People Movers: The Great Transportation Promise of the 1970s
In the 1970s, personal rapid transit (PRT) was supposed to be America's great transportation savior. It combined the privacy of a privately owned car with the efficiency of mass transit. But despite a great deal of hype, this futuristic transportation tech is still mostly relegated to the future that never was. Serious research on PRT systems was already taking place in the 1950s, but it wasn't until the 1970s - when the economy was in the toilet and the energy crisis hit - that it started to become a mainstream cause in futurist circles. Read More...
Kirkland Thinks Outside The Box For Cross Kirkland Corridor with Transportation Symposium
The terms Skytran, Cybertran, and Personal Rapid Transit may sound like words you would hear in a futuristic movie or read in a science fiction novel. But they are names for cutting-edge transportation technologies that leaders from Kirkland and around the region are exploring at an upcoming transportation symposium. Read More...
Interview: Steve Severance Makes the Business Case for Masdar City
Abu Dhabi's sustainability week - one of the largest sustainability gatherings in the world - draws more than 30,000 participants from 150 countries. As a key organizer of the event, Masdar, Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, receives a great deal of attention from visiting dignitaries, world leaders and media alike. I had a chance to sit down with Steve Severance, manager of program management and investments for Masdar City, to discuss how the company is walking the fine line between sustainable innovation and savvy business management.
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March of the pods: How design is going egg-shaped
Conjugate the verb "to pod". I pod, you pod, we pod, they pod ... yes, the pod is set to come bursting out of solitary confinement thanks to a multitude of design innovations to whisk you and your overstuffed luggage around airports, send you cruising the oceans and at the end of it all give you a place to grab a quick snooze. From this year, the pod will no longer be the lonely preserve of "I" because everybody will be in or on one...Read More...
Government puts brakes on PRTS system
The state government's ambitious Personal Rapid Transit System (PRTS) appears to have been put on the back burner as Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal stated that the only company that had come forward to execute the project had doubtful credibility. Read More...
New Year Energy Burst
2014 starts with an upsurge if active demands for modern mobility options, with much focused on the maturing forms of ATN now available or judged within technological reach with modest risk. On January 10, the mayor of
Huntsville
AL will unveil plans for CBD redevelopment that include a simple three-station APM.
Cutting-edge public transport Personal rapid transit (PRT) pods may appear as something exclusively restricted to sci-fi films, but at Heathrow airport this cutting-edge transportation is very much a practical reality. In 2011 the airport became home to the first commercial PRT application in the world, with the purple pods whisking passengers from the Terminal 5 business car park to the main terminal building. Read More... Transportation Gets Personal When West Virginia University opened its personal rapid transit(PRT) system in 1975, it seemed on the edge of high tech. The short distance, small vehicle-focused people transporter helped the university to expand enrollment from 10,000 to 30,000, by enabling tighter class schedules and ensuring students could arrive on time. Read More... Note: More recent as well as archived news can be found here under the category Personal Rapid Transit News. |