Guy invents self-propelled skyride transportation system

Too cool not to post:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/10/27/pkg-solutions-skyride.cnn

Now if they can just stick a lift hill on the thing...

As a Parks and Rec Director I like this as an alternative form of recreation and exercise (not requiring a lifthill). Getting today's kids (who have the highest obesity rate in the history of America) to exercise is no picnic. Here is a "fun" way to do it and I could see it being well received.

I could also see the potential in terms of adding it to an existing park that has no more space to add amenities. Putting it above an existing running path for instance.

The downside is that if you have multiple "vehicles" on the track and people with different fitness levels then you are either running into accident potential or just slowing up the faster folks.

Of course, there are a number of different self propelled "ride systems" on the market, many of them in Europe.

Multiple speeds, noise, high initial cost, not particularly elegant...

...don't get me wrong, if a local park installed one of these things, I'd add it to my workout routine in an instant. It just seems like an awfully expensive, limited-capacity way to accomplish what a row of stationary bikes or cheap bike rental options would do with far, far fewer cons.

With the way Dollywood likes to promote physical fitness with some of their attractions, I could actually see something like this going in there.

Didn't Kings Island have a self-propelled people mover at one point in time? Or am I crazy?

Woodstock's Whirlybirds is still there -- it used to be themed to Nickelodeon's Lazytown. But the pedals inside the cars are strictly for show and do nothing to move the passengers around the track.

I saw tons of self propelled rides during my trip through Germany this year. It was exhausting just looking at all of them.

Whenever it was themed to Hanna Barbera, I believe it was self-propelled. But again, I may be crazy.

I'm not sure the backwards position of the rowing version is a good thing. How would you know you were about to crash into another pod? Or when the station was coming up?

They had something like this proposed for IOA when it opened and it never got done.It was redone a few years ago as a trolley ride above Dr suess land.

a_hoffman50 said:
Whenever it was themed to Hanna Barbera, I believe it was self-propelled. But again, I may be crazy.

Or Fred Flintstone.

Or maverick?

Self-propelled Maverick... seems like it would be a lot of work to get out of the tunnel with enough speed to complete the course. :)

I rode a self-propelled skyirde at....hmmm, NJ, I think maybe Morey's.

Further investigation reveals: Morey's, Mariner's Landing Pier. "Seagull Cycle - These pedal powered seagulls ride on a monorail that takes you around our Raging Waters Waterpark." I think I got on that to try and get some pictures, and ended up tired from having to pedal...

Sooner or later there'll be a video online showing a rescue of riders trapped on this thing.

Drooool...

If I could have one of those in my back yard, I'd be so skinny. I'm picturing a layout with plenty of head-chopper moments, dives into tunnels, giant swings right over bodies of water...

But, come on...replacement for buses and cars? They seem a little bit ambitious there. That looks like a capacity nightmare.

I could definitely see a park based on these though, with various scenic paths and difficulty levels.

Legoland California has a "self propelled" skyway. It's actually powered, but the way you get it to move is by pedalling.

Morey's has two, Gator. In addition to the Swans, they have the suspended pirate ships.

The pirate ships aren't self-propelled, though. They have motors.

I really don't see how he "invented" this, though, seeing that there are numerous examples of something 99% the same already in use.

The pirate ships have motors? Wow, didn't realize that.