December 2019
From the President
Greetings! Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year (Decade)!!

Railways 2020: The 5th International Conference on Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance will take place in Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 7-10 September 2020. The conference will include a Special Session on "Personal Rapid Transit Systems". Please consider submitting a short paper (1600 words. Contact me for more information or visit the website

Next year's Congress of the International Society of City & Regional Planning is themed to a "post-oil" future and echoes AOC's green new deal label. They are calling for abstracts for the next issue of their Review. Due Jan 20. Please contact Larry Fabian if you are interested in submitting.

Please consider submitting a paper to the ASCE APM Conference. The deadline has been extended.

The 2020 special TRB Conference on "Sustainability and Emerging Transportation Technologies" ( SETT 2020) will be held on August 31 - September 2, 2020 at the Beckman Center in Irvine, CA. Abstracts are due February 15 2020.

As always, enjoy reading!

Best regards,

Peter Muller, ATRA President
Upcoming Events
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ATRA News
Are we Trapped by our Own Successes?
by J. Edward Anderson, PhD, P.E.

This is an account of events that have led to the climate crisis, and the possibility
that it could lead to the extinction of all life on earth. How is it that climate scientists discuss such an outcome of advancements in technology and the comforts associated with them? This is about the consequences of the use of coal, oil and gas for fuel. These fuels drive heat engines that provide motive power and generation of electricity to run our civilization, all of which have thus far been to the benefit of humankind.

Other News
Global Benefit Podcast Episode 3
Alan Fine, Founder and CEO of Elluette GBC, is joined by Peter Muller, President of the Advanced Transit Association and PRT Consulting, and Gary Sjoquist, Advocacy Director for Quality Bicycle Products and inductee to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.

Podcar City 2019 Videos
 Here is a link to a spreadsheet listing the links to all the videos (30+ in all), along with some brief descriptions. 

2020s visions: We'll get flying cars just before becoming software-based people
In some ways, the future that so much science fiction promised us is already here. We have genetically altered humans, conversations with computers and robots that run around the woods and do backflips. 

But the decade beginning in 2020 will take us even further toward a world where far-out ideas like hooking brains up to computers -- and even immortality -- become topics of serious conversation. 

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.
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