I thought the Schmid Peoplemover was impossible

Just a quick note: Herr Schmid is 80 years old. He has a gravelly voice. He is, no doubt, aware of this. If you're thinking of making a rude joke about that, please don't: it'll join the ones that moderation's already blocked (though they left one thread about it still running). I've got a duty of care to the people who are kind enough to appear here: please help me by being kind in turn!

"It always bothered me that traffic had to stop for one person" what a quintessentially German problem.

"They only gave us four hours to install it in, so we did it in three" Yup, he's German.

This is so incredibly German: the motivation is that cars don't need to stop, it's an over-engineered masterpiece, designed by an imperturbable Swabian inventor, delivered in only three parts, mounted in only a few hours, faster than scheduled. I'm somehow proud :D

We have one of these at a random train station in Berlin, which I only found out after I missed my stop on the way back from a party. I was only half concious and thoughg i was getting on a normal elevator, so you can imagine how baffled i was when i emerged on the other side of the rails 😭 I had to stand there and process that for a good five minutes

I don't think there's anything quite so German as being able to set up an entirely unique, large structure in four hours, and then doing it in three anyway.

Him bragging about being able to install that people mover in 3 hours is peak German pride haha

Germany missed out on some great Blues when this guy decided on a carreer.

In the south of Germany we call people like Mr. Schmid respectfully "ein Bastler". People who are starting with some small ideas in their garage and end up creating world leading companies. His dialect is just awesome!

Imagine being a commuter that lives near this train station, one evening at 6/7pm your at the station on your way home and everything looks normal, you get to the station at 7/8am the next day to commute to work and all of a sudden there is this massive people mover that has been installed overnight.

I absolutely love it whenever Tom brings on a cool old guy who invented something niche. That's the absolute best use of this platform as far as I'm concerned. Living history in their own words.

I like that he talked to wheelchair users about this, is really a great example of technology that's explicitly made to be accessible for disabled users

Wow! I had no idea something like existed. Very cool

German railway: you’ve got 4h, overnight. Schmid: Halte mein Bier!

Not only it was installed one hour earlier than planned, after 20 years it is still fully functional. Kudos for tracking down the engineer who designed it.

There's such a crazy illusion around 3:37 -4:00 because of the reflection of the aluminium tower it seams at a certain point there is no tower but only an exit of an elevator which comes from underground. Maybe it's the magic peoplemover we observe here which traverse the cabin through thin air.

It's a shame it's not ubiquitous. It moved fast, arguably faster than a very busy passageway, increased accessibility (which as someone born with a hip disability and had to spend pre-K in a wheelchair, this is a plus) and above all else looks fun. A win-win to me And if you thought this was impossible, the St. Louis Gateway Arch elevator tram exists. A guy (let's call him by his cool surname Bowser) developed with his father elevator equipment that could travel horizontally, diagonally, and normal vertical. By chance, he was in the same room as the Arch's architect and was given two weeks to design and present in front of the team. He knew a normal system wouldn't do, so for the Arch he combined elevator and Ferris wheel elements to create a unique system where a tram of eight elevator pods that by rotating, allows the visitors inside to remain leveled the entire way

I would like every transportation ever made to be named "Peoplemover".

He’s so proud of his invention and his engineering firm, I love it.

As impractical as it may be to install, i would love to see these alongside standard footbridges for an easier world for people with disablities. this world isn't designed with them in mind and it would be nice to see them get some more