Editing Monorail (section)

==In popular culture==

[[François Truffaut]]'s [[Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film)|1966 film adaptation]] of [[Ray Bradbury]]'s 1953 novel ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'' contains [[Suspension railway|suspended]] monorail exterior scenes filmed at the French [[SAFEGE]] test track in [[Châteauneuf-sur-Loire]] near [[Orléans]], France (since dismantled).

The ''[[Thunderbirds (TV series)|Thunderbirds]]'' February 1966 episode "[[Brink of Disaster (Thunderbirds)|Brink of Disaster]]" is about the financing and building of a high speed driverless cross-country monorail project. Two of the Thunderbirds-crew find themselves trapped on board the a monorail train, and with no possibility of escape, when it is discovered it is speeding towards a stricken bridge.

The [[List of James Bond films|James Bond film franchise]] features monorails in three movies, all belonging to the villain. In ''[[You Only Live Twice (film)|You Only Live Twice]]'' (1967) there is a working ground level monorail inside the SPECTRE volcano base. During ''[[Live and Let Die (film)|Live and Let Die]]'' (1973), a prop monorail is shown in the villain's lair on the fictional Caribbean island of San Monique. In the 1977 ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me (film)|The Spy Who Loved Me]]'' there is working monorail on the villain's ''supertanker'' (submarine dock).

In 1987, [[Lego]] released a monorail among the ''Futuron'' [[Lego Space|Space]] line. Despite being the most expensive Lego set of its time (due to being massive and including electrical elements),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://brickset.com/sets/year-1987|title=Brickset Database of LEGO sets from 1987|work=brickset.com}}</ref> it was very popular, with Lego releasing a ''[[Lego Town|Town]]'' themed monorail in 1990 and another Space monorail in 1994 among the ''Unitron'' line, as well as additional track. The monorail system was also prominent in the unreleased ''Seatron'' Space line and prototype ''[[Lego Wild West|Wild West]]'' sets. Its popularity has still endured over thirty years later, where Lego has paid homage in promotional sets and fans have manufactured compatible components.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schefcik |first1=Dave |title=LEGO Monorail: Bring it Back or Build Your Own? |url=https://bricknerd.com/home/lego-monorail-bring-it-back-or-build-your-own-7-6-21 |access-date=15 November 2021 |work=BrickNerd}}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list |url=https://www.4dbrix.com/newsletters/001/newsletter.html |title=The Monorail is Back! |date=2016 |access-date=15 November 2021 |mailing-list= 4DBrix}}</ref>

The fourth season of the American animated television show ''[[The Simpsons]]'' features the episode "[[Marge vs. the Monorail]]", in which the town of [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]] impulsively purchases a faulty monorail from a [[confidence trick]]ster at a wildly inflated price. The Monorail Society, an organization with 14,000 members worldwide, has blamed the episode for sullying the reputation of monorails,<ref>{{cite web |title=Marge vs. the Monorail |url=https://www.monorails.org/tMspages/msvsmr.html |publisher=The Monorail Society |access-date=24 February 2021}}</ref> to which ''Simpsons'' creator [[Matt Groening]] responded "That's a by-product of our viciousness...Monorails are great, so it makes me sad, but at the same time if something's going to happen in ''The Simpsons'', it's going to go wrong, right?"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chalk |first1=Will |title=The Simpsons creator Matt Groening on equality, memes and monorails |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-56024683 |access-date=24 February 2021 |publisher=BBC News |date=24 February 2021}}</ref>

The 2005 feature film ''[[Batman Begins]]'' features a monorail, constructed by Bruce Wayne's father through Gotham City, that is part of the climax of the film. The monorail is also included in the spin-off [[Batman Begins (video game)|video game]].

Blaine the Mono is a train featured in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower (series)|The Dark Tower]]'' series of books and first appears in ''[[The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands]]''.

Monorails have also appeared in a number of other video games including ''[[Transport Tycoon]]'', ''Japanese Rail Sim 3D: Monorail Trip to Okinawa'' by [[Sonic Powered]], ''[[SimCity 4: Rush Hour]]'', ''[[Cities in Motion 2]]'', ''[[Cities: Skylines]]'' in the ''Mass transit'' expansion pack of 2017, ''[[Planet Zoo]]'' and a rideable elevated monorail system in the 2020 video game ''[[Cyberpunk 2077]]''. <ref>{{Cite web |author1=Heather Wald |date=2024-03-06 |title=The making of Cyberpunk 2077's metro system: "From day one, we considered the NCART to be a roleplaying feature first and foremost" |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/the-making-of-cyberpunk-2077s-metro-system-from-day-one-we-considered-the-ncart-to-be-a-roleplaying-feature-first-and-foremost/ |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=gamesradar |language=en}}</ref> 

===Perceptions of monorail as public transport===
From 1950 to 1980, the monorail concept may have suffered, as with all public transport systems, from competition with the [[car|automobile]]. At the time, the [[Economic history of the United States#Post-World War II prosperity: 1945–1973|post–World War II optimism in America]] was riding high and people were buying automobiles in large numbers due to [[suburbanization]] and the [[Interstate Highway System]]. Monorails in particular may have suffered from the reluctance of public transit authorities to invest in the perceived high cost of un-proven technology when faced with cheaper mature alternatives. There were also many competing monorail technologies, splitting their case further. One notable example of a public monorail is the AMF Monorail that was used as transportation around the [[1964 New York World's Fair|1964–1965 World's Fair]].

This high-cost perception was challenged most notably in 1963 when the ALWEG consortium proposed to finance the construction of a major system in [[Los Angeles County, California]], in return for the right of operation. This was turned down by the [[Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors]] under pressure from [[Chevron Corporation|Standard Oil of California]] and [[General Motors]] (which were strong advocates for [[automobile dependency]]),<ref>{{cite book|title=American Society of Civil Engineers - Los Angeles Section: 100 Years of Civil Engineering Excellence 1913- 2013|author=American Society of Civil Engineers|author-link=American Society of Civil Engineers|pages=169–170|publisher=[[AuthorHouse]]|date=September 30, 2014}}</ref> and the later proposed subway system faced criticism by famed author [[Ray Bradbury]] as it had yet to reach the scale of the proposed monorail.

Several monorails initially conceived as transport systems survive on revenues generated from [[tourism]], benefiting from the unique views offered from the largely elevated installations.