Matt Derrick of travel site Punk Nomad recently went for a ride on a Rail Rider—essentially a go kart for railroad tracks (video). The ride took place on an abandoned stretch of track near the Salton Sea in Southern California.

via Jalopnik

The Honda UNI-CUB is a personal mobility device that the rider controls simply by leaning (video). The omni-directional driving wheel system allows the UNI-CUB to move in any direction including sideways and diagonally. UNI-CUB is the successor to the 2009 U3-X concept.

via Wired

This animation by Globaïa shows the incredibly numerous road networks, shipping lanes, and flight paths that encircle Earth. The animation is part of the Welcome to the Anthropocene project, an educational web portal focused on humanity’s increasing impact on Earth. There’s also a narrated version of the animation which provides some historical context.

via Gizmodo

To increase safety on the streets, Domino’s Pizza in the Netherlands has installed Safe Sound, human-made engine noises, to their previously silent electric delivery scooters. Listen closely, it’s not a typical vroom-vroom sound.

Domino’s Marketing Manager, Carolyn ten Cate says in the press release (online translation):

Our delivery note that daily overtake cyclists risky situations yields because the silent scooter riders do not come to hear. Because the safety of our delivery and all other road users is very important to us, we take personal responsibility here to do something.

via The Awesomer

images via Domino’s Pizza

Sidecar is a community ridesharing app that connects people who need a ride with car owners willing to drive them. Passengers can use the app to pay their drivers, though payments are voluntary. Sidecar is currently available in San Francisco.

SideCar is a fast, reliable, community rideshare concept. SideCar is a mobile app that links passengers who need rides with drivers willing to drive them, using their own cars as transportation. SideCar works on a voluntary pay-as-you-want system, allowing you to decide how much you want to pay your driver.

This stern view of the Titanic was taken as the ship came came to a stop having dropped anchor. The head and shoulders of a seaman can be seen above the rear funnel, which was in fact a ventilation shaft, he climbed up to get a grandstand view of Titanic’s arrival at Cobh.

On April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland and on April 15, 1912 the “unsinkable” ship sank killing 1,523 passengers. Prior to its fateful voyage to New York City, the ship traveled from Southampton to Cobh (Queenstown) in Ireland. For that short trip, Father Francis Browne was gifted a first class ticket by his uncle, Robert Browne (Bishop of Coyne). An avid photographer, Fr. Browne snapped a series of photographs of the Titanic that give insight to life onboard and are an important part of its history. The entire image gallery can be found at Titanic Photographs and more of the history behind the photographs can be found at the Father Browne website. A commemorative book of digitally remastered photographs titled Father Browne’s Titanic Album: Centenary Edition is available to purchase at Messenger Publications. Yes, the Titanic tragedy was real and not just a movie.

Inside the Gymnasium
Mr. TW McCawley the physical educator poses at a rowing machine and Mr. William Parr, electrician who was travelling first class, is seated on some form of exercising machine, hold still for the duration of a time exposure. Both men were lost.

This interior view of the Titanic’s First Class reading and writing room conveys some idea of the opulence of the liner’s grand interiors

This man standing on the boat deck close to the gymnasium is believed to be Jacques Futrelle the American short story writer who was lost with the ship.

Father Francis Browne, 1939

via Isik Mater

photos by Fr. Francis Browne & Fr. Michael Garahy

TaxiTreats is a New York City-based startup that is developing a seatback vending machine for taxis. Cofounded by business students Brian Shimmerlik (NYU) and Tomas Grosskopf (Universidad de Buenos Aires), TaxiTreats recently won the New York Economic Development Corporation’s NYC Next Idea competition.

via designboom & New York Post

Today marks the official unveiling of the Nissan NV200 taxi cab, which will begin replacing New York City’s taxi fleet in October, 2013. The cab features a low annoyance horn, anti-microbial seats, and USB chargers for mobile devices.

via The Verge

photos via Nissan

Our London Tube Cuffs detail lines, streets, and numbers of the London Underground aka London Tube.

The first in our series, our NYC Metro Cuffs feature black embossed lines, streets, and numbers of the notorious New York City subway system.

Our Milan Metro Cuffs feature M1, M2, and M3 lines of Milan’s subway.

Thanks to Lori Dorn for the tip!

The Arts for Transit App directs New York City MTA riders to permanent public art installations around the transit system. The app is part of the free Meridian guide app by Spotlight Mobile.

MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design is excited to present the officially licensed app that provides comprehensive information about the wide variety of permanent artwork installed throughout the subway and rail system in New York.

via The Atlantic Cities

Designer Boguslaw Sliwinski encourages playing with your food with his cool series of modern ceramic Transportation Plates. Each one shows a different mode of shipping transportation which you can then load up artfully with food. They are available to purchase by contacting the designer.

via Geekosystem and MoCo Loco

On Tuesday the obsolete Fort Steuben Bridge was destroyed in a spectacular controlled demolition that required 153 pounds of explosives. The Ohio Department of Transportation has released a very loud(!) video of the demolition—be sure to catch the slow motion replay at the 0:25 mark. The bridge was built in 1928 and spanned the Ohio River, connecting Steubenville, Ohio to Weirton, West Virginia. It was declared structurally unsound and closed to traffic in 2009.

via 22 Words

photo by Jim Ross/The State Journal

“Taxi!” is a beautiful data visualization of 10,000 taxi trips occurring over the course of one day in Manhattan. The visualization was a collaboration between Tom McKeogh, Eliza Montgomery and Juan Francisco Saldarriaga.

Taxi! is an analytical model that maps the trip data for 10,000 taxi rides over the course of 24 hours. Geographic location data for the origin and destination of each ride is combined with waypoint data collected from the Google Maps API in order to generate a geographically accurate representation of the trip. We used data from taxi rides originating or ending in the neighborhoods of Lincoln center or Bryant Park. The visualization recreates a ‘breathing’ map of Manhattan based on the migration of vehicles across the city over a period of 24 hours, displaying periods of intensity, density and decreased activity.

via FlowingData & Digital Urban

Lineposters is a beautifully minimal poster series of city transit systems from around the world. The posters are currently on sale at Fab. They can also be found at the Lineposters Etsy store. The Lineposters series is by Cayla Ferari and John Breznicky.

Embark is a free public transportation trip planning app that works with or without cell reception and is tailored to individual transit systems. The wonderful intro video for Embark is by Adam Lisagor (aka Lonely Sandwich).

via Adam Lisagor

The Board of Awesomeness by mobile app developer Chaotic Moon is an experimental motorized longboard that is controlled by the rider’s gestures, thanks to a XBox 360 Kinect motion sensor (video).

So how does it work? Video recognition, speech recognition, location data, accelerometer data, and other factors determine what the user wants to do and allow the board to follow the operator’s commands without other aid. Very similar to using Kinect for Xbox 360, the Kinect device on our Board of Awesomeness transmits the user’s gestures and movement to the Samsung Windows 8 tablet that serves as the board’s central brain by controlling the speed of the board’s electric motor, which is up to 32 miles per hour.

The 11th annual No Pants Subway Ride is set for January 8. Improv Everywhere started the event on the New York City Subway back in 2002—it has grown to be an international event (see the list of participating cities).

Jean-Yves Blondeau (aka Rollerman) created a 31 wheel roller suit which he races down mountain roads and other steep descents (video by Danny Strasser). The wearer can use the suit to skate in a variety of positions, from standing to lying flat. Blondeau has been developing the suit since 1994.

photo via Jean-Yves Blondeau

via The Awesomer & Awesom.tv

MetroChange is a proposal for a kiosk that would allow New York MTA riders to donate leftover funds on their MetroCards to charity (video). MetroChange was created by NYU students Stepan Boltalin, Genevieve Hoffman, and Paul May. Currently the kiosk is only a prototype but the students are searching for partners to help make it a reality.

Every year, millions of dollars worth of value on MTA MetroCards is lost or discarded.

MetroChange takes this value and puts it to good use, before cards are discarded. Swipe your MetroCard at a MetroChange kiosk; the value on the card is transferred to a central fund. This fund is donated to a charity once per month. The physical card is taken for recycling.

via The Atlantic

photos by Paul May

Australian designer Cameron Booth has created a map of the U.S. Routes highway system in the style of a subway map. U.S. Routes (such as Route 66) are not to be confused with the more modern Interstate Highway System, for which Booth has created another map.

via Chart Porn

Chromaroma makes a game of riding the London Underground (demo video). The online game tracks a rider’s transit card data to determine where they’ve been on the transit system. Players collect points for their subway trips, complete missions, and compete against or with other players. Chromaroma is by UK-based digital production company Mudlark.

via GOOD & Curiosity Counts

The Air-Free Tire is an airless tire design concept by Bridgestone (video by DigInfo TV). The concept relies on thermoplastic resin spokes to give the tire its shape and flexibility (it is also 100% recyclable). Due to the limited load capacity of the tire, it is intended for use in lightweight carts and personal mobility devices, with use on larger vehicles planned for the future. The tire debuted at this month’s Tokyo Motor Show.

Michelin developed a similar concept, the Tweel, back in 2005.

via Gizmodo

Flyboard is an amphibious water-powered jet pack that propels the wearer up to 30 feet in the air (demo video). A large hose channels high pressure water to the Flyboard from a nearby jet ski. Two large jets at the wearer’s feet provide the propulsion, with two smaller handheld jets providing control. Flyboard was designed by French jet ski racer Franky Zapata of Zapata Racing.

via Gizmodo

The Imaginary BART Map by Jake Coolidge is a rendering of what the Bay Area Rapid Transit system might look like if it actually served the entire San Francisco Bay Area, instead of just 4 out of 9 Bay Area counties. It is based in part on the original 1957 plan for BART (see below).

And here is the current BART system map:

Thanks to Nico Crisafulli of 10 Times One for the tip!

British photographer Rob Whitworth created this wonderful time-lapse of the manic traffic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Everyone who has visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam knows part of the magic (love it or hate it) is in the traffic. Ever since I first set foot in HCMC I have been captivated by the cities energy. Saigon is a city on the move unlike anything I have experienced before which I wanted to capture and share.

via Co.Exist