Elon Musk’s “The Boring Company” has been selected by the City of Chicago to build and operate a mass transit system that will transport people between Downtown Chicago and O’Hare International Airport.

Elon’s First Real “Loop”

A “loop” is just one of Musk’s ideas for fast transit, and it was just a few months ago that The Boring Company was among the finalists in Chicago’s bidding system. Now, according to Electrek, Chicago Mayer Rahm Emanuel has given confirmation that The Boring Company will indeed build the City’s latest transit system.

The system will link O’Hare International Airport to the downtown area, and is expected to cut transit times from as much as an hour down to just 20 minutes. The plan is to, reportedly, use the partially built transit station at Block 37 and create a new station somewhere at O’Hare.

According to the city, the passenger pods will carry as many as 16 people in their luggage and could depart as often as every 30 seconds under full operation. It should also cost less than the current modes of transportation, include the use of Taxi and ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft.

Keep in mind, however, that this system will be 100-percent private. The Boring Company must build and operate the transit loop. It will invest money, and it will take revenue from the transit service while it’s operational. The City of Chicago is spending no money on the project, so it will basically be a private transport company.

For now, the city and The Boring Company are in the negotiation phase, and the guys over at TBC will need to meet all requirements for a mass transit system, including safety, construction, operating, and financing. The final contract will also include some form of protection for taxpayers should The Boring Company fold and fail to complete the project.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out, but should things work correctly, it won’t only mean cheaper travel for some 20,000 people per day, but a serious reduction in traffic and emissions. After all, the loop will be – naturally – all electric.

References

Read more about The Boring Company.

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