Maybe they work well in practice but I hate them in theory. All it takes is one crash with a car to stop up the whole line, right?
Iām more in favor of underground forms of public transit, like a metro system.
Discussion
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We have trollies here. There are usually many paths of tracks. If a trolled gets stuck they can just by pass it by going down the next street... basically most roads have tracks embedded in them so they have almost as much freedom to divert as a car.
That said im not sure what advantage they are getting other than the cost of tires maybe
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First, one engine's mass can be amortized over multiple cars trained together. Also the rolling friction of a steel wheel on a steel rail is significantly lower than that of rubber tires on pavement. Finally your load capacity is much higher.
Most of the benefits are accrued at scale.
But, yes, the cost of tires ā including the environmental costs of manufacturing and distribution and the labor costs of installation/replacement are significantly higher for rubber due to their much shorter operational lifespans.
Basically, the tradeoffs are all: higher capital investment (infrastructure and materials) vs. operational expenses and flexibility.