March 2010: This Shweeb monorail in New Zealand is one elegant solution to the world's transport challenges.

The idea is elegantly simple: construct a monorail network but instead of powering it with petrol or electricity, get the commuter to use their legs and pedal like mad! So, instead of pressing the oil pedal in the car, the commuter pushes the cycle pedals, using his or her own body fuel.

At New Zealand's North Island's Agroventures Park, about 10minutes drive from Rotorua city, you can try out the Shweeb monorail.

On how he got the idea, inventor Geoff Barnett says: ?When I lived in Tokyo I cycled through the city to work and on the weekends rode up the mountains. Tokyo, with its frequent and punctual trains, capsule hotels, high population densities and vending machines, opened my mind to new possibilities. I came up with the idea of a bicycle monorail network while teaching a class in which the topic for discussion was transport solutions.

"The idea of riding above the traffic jams on multi-level rails seemed to me the only possible way that Tokyo's millions of residents could move around the city quickly and safely. It had the added advantages of being environmentally friendly and offering an aerobic workout."

Monorails are safe and leave the ground free for other uses. Since the 1960s, small-scale monorails have been advocated around the globe as the ideal urban transit system but have not prospered due to high infrastructure build costs. With the use of new technologies, interest in the next generation of small-scale monorails has begun to resurge with the construction of a new, driverless system to replace bus transport at London's Heathrow Airport.

Recumbent cycles (you lie on your back, with your legs sticking up as you pedal) now are more comfortable and efficient, and can go at faster speed.

In the Shweeb system, each user enters a pod that is suspended from a monorail. The pod moves via a transmission powered by the rider's own pedal power (alternatively, electric assistance is available). The rider and their luggage are accommodated in a comfortable, recumbent seat with a 360degree panoramic views.

This technology can be used as an urban transport links for commuters, tourists and shoppers, along public cycle-ways and walkways, intra-campus travel (universities, business parks and theme parks), and as a scenic ride in public parks, adventure parks, and even as a racetrack.

Watch the video at Agroventures park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDpwkZirSNU

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