re: "You wouldn't use it for delicate things like people "
You could, if you used something like the storage ring design that nuclear colliders use. Then the speed could be built up gradually in the ring before final acceleration and release. Since vacuum is pretty cheap on the moon, you would just need to protect the ring from dust getting in. And take as long as you like to build up the velocity.
Of course, the higher the velocity required, the bigger the ring would have to be (to moderate the centrifugal gs).