The return of pneumatic tubes

City- and Facility-Scale Logistics Ideas

• Several commenters imagine citywide or intra-city tube networks for parcels, food, or trash, sometimes as smaller, freight-only “hyperloop”-like systems.
• Existing concepts cited: Swiss Cargo Sous Terrain (underground robot tunnels, criticized for a decade of PR with no deployment) and Pipedream (small underground robot delivery system near Atlanta).
• Alternatives proposed: small electric vehicles on rails in narrow tunnels; lightweight elevated rails for delivery pods. Many note that human couriers on mopeds remain cheaper in practice.

Robots vs Tubes in Hospitals and Buildings

• Some argue modern semi-autonomous robots could replace pneumatic tubes for small-item transport.
• Counterpoints: robots share space with patients and staff, can be safety hazards or nuisances in crowded corridors, and are slower than tubes.
• Pneumatic systems are seen as fast, low-friction once installed; cited cost for a large hospital is roughly a few hundred thousand dollars, though remodel costs are unclear.
• Overhead rail systems are suggested but raise fire-safety and structural concerns.

Trash Management via Pneumatic Networks

• Roosevelt Island’s underground pneumatic trash system is praised for eliminating sidewalk piles.
• Broader NYC trash issues discussed: lack of alleys, on-street parking, billing and illegal dumping complications, and tradeoffs between temporary piles and permanent dumpsters.
• Some advocate Amsterdam-style underground bins; feasibility in dense, utility-cluttered sidewalks is debated.

Data Transport and “Sneakernet” Humor

• Thread veers into jokes about using capsules full of SSDs, jumbo jets, and even container ships or spacecraft as ultra–high-bandwidth “links.”
• Rough back-of-envelope comparisons note far higher data density for SSDs than tapes, and enormous potential bandwidth of freight aircraft or ships.

Historical and Ongoing Uses

• Examples span: old mail railways and city mail tubes (NYC, London, Chicago), hospital specimens, trash systems, banks and Costcos moving cash, retail stores dispatching goods, Belgian car inspections, and department-store change handling.
• One view claims hospitals are the only modern use, but multiple comments contradict this with current examples.

Home and Niche Applications

• Interest in residential systems like Laundry Jet (pneumatic laundry chute) and central vac analogies; concerns center on blockages, reliability, and fire code.
• Some fantasize about home tubes for pizza or packages, and about aesthetic devices like solari boards/flip-disc displays.

Technical Notes

• For lab samples (e.g., blood), damage is attributed more to acceleration/deceleration at tube endpoints than to top speed, limiting practical operating speeds.