above conventional elevators.

Safety, risk, and modern risk tolerance

• Debate over whether modern systems over‑protect people versus older eras that accepted more danger but built more physical “aptitude for life.”
• Comparisons: cars vs paternosters, vs cyclists, vs escalators; relative risk is contested and largely unresolved in the thread.

Transit, walking, and urban form

• Some argue moving walkways are most useful for long airport corridors or steep slopes (e.g., Hong Kong Mid‑Levels), less so on flat city streets.
• Others say people would walk more if it were as fast and convenient as driving; dense cities with nearby stores enable walking with small loads.
• Discussion contrasts frequent small grocery trips in walkable cities with large car‑dependent warehouse-club runs.

Engineering, efficiency, and scalability

• Concerns: huge friction and power use for very long continuous walkways; difficulty scaling capacity down in off‑peak hours.
• Counterpoints: use multiple sections, distributed motors per unit length, and designs where propulsion is decoupled from sliding platforms.
• Some propose fanciful ideas (solar “slidewalks,” hovering segments), acknowledged as speculative within the thread.

Historical ambition vs today

• Several express awe at Rue de l’Avenir’s 3.5 km loop and the overall scale of the 1900 Exposition.
• There is nostalgia that people circa 1900 were bolder and more visionary, contrasted with today’s slower, more constrained infrastructure building.
• Others push back: that era also produced world wars, environmental problems, and “low‑hanging fruit” innovations; today’s software and global computing are framed as a different but equally astonishing frontier.
• Some see China’s rapid, bold infrastructure as a modern echo of that spirit; others blame regulation–corporate dynamics for current stagnation.

Climate, politics, and historical tangents

• Brief dispute over terminology (“global warming” vs “climate emergency”) and whether current temperatures substantiate ongoing concern.
• Mussolini’s “trains running on time” is questioned; a cited article both notes improved service and challenges the myth, but the evidence quality is debated and left unresolved.

Media and naming

• Edison’s 1900 film of the moving sidewalk is widely praised; AI‑upscaled/colorized versions are also linked.
• Commenters enjoy period details (e.g., adults striking misbehaving children) as reminders of “different times.”
• Some prefer alternate names like “slidewalks” or “notscalators,” with mild wordplay around British “pavements.”