Parasitic Mass is the mass we pay to move that is not cargo or passengers. Currently we are creating congestion and consuming energy moving a ton to move a person. We need to strive towards moving only the person.

Further, the number of stop-starts, instances of consuming electric power to build kinetic energy, needs to be driven towards one. "Beam me up Scotty" would be perfect use of energy. You move only what you want to move and move it from origin to destination in a single action. We do not have the physics for this but the idea is right. A metric for it is PEC, Parasitic Energy Consumption.

PEC is the moving mass divided by the mass you wish to move, multiplied by the number of stop-starts (applications of kinetic energy):

• "Beam me up" scores a perfect 1, move only what you want from origin to destination.
• JPods have a PEC of 3.25, a 450 lb vehicle moves a 200 lb person from point of origin to point of destination only stopping at the destination.
• Cars in a typical commute have a PEC of 275, 1 ton of vehicle moving a 200 lb person with 25 stop-starts.
• Light Rail has a PEC of 310, 3 tons of vehicle per 200 lb passenger with 10 stop-starts.

JPods are ultra-light computer controlled vehicles suspended from rails that move people and cargo non-stop from origin to destination. JPods implement the simple physics that it costs less to move less.