USky, the trolly of the future can help cities cut traffic

Traffic congestion is a problem for cities around the world, with some focusing on different mobility solutions, give it electric scooters ai underground tunnels. One company believes the solution is to build a 2.0 trolly network.

In a nutshell: driverless high-speed cabs that travel through cities suspended on a steel cable.

The trolly of the future: the test line is already open

In June, uSky Transport, headquartered in Belarus, has opened a 400-meter test trolly in Sharjah, bordering Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. From the outside, the electric capsules are glossy white, while the interiors are designed to look like a small airplane suite with mood lighting, lounge music, and floor-to-ceiling windows. With two padded seats and two folding seats, each cabin can carry up to four passengers.

The Belarusian company says its goal is to free up roads and ground spaces that could be used for greenery, walkways and public leisure spaces. 

The ground level is completely saturated and people are tired of the traffic jams. People are tired of emissions.

Oleg Zaretsky, CEO of uSky Transport

What about the costs?

According to uSky, while the construction of a kilometer of subway can cost up to $ 150 million, this system costs about 10 million dollars, one fifteenth. And by using fewer structural materials, the trolly of the future also reduces carbon emissions.

The company has also developed a trolley version designed for commercial transport: it carries around 48-ton containers at 90 kilometers (56 miles) per hour. Although "sky pods" are often compared to monorails or cable cars, they offer greater flexibility.

In a traditional trolly, there is a cabin and it always goes at the same speed. In sky pods you can use many different cabins on that particular infrastructure, such as those tailored for shorter trips in urban areas or for longer distances.

Stephanie Haag, associate partner of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

It's not all easy

Of course, careful planning would be required to avoid congestion in a trolleybus that would affect large areas of a large city. But if we proceeded intelligently and organically to decongest all networks, organizing infrastructures such as this trolleybus and others for ground transport, uSky's could really be a widely adopted solution.

However, by the end of the year uSky plans to build a 2,4 kilometer (1,5 mile) line in Sharjah, which will allow it to operate passenger cabins at higher speeds and demonstrate how both these and cargo cabins can be integrated into the same network.

Second Hussain Al Mahmoudi, CEO of the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park which hosts uSky's test lines, the hope is that this special trolly will strengthen the emirate's strategy of becoming a sustainable and futuristic hub.

Next steps

USky also looks beyond the United Arab Emirates. "The most promising areas for us are the Middle East and Asia, places where there is natural population growth", says Zaretskiy. "But we have also received requests from the US and Canada".

The company hopes to finalize its first commercial contract later this year in Sharjah, meaning uSky pods could be operational by 2024.