Alternative vehicles. Not a car, not a bus. Alternative transport or what else you can use to move around the city. Reactive power on the shoulders
Transport is an integral part of modern life, especially in a frantic urban pace. Not surprisingly, along with the usual public transport modes, cars, taxis and bicycles, alternative means of transportation of a wide variety of designs and operating principles began to appear. With the popularization of crowdfunding platforms inventors were given the opportunity to bring their ideas to life. Now Kickstarter is replete with such devices, but we will get acquainted with interesting projects that have ever been funded on Kickstarter.
Folding e-bike CMYK
The CMYK e-bike was funded back in 2012, and now it has version 3.0, although there are no fundamental changes compared to the first. This is a fairly miniature bike with 14-inch wheels, disc brakes and an aluminum alloy frame, weighing 11.3 kg. The handlebars, pedals and seat fold down for carrying and storage.
The bike uses a 250-watt electric motor that is powered by a lithium-ion battery. Charging time from the outlet is about 2 hours, the charge is enough for 50-60 minutes of driving. The maximum speed is 20 km / h.
Riide
Another successfully funded e-bike is the Riide. There was no folding structure here, this bike is more suitable for walking trips. The frame is made of aluminum alloy and weighs about 16 kg, which is quite good considering the electric motor and battery for it. The diameter of the wheels is 26 inches. A 160mm disc brake is used, part of the energy during braking is returned to the battery (recuperation).
The bike is powered by a 350 watt motor or pedals. The maximum speed is 32 km / h, and a full battery charge is enough for 32-40 km (when driving exclusively with the electric motor). Charging time is about 2-3 hours.
Verrado Electric Drift Trike
The next engineering marvel is more like a hybrid of a bicycle and a go-kart. Of course, with an electric motor. The Verrado Electric Drift Trike has three wheels: the front is a 20-inch brushless motor and two small rear wheels. The vehicle is aimed more at performing all kinds of pirouettes on the asphalt than at moving around the city.
Charging takes about 3 hours, which is enough for 45 minutes (or about 20 km) of figure skating and drifting. The front wheel is mounted on a BMX fork, and the rear wheels are 5 "rims with 10" kart tires, over which there are PVC "covers" for better glide.
ProGo
The vast majority of these vehicles are equipped with electric motors. They are harmless to the environment, but they also have a number of disadvantages, such as short battery life and long recharging. The ProGo scooter is equipped with a propane engine, which is significantly less harmful to the environment than gasoline.
The four-stroke engine has a volume of 25 cubic cm, one refueling (464 g of propane) is enough for 50-65 km or 2-3 hours of driving. The maximum speed is about 32 km / h. The scooter uses 8-inch wheels and disc brakes, the structure can support up to 125 kg and weighs about 16. The steering wheel can be folded for storage and transportation.
ACTON M Scooter
The creators of ACTON R RocketSkates, which we wrote about recently, are not the first time on Kickstarter. Previously, they successfully raised the required amount for a three-wheeled electric scooter-constructor ACTON M Scooter. The design allows the scooter to be folded for transportation to dimensions that will fit in the trunk of a car. The weight is 31 kg, while the "carrying capacity" is 136 kg, so a guy of small dimensions with his girlfriend (or two girls) will be able to ride with a breeze.
Charging time is 2 hours (from charger) and 4 hours from wall outlet. The maximum speed is about 20 km / h and the travel range is 24 km.
Onewheel
A separate topic is one-wheeled vehicles with an automatic balancing system. Their number and variety is also growing. For example, something vaguely reminiscent of a skateboard with one wide wheel in the hole in the middle of the board, called the Onewheel. In addition to the electric motor and battery, there is auto-balancing system with accelerometer, gyroscope and microcontroller. The controls are quite intuitive: to move or turn, you need to tilt the Onewheel in the right direction.
Electric motor power - 500 W, maximum speed - 20 km / h. They promise 2 hours of pokatushek on one battery charge. Charging time is 2 hours from a standard charger and 20 minutes from a branded fast charger. There is a companion app for Android and iOS that allows you to track routes, limit the maximum speed, and so on.
Urban glider
The next miracle of technology is called the Urban Glider and also has only one wheel and an auto-balancing system, but this time the legs are placed on folding platforms on the sides of it. Such devices are already being made by brave Chinese engineers. V The Urban Glider features a 16-inch wheel and foldable footrests and a handle for easy transport. Weight - 11 kg.
The characteristics of the electric motor are quite standard: maximum speed - 20 km / h, power reserve - 30-35 km, and charging time is 2 hours.
Gnarboards
Skateboards of various shapes and sizes have become popular again and the emergence of electric options is quite logical. There are already many variations of them. Gnarboards are the toughest of them all. Although they can rather be attributed to the so-called "Mountainboards": they use large wheels for driving on rough terrain, metal structures and powerful electric motors.
Three model variants are available: the simplest two-wheel drive version is equipped with an electric motor with a nominal power of 1.4 kW and a peak power of 7.2 kW. It accelerates to 45 km / h in 3 seconds and has a power reserve of up to 34 km. The other two models are all-wheel drive, the most powerful is equipped with a 3.4 kW electric motor (16.5 kW peak), accelerates to 45 km / h in 1.9 seconds and has a power reserve of 24 km. Controlled by a wired remote control.
Marbel
Marbel is the lightest of the electric skateboards (at least for now). It weighs only 4.5 kg and has been chosen in carbon fiber and Kevlar for lightweight construction. To limit speed, control acceleration, track position and charge level, use a handheld remote control or mobile application for Android or iOS. The maximum speed is about 40 km / h, and the range is about 16 km.
The relatively short driving distance on a single charge was due to the desire to make the skate as light as possible. A full charge takes about an hour and a half.
LEIF
The developer is a snowboarding enthusiast who doesn't want to wait until next winter to do what he loves. At first glance, the device has a conventional design. In fact, the four side wheels play a balancing role. Driven by two more wheels, which are housed together with brushless electric motors on rotating platforms at the bottom of the LEIF. Thanks to this design, an imitation of sliding on bends and the ability to drive in all four directions is created.
The power of the motors is 200 W, the maximum speed is about 32 km / h. One charge is enough for 13 kilometers, and the batteries can be recharged in an hour. Operated by LEIF wireless remote control, and weighs 6.8 kg.
Moscow ranks first in Europe in terms of road congestion. In traffic jams, residents of the capital spend 92 hours of their time annually. But it can be used for something more useful. Therefore, today there are many alternative ways to get around the city. We have selected the 5 most popular products with which you can easily save both time and money on gasoline.
1. Longboard
The longboard at the top of our collection is no coincidence. This is one of the types of skateboards. It is more stable due to its elongated shape, wide deck surface and special soft wheels. A longboard means no exhaust gases, no traffic jams, no waste on gasoline. Longboards are less commonly used for tricks, jumps and glides, because such boards are more a means of transportation. There is a special name for a leisurely walk - cruising. And for him there is a separate type of longboards - cruisers, the most popular models in the world. It is easy to learn the basics of riding on them, and good maneuverability will allow even beginners to ride in the park with a breeze, without frightening passers-by. Such boards are convenient and compact and can easily fit into the trunk of a car, do not squeeze passengers in a subway car and weigh very little. We found a large selection of longboards at Ridestep - the first online store of custom longboards in Russia. Here you can assemble your own board and even create your own design. Free shipping is a nice bonus to your order. See the assortment →
2. Electric skate
Using your body's momentum is convenient and effective when traveling short distances. But the more mileage, the higher the likelihood of getting to work sweaty and dirty. For a more enjoyable start in the morning, try the electric skateboard. This is a board with an electric motor. You can control it using the remote control. The speed in some models exceeds 40 km / h, and the distance that can be covered with one charge is up to 50 km. Mobility sets the electric skate apart from other electronic means of transportation. With it, you do not need to look for a parking space or try to go around a difficult obstacle: in any incomprehensible situation, take it in your hands, and the problem is solved. Learning to ride will take no more than 2 hours, and will save much more in just a week. At Evolve, electric skates are made from lightweight, high-strength alloys so they don't get in the way in your hands. The founder of the company, Jeff Anning, selected all the components from his own experience in order to ultimately design an ergonomic and comfortable board. With such a vehicle, you will not only quickly get to work, but you will also be able to train your balance and balance skills every day. Buy electric skate →
3. Monocycle
No, this is not what bears ride in circuses. But very similar. And if they were able to maintain balance on one wheel, then so can you. Monocycle is a one-wheeled vehicle for getting around the city. Its speed is inferior to an electric skate, as it requires more effort to maintain balance. Consequently, a speed of more than 25 km / h becomes unsafe. But with the help of a monocycle you can easily maneuver between slowly walking passers-by and overtake cars standing in traffic jams. Choose a monowheel →
From English, the name of this device is translated as "smooth path". Its peculiarity is a self-balancing mechanism. The system reacts to your movement and adapts to them. At the same time, special skills are not required to control the segway. Therefore, it is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. True, the price comparable to a domestic car makes this type of transport less popular. Select Segway →
5. Scrooter
Combines the advantages of a scooter and a scooter. Therefore, you can ride it both sitting and standing. He is not afraid of our asphalt: wide wheels quietly drive through pits and bumps. On average, the design allows up to two people to be transported at the same time. Therefore, in addition to trips to work, you can arrange mini-trips with your girlfriend. Select scooter →
Trolleybuses, trams, buses, metro, taxis - these are the means of transportation that are the main means of transport in any city. However, the list is not limited to them. Many cities have their own options for how to deliver the residents of these settlements from point A to point B. And manufacturers around the world are developing extraordinary individual vehicles. Here's about a dozen alternative generally accepted types of urban transport and will be discussed in our today's review.
In the capital of the Basque Country, a very unusual public transport has appeared - the mechanical Ramps street escalator. It was created in order to help the inhabitants of this settlement as quickly and conveniently as possible to move along the hilly streets of the Old Town of Vitoria. And to protect it from rain and snow, the entire route of this escalator is covered with a transparent glass pavilion that allows natural ventilation, but does not allow water and strong gusts of wind to pass through.
For several years of its existence, the Segway electric scooter has become a real legend among alternative means of transportation in the city. This compact private vehicle is ideal for taking a leisurely ride through the streets, looking around and not worrying about traffic jams.
I carry everything with me! It seems that this principle was guided by the creators of the Gig Pack, of which the scooter is a part. That is, this tourist attribute can not only be carried with you, but also used as a means of transportation.
A standard ferry, in our understanding of the word, must sail through rivers, lakes or straits back and forth. However, in the suburb of the Basque city of Bilbao, there is a ferry that completely breaks our stereotypes about this type of transport. We are talking about the Bridge of Biscay - a platform flying over the Nervion River, transporting people and cars in a shuttle mode by air.
In 2011, a pilot version of a new urban transport - the unmanned ULTra taxi - was launched at London Heathrow Airport. The concept of this extraordinary vehicle is to drive small cabins on special isolated roads from station to station. And the automatic system prevents these machines from colliding with fences and each other.
In cities with difficult mountainous terrain, it can be very difficult to establish a system of traditional public transport. That's why you have to use funiculars, cable cars and even huge street lifts. A striking example of this is Lisbon, where the Elevador de Santa Justa elevator has existed for many years, helping residents of the Portuguese capital and visitors to the city to climb the steep slope connecting the Baixa and Chiado districts.
Another "new reading" of a familiar vehicle. In South Korea, a couple of years ago, the OLEV tram was created, which does not need horns or rails to travel. It runs through the park area, where special elements are built into the sidewalks that simultaneously indicate the route and charge OLEV batteries in a non-contact mode.
Haifa is a city in which there is not only the well-known underground funicular leading to Mount Carmel, but also a rather unusual cable car. The fact is that the cabins of this type of air transport are very reminiscent of classic UFOs.
It turns out that cycling around the city can be combined with gatherings in the company and drinking alcoholic beverages. An example of this is the City Cycle pedal-powered bus, which is a mobile beer bar for fourteen people.
It is foolish for cities located on the banks of water bodies not to use water as a transport artery. So they decided in Toronto, where a new type of urban transport has recently appeared - the Hippo bus, which can not only ride on the ground, but also swim.
The era of suborbital tourist flights is coming - practically it is a spacewalk with all that it implies, a feeling of weightlessness, a view of the Earth from a round window and strong overloads, however, without fixing in near-earth orbit. A suborbital aircraft is launched from a launch vehicle. Then it accelerates to a speed of about 4000 km / h and in the middle of the road goes without an engine on residual thrust. Having reached about 100-200 km above the Earth, like a launched nucleus, it begins to fall along a ballistic curve, at this moment passengers feel weightlessness, but not for long, only about 5 minutes. Entering the troposphere, the spacecraft begins gliding and lands on the runway like a normal airplane.
For the first time, a suborbital flight was made by the experimental X-15 rocket plane, designed in the 1950s in the United States. This vessel was intended for the United States Air Force only. Currently, several private companies are engaged in the creation of suborbital aircraft. Russia has also decided to keep up with this scientific and commercial trend, and now NPO Molniya is developing a suborbital space system based on the M-55 Geofizika high-altitude aircraft.
Speed
The maximum is about 4000 km / h, however, given that the spacecrafts are intended mainly for tourism, it is not possible to use such a speed to quickly fly from Russia to the United States.
Spaciousness
Depending on the model of the spacecraft, from 4 to 14 people.
When to expect
Flights with ordinary passengers can begin in two to three years.
02. Wheels, gyroscope and nothing more
“This is something between slippers and a bicycle,” is how Dean Kamen calls his invention, an electric segway scooter. The development appeared in stores already in 2002 and became very popular. Now this type of environmentally friendly and convenient transport is used not only by ordinary citizens, but also by various government services, for example, most American postmen deliver parcels and letters to addresses on segways, in several cities in Germany such a scooter is a mandatory attribute of a police officer. Recently, the inventor Shane Chen decided to improve the segway and created a similar, but more compact vehicle, the electric unicycle, or solowheel. According to the principle of operation - the same as an electric scooter, it is set in motion without any buttons and works on the basis of a gyroscope and sensors that continuously assess the displacement of the center of gravity, that is, any movements of the user. If you lean forward, the scooter will go straight, if you lean a little to the side, it will turn. You can carry this scooter with you everywhere.
Speed
Approximately 20 km / h.
Roominess b
Both the segway and the monowheel are designed for the individual user; it is most likely that it will not work to balance on them together, unless, of course, you are a couple of synchronized swimmers.
When to expect
Already now, all pedestrians in the world are gradually switching to these electric scooters.
03. A real SUV
A vehicle capable of moving at high speed on water, ice, snow, land and air is an ekranoplane, a direct descendant of an ekranoplan, a hybrid vessel on a dynamic hovercraft. The ekranolet is better than its predecessor in that it is able to soar not only over a flat surface, but also rise upward, overcoming even the most impassable routes.
For the first time, a hybrid hovercraft was invented back in 1937 by Soviet engineer Vladimir Levkov. Later, realizing all the advantages of this type of transport, China and Korea were engaged in its modifications and latest developments, they began to build large and capacious modern ekranoliters, on which you can very quickly move from one Asian country to another. So far, such a system of passenger transportation has not been ideally established, but ekranolets are perfectly used there for water tourism.
Russia took up this transport seriously in the late 1990s, the Sukhoi design bureau even created a multi-seat modern ekranolet S-90, but the general public never saw it. Perhaps the ship is being finalized after testing, and someday we will be able to quickly get from the central part of Russia to its remote regions, for example, to Siberia or the Far East, on an all-terrain aircraft.
Speed
The ekranolet is about half slower than a passenger airliner, its speed is about 400–450 km / h.
Spaciousness
The largest vessel has 50 seats.
When to expect
In Asia or in the United Arab Emirates, where ekranolets are supplied from China, you can already find these winged ships similar to the plane and ride them near the coast.
04. Levitating Train
The fastest form of ground transportation is the magnetic levitation train. However, it would be more correct to say - overhead, because the train does not travel, but flies a few millimeters above the monorail. Therefore, it is called Maglev - magnetic levitation. Thinking about such trains began a hundred years ago, and the first working Maglevs were built in the 1980s in England and Germany.
But the only maglev, which today plays the role of not an attraction, but a full-fledged means of public transport, works in Shanghai, connecting the city with the airport and covering 30 km in 7 and a half minutes. So far, the maglev remains the transport of the future - environmentally friendly, ultra-fast, cheap to use and safe. It's just not cheap to build infrastructure for it. Now roads are being built for them in Japan and South Korea, and they are planning to create them in other countries, including Russia. If such a route was built from Moscow to Vladivostok, the trip would take less than a day.
Speed
Today, the fastest Maglev is Japanese, which showed a record speed of 581 km / h during trials in 2003 in Yamanashi prefecture. While he carries the chosen lucky ones.
Spaciousness
Hundreds of people. This is a train, and, like any train, the number of passengers can vary depending on the number of wagons.
When to expect
The longest highway currently under construction from Tokyo to Osaka is scheduled for completion in 2027.
05. Drivers are an anachronism
It seems that it is already becoming a commonplace that the vehicles of the future are useless for the driver, they will move with the help of optical sensors, "smart roads", radar, and most importantly - artificial intelligence. According to The Economist magazine, 90% of road traffic accidents are due to human error. This statistic sounds like a verdict on human drivers.
Airplanes, ships and cars are gaining autonomy step by step. For a good car, parking autopilot, cruise control, the ability to warn the driver of danger have already become the norm. Tesla, General Motors and other auto giants are actively developing them. But ahead of all Google - a dozen unmanned "Prius", brought to an independent mind in the secret laboratories GoogleX, has been driving around California for several years. Google plans to release its own car in the near future. The company has invested $ 250 million in the Uber taxi service, which it plans to equip with its own drones.
Speed
Autopilot knows better.
Spaciousness
When to expect
The mass production of fully autonomous vehicles is expected sometime around 2020.
06. Reactive power on the shoulders
How wonderful it would be to move around with an airbag - no traffic jams, no crowds! Work on the creation of such an individual vehicle began in the 1950s, when the scientist Wendell Moore created the Bell Rocket Belt.
However, Moore did not go beyond not very successful tests. And despite the fact that they have been working on the creation of this aircraft for a long time, so far in no country in the world you will meet a flock of office workers flying on air backpacks. Although quite viable prototypes of the device exist and are constantly being improved.
There are two main developments: this is a jet backpack from the American company Tecaerome, which so far can hover in the air for only 40 seconds, and another, the most successful project, an Aerranian engineer from New Zealand Glenn Martin called Martin Jetpack. Martin began working on it back in the 1990s, and during the first test flight, he invited his wife to become a test pilot, she did not refuse. In a large hangar, the scientist fixed the backpack on a high pole so that it could move strictly along the axis up and down, without flying to the sides or above the pole, and fastened his wife to the invention. The backpack still took off, but only a couple of meters. Everything went well, my wife was not hurt.
Speed
Now such backpacks fly at a speed of 60 km / h, which is quite comparable to a car in the city. But the developers plan to accelerate the backpack to 100 km / h.
Spaciousness
The airbag is designed for one person. But if you fly through a burning building, from the window of which a beautiful girl falls out, you can afford to get used to the role of superman and save her: the satchel will withstand two adults with an average weight.
When to expect
Backpacks will be available to a wide range of users around 2018.
07. Pneumatic mail for transporting people
Hyperloop is another project of Elon Musk, who called "Hyperloop" the fifth mode of transport (the other four are water, air, road and rail). The project was introduced in 2012 as an alternative to the high-speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. "Hyperloop" is a system of pipelines with a diameter of 2.2 meters, located on overpasses, in which very low pressure is maintained. Capsules move along the pipelines, soaring at a short distance from the bottom of the pipe due to the injection of air into the gap and aerodynamics. It looks like a giant sleeve of pneumatic mail, only containers with people or goods will be sent through it. Accelerated by an electromagnetic pulse through a pipe, they will be able to cover 600 km in half an hour - faster than an airplane. The energy for the new type of transport will be provided by solar panels. The project has one problem - Musk himself has no time to implement it, he needs someone to take it up.
Speed
Spaciousness
The dimensions of the "Hyperloops" containers allow transporting up to 28 people.
When to expect
So far, no one has started to implement Hyperloop, but if you start, nothing will stop you from completing the project in a few years.
08. Car with vertical takeoff
A rare science fiction movie or book can do without flying cars. But when will they become reality? It turns out that work on the air car is in full swing, and one of the most promising projects is being created by the Vladimir Pirozhkov Industrial Design Center, which has built Citroen C3, C4, C5, Toyota Auris, Toyota Avensis, Toyota iQ. No matter how hard it is to believe it, about every twentieth car on the roads of the world is the work of the intellect and hands of Pirozhkov. Who, if not him, create a vertical takeoff car? “At some point, I realized: the next project of a traditional car is just another place in a traffic jam,” admits Pirozhkov. He calls his dream a 3D mobile, because he moves in three dimensions. Now Pirozhkov is assembling a prototype of a 3D mobile at a scale of 1: 4.
Speed
Like a light airplane, 200-400 km / h.
Spaciousness
Like a car.
When to expect
In twenty years.
09. Surfing in the air
A flying skateboard or hoverboard is a long-standing dream of carefree teenagers and serious and smart inventors. In the early 2000s, there was just a boom in the development of hoverboards, Western engineers issued a new model every year. But all this turned out to be a profanation, because such supposedly levitating boards were designed on the principle of a hovercraft, where powerful pumps were used to collect fallen leaves as a holding mechanism in the air. The first device, similar to a flying skate, like the protagonist Marty McFly from the movie "Back to the Future 2", was presented in 2011 by the French. Their board, called MagSurf, uses the Meissner effect to float in the air, where a magnet bounces off a cooled superconductor and levitates. During tests, this skate really rose into the air, albeit to a small height, only 3 cm. It could fly only over superconducting steel rails. Another development, operating on the same principle, is the HENDO hoverboard. It flies too low, the battery charge lasts only for 8 minutes of flight, and this thing can only hover over a metal surface.
Speed
A fairly nimble vehicle, accelerating to 40 km / h.
Spaciousness
One or two people. Hoverboards from both manufacturers can carry up to 100 kg.
When to expect
Until you go far on such a thing, and you can't call it a full-fledged transport, it's just an attraction. Although in five years, the developers promise to present to the world a skate that will fly everywhere, and not just over metal surfaces.
10. Goodbye Gasoline
Until recently, people tried to make an electric car, at least somehow approaching gasoline cars, there was no question of competition. Before our eyes, a revolution has taken place - the Tesla Model S electric car, created by Elon Musk, is called the best car in the world. This luxury sedan accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour in 4 seconds, surpasses all gasoline cars in ergonomics and safety, and is sold better than the gasoline models of the former kings of the car market.
Musk's next car, the Tesla Model D, is on its way, while the world is being covered in a network of electric vehicles powered by the sun. “I believe all modes of transportation should be powered by electricity,” Musk says, contemplating an electric plane. After all, even if gas is burned at thermal power plants and this energy is converted into electricity, its use in an electric vehicle gives an output of about sixty percent efficiency from gas energy. And when you burn fuel in a car engine, the efficiency is only 20%. No one has extra gas, the planet's resources must be conserved, so the cars of the future will have to be charged from the power grid.
Speed
The maximum speed of the Tesla Model D is 249 km / h.
Spaciousness
When to expect
The budget electric car Musk plans to release in 2017, but in Russia there is still a problem with the network of charging stations.
Photo: Mark Greenberg / Zuma Press / Global Look Press; Inventist.com/Ferrari Press / East News; Grigory Sysoev / TASS; Toru Yamanaka / AFP / East News; Dominic Wilcox / Exclusivepix / East News; Martin Aircraft Company Limited, EyePress News / AFP / East News; from the personal archive of V. Pirozhkov; Hendo; Nancy Pastor / Polaris / East News
Either he stabbed me with coffee at night, or they mix something into Coldrex, with which I am being treated for a cold, or because of the cold itself, changes in consciousness occur ... In general, the night turned out to be fruitful for thinking about public transport ( specially for blogomarathon , by the way!), who is interested in the topic - I ask under the cut, all the rest just wish good morning and a good day!
Original - No alternative urban transport needed. A simple, complex recipe for an efficient transport system
Instead of an introduction ...
A couple of weeks ago, a post appeared in the community "Alternative urban public transport - is there really an alternative?" Igor
tried to try on unusual types of OT on our city. The author came to the pessimistic conclusion that for one reason or another, new items and simply exotic in our city will not be relevant. However, in the comments to the post, the thought slipped through that a particular species would never be a panacea for OT problems. There was also a fair, in my opinion, opinion that the key to an effective system is the reasonable use of all modes of transport. At first glance, the recipe is really simple, but the devil, as always, is in the details ... 
In the first part of this post, we will try to understand the theory, the types of OTs and their capabilities. In the second, we will try to apply the knowledge gained to the public transport system in St. Petersburg. I must say right away that I am not a world-renowned expert in the subject, I am just an amateur, so I ask you not to judge too harshly (and those who are an expert should not laugh too loudly). So, let's go!
Part 1. Theory
To begin with, I propose to immediately cut off the cars, as a kind of OT. The picture above very clearly shows how much more difficult it is to provide comfortable, in terms of speed, movement of the same number of people in the form of motorists compared to the same number, but in the form of bus passengers. And they still haven't raised the problem of parking! There are already enough cities in the world that went the wrong way "everything for cars", but then still suffocated in traffic jams and from despair moved to trams and metro (for example, Paris, Dresden, Oslo).
Now let's move on to public transport itself. I stole an illustrative diagram from City Projects: 
The picture is clear enough, but I will still voice a couple of moments. OT is sorted here not only by throughput, but also by absolute cost. It is intuitively clear that N minibuses or buses will cost several times cheaper than the metro line, and besides, they will start working immediately, and not in X years. There is also no point in building a metro if a sufficient number of people will not use them; it is very expensive to drive trains with five passengers. On the other hand, if the metro line is fully loaded (conditional 30,000 people per hour), then it will be economically more efficient than using a similar number of buses on the same route. The conclusion from this is very simple, you need to choose the type of public transport based on the planned passenger traffic. That is why we take routes or buses to the metro, and we are already flying to the city center on it, and not vice versa :-).
Therefore, in small towns, such as Pskov, from which I recently returned, there is no need to build a metro, he will simply have no one to carry there!
Another important point is ensuring the priority of OT over ordinary road users (motorists, that is). In terms of comfort, all types of OT will always lose to a personal car. Therefore, it is necessary to make sure that buses, trams, metro win in terms of travel speed and cost of travel. Here we must not be afraid to put a spoke in the wheels of motorists. Need a high speed tram? No problem, we will make rails in the center of the street, and even so that it was impossible to drive on them!. Bus or trolleybus? It doesn't matter, let's draw a highlighted strip! OT lanes occupied by improperly parked cars? We will increase the fines and introduce paid parking (or, in general, we will make the entrance to the center for money!). Thus, on the one hand, we will increase the attractiveness of transport, and on the other, we will load it with passengers who bring money.
At this point, we will finish with the theory, I will voice the conclusions again:
- The type of transport must correspond to the planned passenger traffic. For main directions - metro, tram in a dedicated lane. For travel within the area - buses.
- Public transport should be prioritized over personal transport. There is no need to be afraid of infringing on the rights of motorists, they will turn a little and still get into a comfortable tram :-).
In St. Petersburg, in one form or another, almost all types of OTs from the picture above are present. So far, it has not worked out only with the "steep tram", the third route mentioned many times in the community, although it has new rolling stock, does not have a dedicated line (and dense car traffic on Sadovaya can easily eat up all the advantages of a high-speed tram). On the one hand, this is sad, but on the other hand, it is an excellent reason to build new routes from scratch.
To begin with, I propose to take a look at the maps of the metro and tram routes in St. Petersburg.
Tram (click more):
And the metro: 
On the metro map, as you can see, I made a few notes. A large question mark means for me an area of the city in which I do not plan to live or work in the near future, and in general I try not to appear in it unless absolutely necessary. Why? Because hell knows how to get there without a car. There is no metro there and is not planned for the coming decades. There is a tram, but only from the side of the Nevsky District. You understand that it’s not cool to go from the Primorsky District to Ladozhskaya, and only then - by tram.
The northern districts of the city are marked with green jackdaws because thanks to the developed (and most importantly, almost everywhere isolated from the road) tram system from the purple metro line, you can relatively quickly get to the blue and red ones. For the same reason, instead of jackdaws, there are question marks in the southern part of the city. There, such a trick is impossible. Of course, in the districts there are enough buses and minibuses connecting those districts, but they are not isolated from the general traffic in any way, and during rush hours they get into congestion. And their carrying capacity is less than that of a tram. Why is it important to connect the metro lines in the south? I think this should help the notorious southwestern district of the city, which is home to the busiest metro station in Russia - Veterans Avenue. In this way, residents of the district will be able to immediately get to the metro line they need, and not go to the center and make a change. In theory, an additional metro line will be able to solve this problem. But this is in theory, but in reality the metro takes a long time to build, but it costs a lot. And the priorities are now for the construction of other stations.
It seems to me that a high-speed tram would be able to solve both of these major problems and a few more local ones. For example, I am also very upset that the third route is too short, especially since there are rails for it, but they are not used yet. It seems to me that extending the route to Gorkovskaya would make sense (as an option - and further, to Finland Station). True, in order for it to make sense, you will have to deal with the problem of incorrectly parked cars on the section of Sadovaya Street immediately after Nevsky Prospekt, and possibly on other streets, this one is just too revealing and immediately came to mind. Even in spite of prohibitory signs, cars are still abandoned like on the sidewalks, forcing driving motorists to shift onto tram tracks. Here, the "punitive" measures described earlier will come in very handy, fewer cars in the center - fewer problems for public transport. It will also be necessary to isolate the tram lines on Troitsky and Liteiny bridges from cars. Why? Yes, that's why. 
So, based on all of the above, I would supplement the tram scheme in St. Petersburg as follows (it is clear that this is all very conditional, in any place there may be insurmountable obstacles of various kinds. 
This scheme also does not pretend to solve all the problems at once, and does not mean at all that with the introduction of two new routes there will be no problems in the transport system. The following points cannot be overlooked:
- With regard to trams, try to find places where the tram is not isolated from the flow, and in which this reduces its speed. Vasilievsky Island and Bolshoi Samsponievsky Prospect come to mind. At rush hour, the tram in these areas does not seem to be public transport, but a large dull iron coffin in which you can die of boredom while it gets somewhere.
- Buses and stuff. Obviously, it will be necessary to adjust some routes so that they can bring / pick up passengers not only to the metro, but also to tram stops of "mainline" trams.
At this point I will probably end. I propose to continue the discussion in the comments. Thanks so much for reading up to this point!
