The world has seen significant rise in number of vehicles in the past century and the numbers are still climbing. This has affected environment and worsened the global warming. Big cities which have mass transit systems have lower per capita vehicular emissions. But not everyone prefers to commute through mass transit systems due to their limitations like long distances to stations/stops, being overcrowded during rush hours etc.

The LevPods Individual Transit Systems (LITS) would combine the benefits of personal transportation and the mass transit system. The fully automated LevPods system would provide access to fast, safe and stress free transportation system which would be accessible much closer to individual residence.

Unlike mass transit systems, the infrastructure required is much cheaper and faster to implement and can virtually service every neighborhood within suburban region of a city or a town.

A spherical pod can seat two adults comfortably and travels through a network of reinforced concrete pipelines. The concentric concrete pipes are wire wound to act like electro-magnets creating magnetic field inside to propel the pods in the desired direction. The pods themselves carry another electromagnet whose orientation results in acceleration or deceleration. An advanced positioning and routing system would gather data from all of the pods and continuously optimize the routing using optimization algorithms.

Passengers would be able to board on and off the pods at the pod stations which would appear very similar to telephone booths on the streets and the actuation would be as simple as pressing a button of a building elevator. The passengers would have further convenience to sync their smart-phones with any pod using Bluetooth and choose the desired destination from their saved address list and subsequently pay the fare.

The concentric wire wound pipe segments can be manufactured in factories away from town and transported to the site easily on a semi-trailor truck. The installation of the electro-magnetic pipe segments would require shallow digging of streets and some adjustment to the existing underground utility services like cables, water pipes etc.

The Pods themselves would be made out of toughened glass with revolving door for ingress and egress of passengers. Bottom of the pods would carry the rechargeable battery, electromagnet for propulsion and braking and the control unit for navigation and a HVAC system. The battery in the pods would recharge itself using the magnetic field in the pipes. Rollers with suspension system on the sides, top and bottom would provide straight-line stability.

Once the infrastructure is there, people would enjoy chauffeur driven car comfort and forget about hassles of finding parking. Just like in cars, passengers would be able to customize cooling, heating, lights and enjoy music of their choice. The added comfort of point to point transportation, reduced exposure to street noise & pollution, would allow commuters esp. business professionals to work on the move in a personalized environment.

Lower cost, privacy, customization and higher speed of travel would make the LITS readily acceptable and provide investors very fast return on investment.