A common difficulty encountered in public transport is in trying to move people from a transportation hub, like a railway station, bus stop, etc. to their desired destination, or from their origination point to a transport hub. These problems are referred to as the ‘last mile’ or ‘first mile’ problem, respectively. Where the population of a place is not dense, like in areas where there are extensive suburbs and exurbs, this difficulty can become chronic making public transport impractical. A number of solutions have been proposed to overcome this problem, including community transportation such as feeder transport and ride or car sharing programs, however, these methods require a social infrastructure that is often either not available or not extensive enough to meet commuter needs. Other solutions involve various forms of portable transport, such as bicycles. Most of these personal forms of transportation are relatively bulky and present challenges in storage at both ends of the commute, as well as transport within most public transport systems.
Accordingly, a need exists for personal transport devices and infrastructure capable of addressing the ‘last mile’/‘first mile’ challenge.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds