October 2019
From the President
Greetings! Podcar City is coming up early next month (in about ten days!). If you are attending as an ATRA member, please feel free to bring any promotional materials/papers/articles you would like placed for distribution at the ATRA booth.

ATRA members are reminded to gather under the ATRA banner for lunch on November 6. We will talk about how to build membership and leveraging social media. The conference agenda looks interesting and you are encouraged to attend. The third conference newsletter is now available here.

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.
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ATRA News
Autonomous shuttles competition: the good, the bad and the ugly
By Robbert Lohmann

In the 1966 classic ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ it is all about three different bounty hunters working together to get to the gold despite hating each other. In reality we never hate the competition; hate is such a strong word that we hate to use it. Puzzled about approaches, sometimes jealous of marketing budgets and flabbergasted (always wanted to use that word in a sentence!) about another exaggerated claim are more appropriate than hate. Before I get carried away, again, I do want to argue that we should be following the movie in working together to develop the market. We can all be content with a piece of the pie if the darn thing is big enough! Ultimately nobody wants to become obese: it is not sustainable in the long run.

A small investment could go a long way towards mitigating climate change and congestion
by Peter Muller

Climate change is now being labeled a catastrophe and congestion keeps getting worse, yet a significant
proven mitigating technology is not being seriously considered in the U.S. Why is this and how could this
technology be quickly implemented at a low cost?

Other News
Pilgrims In Haridwar To Get Podcars For Easy Commute
Commute from one part of the city to another just became easier for pilgrims in Haridwar as the holy city will soon get podcars. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Uttarakhand government and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to provide the laser-guided automated podcars in Haridwar.

Pod cars to run between Jwalapur and Har-ki-Pauri
The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) pod car starting in Haridwar will be used as a pod taxi. Pod car plans have been brought to Haridwar if the metro is not passed. This work will be completed in about two years, but before that DPR is ready, budget will also have to be arranged. A budget of more than 10 thousand crores is needed to run pod cars all over Haridwar.

Frequently Asked Questions
PRT Consulting has added a list of frequently asked questions about personal rapid transit to its website.

Haridwar to get podcars, ropeways for Rishikesh and Dehradun
Uttarakhand’s urban development minister Madan Kaushik said the concept was inspired by similar cost-effective personal rapid transit systems in Germany and the UK which was found to be ideal by a state level committee.

Revealed: Finalists for $5.2m ‘Dubai World Self-Driving Transport Challenge’
Dubai: The winners of ‘Dubai World Self-Driving Transport Challenge’ will be announced at the ‘Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport’ which starts on Tuesday. The finalists were revealed on Saturday by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

Rio's Defunct Gondola Tells a Tale of Transit Style Over Substance
Favela residents once enjoyed easy access to the heart of the Brazilian city. But poor planning and financial trouble led to the service's suspension.

Some San Jose RFI Responses
The City of San Jose recently issued a Request For Information "...from firms that can offer convincing solutions for grade-separated mass transit infrastructure and operations at significantly lower costs than traditional transit projects..." Links to some of the responses are provided below. It is rumored that all of the responses will soon be made public.

https://www.inist.org/library/2019-09-30.GTF.SanJose_DOT_RFI_response.pdf

https://www.inist.org/library/2019-09-30.JPods.SanJose_DOT_RFI_response.pdf

https://www.inist.org/library/2019-09-30.PCC.SanJose_DOT_RFI_response.pdf

https://www.inist.org/library/2019-09-30.SIU.SanJose_DOT_RFI_response.pdf

https://www.inist.org/library/2019-09-30.SpartanSuperway.SanJose_DOT_RFI_response.pdf

https://www.inist.org/library/2019-09-30.UIDC.SanJose_DOT_RFI_response.pdf
That time Denver came close to having a system of personal transit pods zipping above the streets
DENVER — After climbing a few stairs, you arrive at a transit stop above East Colfax Avenue in Denver. You wait only a few minutes when you see a pod-type vehicle make its way down an elevated guideway and stop in front of you.

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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