Is the Willy Wonka Elevator the Future of Transport? / ABC Far North
Since day one on earth we’ve moved from one place to another and in the future this will not change, but what will change is the way we will move and the things that will move us around and this was the theme for my regular on air catch up with Phil Staley of ABC Far North radio.
We started by looking at the future of private transport and the imminent arrival of cars that will morph between allowing us to drive as we do now and then, like today’s airplane pilots, when we hit the magic button the car will go into auto pilot drive us.
Moving forward we are also expecting a downturn in car ownership down from today’s 2.5 cars per household to 1.7 cars per household in 2025 and the rise of car sharing schemes such as lyft, uber, carnextdoor, flightcar, waze and many others that will allow us to drive cars when and where we want without owning them.
In this horizon space we can also expect public transport change its operation for buses away from fixed timetables and routes to on demand uberesque style routes and timings where users will hail a bus that will pick them up from where they are and within the confines of a designated area take them to where they need to go.
Infrastructure will take time to build and bring to market, but it is likely that within the decade we will see the start of many maglev (magnetic levitation) trains like those already used in Shanghai which currently travels at the 430 kms per hour (and in 2025 should be able to reach 600 km per hour) which would be capable of a Cairns to Brisbane trip in 4 hours and of course the famous Japanese bullet train.
Our chat then turned indoors to talk about the elevator of next year, the willy wonka like maglev elevator (using similar tech to the train) that travels both vertically and horizontally. It may seem to be a “what for” question but 120 years ago the invention and adoption of elevators that travelled vertically change the way we live and work for ever and made the building of today’s skyscrapers entirely possible.
These elevators will do similar allowing many elevator cabs to use the same shaft at the same time and also to travel horizontally along the building allowing us to build wider and in various shapes knowing that we can transport people to anywhere within the building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUa8M0H9J5o
As always a great chat, have a listen now (15 minutes 58 seconds) and then let me know which future transport you’re most looking forward to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the lateral elevator concept and what does it signal about vertical urban mobility?
The multi-directional elevator concept (developed by ThyssenKrupp as MULTI, now Thyssenkrupp Elevator/TK Elevator’s technology) uses magnetic levitation to enable cabins that can move both vertically and horizontally within a building — the ‘Willy Wonka elevator’ concept made technically real. The significance goes beyond the technology itself: it signals that the fundamental assumptions of building design (floor plates organised around vertical shafts at fixed locations) are open to revision; it enables building forms and floor-plate configurations that are not possible with traditional rope-based vertical transport; and it points toward a future of urban mobility that integrates vertical, lateral, and potentially aerial movement in ways that dissolve the distinction between transport within buildings and transport between buildings. Whether this becomes mainstream depends on cost reduction and regulatory normalisation of a genuinely different infrastructure standard.
Q: What are the broader urban mobility signals that point toward how cities will move in 2030?
The urban mobility signals pointing toward 2030 include: electric micro-mobility (e-bikes, e-scooters) has achieved mainstream adoption in many cities and is permanently changing the urban journey mix, particularly for 1-5km trips; urban air mobility (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles, eVTOLs) is approaching commercial deployment in specific contexts — inter-city premium travel, emergency services, some regional routes — though the 2015 predictions of widespread urban air taxis have proven optimistic on timeline; autonomous vehicle deployment in defined urban contexts is advancing in specific cities (Phoenix, San Francisco, cities in China); and the integration of multiple modes through digital platforms (mobility as a service) is creating new ways of combining public transport, ride-share, micro-mobility, and active travel that reduce private vehicle dependence for urban journeys.
Q: What does the future of urban mobility mean for city design and the communities built around current transport assumptions?
The Ripple Effects™ of urban mobility change for city design include: reduced car parking requirement as ride-share, autonomous vehicles, and reduced private vehicle ownership change the ratio of vehicles to people in cities — the land released from parking has significant urban development implications; changed retail and commercial activity patterns as the assumptions about passing traffic and vehicle accessibility that underpin current retail location decisions shift; the equity question of which communities get access to new mobility infrastructure and when — the pattern of infrastructure investment in more affluent areas first and less affluent areas later is well-established and needs deliberate counter-policy; and the infrastructure stranding risk — cities with major recent investments in motorway capacity may find those assets underutilised as travel patterns change, creating both fiscal and physical challenges.
Q: How can I book Morris Misel for an urban futures, transport design, or city keynote?
Contact the team at morrismisel.com/event-organisers.
Since day one on earth we’ve moved from one place to another and in the future this will not change, but what will change is the way we will move and the things that will move us around and this was the theme for my regular on air catch up with Phil Staley of ABC [].
The window between a signal arriving and it demanding a response is shortening. the Willy Wonka Elevator the Future of Transport is already shaping strategy conversations in forward-looking organisations. Treating it as a future concern rather than a present one builds a preparedness gap that will have to be closed under pressure.
The most important question is not whether the Willy Wonka Elevator the Future of Transport will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
