Reducing Road Traffic

A significant amount of traffic on the roads is due to people going somewhere to get something (as opposed to someone or to get somewhere). The internet has lead to the ability to shop at home, and simply wait for the things to be delivered - even groceries. However, there is still someone who drives out to deliver the items, and thus using the roads, and increasing traffic.

In the show Futurama, people travel around the city in tubes, which is not that crazy, banks use tubes to send canisters to the drive-through all the time. In a large scale tube system, one could use knowledge of internet routing to make efficient routes for packets to travel.

If one were to start a service that replaces FedEx, UPS and the postal service with a network of tubes, capable of near-instantly delivering packages, it could potentially reduce a lot of road traffic. One not need about making the tubes safe for people to travel inside, nor roomy enough for them either.