5X5 Standard

////////////   BEGIN: Solar Mobility Act/Ordinance ////////////

WHEREAS,

  1. Mobility is physical liberty, requiring mobility to be sustainable and equitable; and,
  2. Free markets allow 2 aspects of liberty to intertwine in a Darwinian crucible to create innovation and the general welfare:
    • Tolerance of disruptive minorities offering choices. There are few minorities as tiny and disruptive as inventors.
    • Tolerance of people sorting those choices in free markets and free speech.
  3. The Boston Tea Party, a demonstration against a transportation monopoly resulted in John Adams writing Article 6 of the Massachusetts Constitution to protect free markets from monopolies:  “No man, nor corporation, or association of men, have any other title to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges.;” 

 

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, To encourage economic development, transportation innovation in a free market, and personal liberty, the State of Massachusetts shall regulate grade-separated networks of self-driving vehicles by the following 5X5 Standard:

 

  1. Network construction must be privately funded.
  2. Networks must exceed 5 times the efficiency on existing roads (125 mpg or equivalent energy efficiency).[[metrics replacing political decisions]]
  3. Networks meeting the 5X efficiency standard are automatically approved unless rejected in writing, for any reason whatsoever, within 30 days of plan submission. [[remove bureaucratic delays and allow governments to enforce public interests]]
  4. Networks pay 5 percent of the gross transportation revenues to the aggregate rights-of-way holders.[[compensate the taxpayers for Rights of Way use]]
  5. Networks operate without government subsidies. [[place risk on innovators, not taxpayers]]
  6. Networks must exceed the safety performance of transportation modes already approved for use.
  7. Guideway safety shall be regulated using existing Massachusetts Department of Public Safety policies. [[Known cost of regulations is essential for capital investment. This is the Disney monorail standard, existing regulations, existing enforcement, existing common law, existing safety record 10,000 times better than roads (0.9 injuries per million versus 11,200 injuries per million on roads]]
  8. Rights of Way access shall be granted based on existing regulations of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, county, and city governments. . [[existing policies for telecommunications and energy]]
  9. Gather more than 2 megawatt-hours of renewable energy per network mile per typical day.[[sustainable energy supply. JPods

////////////   END: Solar Mobility Act/Ordinance ////////////

At 4 AM on Jan 6, 2021, the Massachusetts Legislature passed the Transportation Bond Bill (H5248, unanimously by the House and one dissenting vote in the Senate). The Governor signed the portion with solar-powered mobility networks on Jan 15th. This breaks the regulatory barrier documented in Congressional study PB-244854. In the next few months we expect the 5X5 Standard will be institutionalized in at least one Massachusetts project:

  • Page 21 and lines 717-720:
  • provided further, that not less than $1,300,000 shall be expended for the executive office of energy and environmental affairs, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop and implement solar-powered mobility networks;
This is a first stage passing of the Solar Mobility Act, S1993:

A sincere commitment from the State of Massachusetts to a known cost of regulations will result in $billion of private capital being invested to convert the $15.8 billion/year traffic costs the People of Massachusetts into jobs, customer savings, and profits.  

Goldman Sachs provided a Letter of Interest relative to funding $4-6 billion in JPods networks. Goldman has since published an intent to invest $750 billion in the sustainability by 2030. 

5X5 Standard:

The 5X5 Standard provides a simple and effective way to create a stable regulatory environment so $billions will be invested in sustainable infrastructure.

  1. This standard applies to Networks 5 times more efficient than existing transport modes in a Right of Way.
  2. Construction of the Networks must be privately funded.
  3. Networks must operate without government subsidies.
  4. Networks pay 5% of gross revenues for non-exclusive use of Rights of Way, or what existing laws require of other infrastructure networks using public Rights of Ways.
  5. Aboveground Networks must gather at least 2 megawatt-hours of renewable energy per typical mile per typical day.
  6. In collaboration with the State government, a Web-based Document System (WDS) will be provided with secure access to all jurisdictions. Each Network Plan will be posted to the WDS. Plans not rejected in writing within 14 days are approved.
    • The objective of this provision is to protect the interests of communities, remove bureaucratic delays, and remove problems coordinating with multiple agencies.
    • This only applies to Networks 5 times more efficient than existing networks.
  7. Networks are regulated for safety by existing theme park regulations (typically ASTM F24).
    • This provides a 50,000-times better standard than Federal DOT:
      • 0.2 injuries per million using ASTM F24
      • 11,200 injuries per million using Federal DOT regulations.

Here is the 5X5 Standard pending in the Massachusetts legislature.

  1. The Constitution is the primary Rule of Law in America.
  2. The Constitution Divided Sovereignty in the Preamble, as restated in Amendments 9 and 10:
    • People retain all liberties not enumerated as sacrificed in written Constitutions.
    • The federal government has unlimited taxing powers for the limited sovereignty of waging war and suppressing behaviors that build paths to war.
    • The state governments are sovereign over issues of crimes, civil disputes, and other areas specifically enumerated in their constitutions.

We have known the solution to Climate Change, oil-wars, and traffic jams for half a century. As documented by Congressional Study PB-244854, “Automated Guideway Transit”, the barrier for “four to six decades” has been government regulations. The 5X5 Standard enforces the Massachusetts and US Constitutions, breaking the government monopolies and restoring liberty to innovate that has not been seen since 1972.

Background:

Boston Tea Party resulted in the “post Roads” restriction in the Constitution. It forbids the mixing of Federal taxing for war-powers with taxing for commercial interests, “internal improvements.”

  1. Since the 16th, 17th, and 18th Amendments and The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1916, politicians mixed war-making with their commercial interests resulting in Civilization Killers of:
  1. Enforcing the Constitution provides the path to creating millions of jobs converting traffic costs into value and preempting Civilization Killers. Restoring the Rule of Law in transportation today will repeat the benefits of restoring the Rule of Law in communications in 1982: