The problem with Lazair is its size, ultralight-one/two-passenger. To really make a difference would be a small airplane, like a Beechcraft to be electrically powered. The only thing that stops electricity of being used in almost any transportation vehicle is the storage, aka, the batteries. Invent a super battery and you'll rule the world.
And, didn't Brunel build a vacuum transportation system?

He did: Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The beauty of aircraft is, that I DON'T have to follow roads, (or vacuum operated "tubes") to go somewhere, sometimes saving HUNDREDS of miles out of my way. I can fly great circle distance, point to point, direct, saving hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles, and many MANY gallons of fuel, and therefore, produce far less pollution than in a car. In time, the battery technology will catch up, and electric Barons will be viable. We must crawl before we walk, and walk before we run.
Niri Te

But you still do need an airplane! IHMO, having every person flying in single seat aircrafts is a problem very similar to the one originated by cars on roads and streets.

Have you ever been to the rural southwest United States? The population density out where I live, is about one person, (not family) for every seven to ten square miles. There is NO WAY that "public Transportation" could work in an area where beef cattle outnumber the humans several thousand to one. And my plane seats two, not one. It also gets 36 to the gallon, which is 15 to the gallon better than my Truck or Jeep, only my 70 MPG Motorcycle beats everything else.

Although I haven't been in the rural SW United States, I've certainly been at places where the population density is very low, that's not the problem. The problem is transportation inside cities where millions of citizens need fast and reliable transportation. Certainly it works where there is a lot of free space, but it is a complete different context when considering cities.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood the second part of what you said. I thought that people that lived out where I do, were wasters, because they out of necessity only drove one or two in a vehicle. Or myself, because my plane only carries two people.
I was stationed in, and then lived in Germany for 14 years, during the late 60's, through the middle 80's. I fell in love with the German public transportation system, even though I had a VERY fast car that I would occasionally "have fun with" driving from Bad Tolz, to Giessen and back. I fully believed then as I STILL believe now, that the two things that the United States should just Unabashedly COPY outright from the Germans, is their Transportation System, and Their Krankenkasse. Obamacare is a JOKE, just copy what the German's have, but we don't have the money to do either in this Country anymore. Niri Te

That's fine with a low population density, but completely nonrepresentative of everyone else. The entire point of roads is to optimise routes by reducing the cost in time and fuel.