August 2018
From the President
Greetings! The Bangalore, India PRT system has taken a significant step towards implementation with the recent approval of the city government. Now all that is needed is state approval - anticipated in a few weeks - and construction can begin. As noted in the story "Nod for pod, and a row" below, there is some opposition, despite which, the project is moving forward.

This is a significant project with some 70 kilometers (44 miles) of track and 43 stations. It connects local communities with two metro stations and an airport as well as hospitals and schools. If successful, it will be a game-changer for PRT. If not, it will be a major setback. I know the people involved - from Ultra and Fairwood - and believe they are taking a solid approach to the project.
As always, enjoy reading!

Best regards,
Peter Muller, ATRA President
Upcoming Events
ATRA membership is an opportunity for you and your organization to contribute to a better world by leveraging advanced transit to improve mobility and accessibility. Membership works best for those that get involved and contribute.
This is a FREE news summary. If it has been forwarded to you, you may want to
ATRA News
Autonomous vehicles at the Rivium business park score high on safety, security and reliability 
By 2getthere

Utrecht, 21 August 2018 - The autonomous vehicles that the Dutch municipality of Capelle aan den IJssel deploys to connect the Rivium business park and metro station Kralingse Zoom are considered safe and reliable by passengers. This is the outcome of a quantitative study into the ease of use of the ParkShuttle connection.Furthermore, the study shows that reliability is ultimately the decisive factor in passengers’ readiness to use any kind of autonomous public transport.

Market Failures Continue to Plague Transportation Systems, Depressing Demand for Automated Transit Systems
By Christopher Juniper

Governments continue to flail about wrestling with serious market failures associated with transportation – now including New York City’s moratorium on new for-hire vehicle licenses (e.g. Uber, Lyft) which had grown about 60% since 2015 to about 100,000. New licenses will only be issued to drivers providing wheelchair accessible vehicles while the City studies how to successfully regulate the market for 12 months.

History of the Advanced Transit Association (ATRA) Year by Year (17)
by J. Edward Anderson, first ATRA President.

1992 – The Seventeenth Year.

The Fourth Martin Lowson Paper Award - DEADLINE APPROACHING
The ATRA academic committee has instituted an annual paper award to recognize contributions in that area. The award, which is donated by the Lowson Familiy, has the objective to recognize high quality, original work that advances the thought and practice of fully-automated networked public-mobility systems.

DEMONSTRATIONS (NON)SENSE
By Robbert Lohmann

It often seems that autonomous shuttles are everywhere. And yet they aren’t. They are popping up around our major cities but mainly in the form of demonstrations that are run in a controlled environment with a “safety steward” onboard. Although we are now actually seeing the first contracts for applications operating permanently and filling daily transit needs, it is the huge number of demonstrations that have created the impression that autonomous shuttles are a commonplace commodity already. And, as there are so many, they should make (some) sense, right?

ATRA Library - new "presentations" section
A new "Presentations" section has been added to the ATRA Library. Please let us have any recent/pertinent presentations you have made (pdf) so we can upload them.

Other News
Nod for pod, and a row
he Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is in a churn over the Personal Rapid Transit System (PRTS) or the Pod Taxi project. It seems that the ruling party in BBMP had approved the project without a discussion in the Council meeting.

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) and Self-Driving Cars
AI Insider and self-driving car industry guru, Dr. Lance Eliot, explains Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) and self-driving cars.

Uttarakhand govt plans ropeway, podcars for Dehradun, Haridwar
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government is planning to introduce ropeway and Personal Rapid Transit (pod car system) in Dehradun and Haridwar respectively. 

GERMANY HAS PROVEN THE MODERN AUTOMOBILE MUST DIE
Germany was supposed to be a model for solving global warming. In 2007, the country’s government announced that it would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by the year 2020. This was the kind of bold, aggressive climate goal scientists said was needed in all developed countries. If Germany could do it, it would prove the target possible.


Solar-powered PRT should fit the bill.
West Virginia University Personal Rapid Transit has resumed service, with updates
MORGANTOWN — The West Virginia University Personal Rapid Transit has resumed operation.

The PRT is back online and has had a maintenance overhaul, almost everything but the cars and tracks have been swapped out and updated.

The above links are to articles that appear relevant to advanced transit but no guarantee is made as to their accuracy and no verification of the integrity of the associated websites has been made.

Editorial comments are in italics.
| Advanced Transit Association| 303-800-1529 | www.advancedtransit.org