June 2020
From the President
Greetings! the Corona Virus has proven all transportation forecasts wrong. ATRA member Nathan Koren points out that scenario planning may be superior to forecasting anyway. While I fully agree with his point, I wonder how long it will take to persuade all those accustomed to relying on forecasts - transportation planners, transit agencies, infrastructure financiers, etc.

As always, enjoy reading!

Best regards,

Peter Muller, ATRA President
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ATRA News
Transport Planning in a Pandemic and Beyond
by Nathan Koren, ATRA member.

Few people would have imagined the state of the world in 2020. As of this writing, over 300,000 lives have been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide. Tens of millions of jobs have disappeared. Hundreds of millions of people are suddenly working remotely. Billions are confined to their homes. A disruption of this magnitude is going to leave a mark on civilisation. While everyone is understandably focused upon its immediate effects, the COVID-19 pandemic will have social and economic consequences that are felt for generations to come.

For public transport, the immediate effects have been catastrophic... 

Other News
Uttarakhand approves Comprehensive Mobility Plan for 3 cities including Dehradun
The state government also approved the project for the construction of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) in Haridwar city along with the construction of Metro Light in Haridwar-Rishikesh and Nepali Farm-Vidhan Sabha Corridor.

RTC Says ‘Yes’ to Train and Buses, ‘No’ to Trail and Pod Cars
A countywide transportation commission voted on Thursday, June 4, to move forward with in-depth analysis of four possible options for the future of Santa Cruz County’s rail trail corridor.

The leading options right now before the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) include bus rapid transit, electric light rail, an electric commuter train, and a mix of the train and bus options.


This despite being challenged with documented evidence and a conceptual PRT study indicating numerous flaws and biases in the official analysis. This result is further evidence that some transportation professionals just will not take the trouble to even attempt to understand PRT. While it is easy for the user to use, it seems too complicated for the average planner to understand.
Looking ahead: What will smart cities look like?
Cities are going to change forever—the way people live and interact will determine the benefits of new-age cities. We spoke to five experts about these smart cities, and here's what they had to say:

Electric car transit system could be in the works for East Bay city
Small autonomous electric cars running on fixed narrow guideways could shuttle passengers to and from Bay Area BART and Amtrak stations and other locations several years from now, and Oakley could be one of the first cities to test them.

On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved an agreement with Wayfarer, doing business as Glydways Inc., to evaluate the viability of a pilot program in Oakley for the proposed on-demand transit system.

LoopWorks Business Plan
Loopworks hopes the Milpitas advanced transit project will be a see, touch and ride inspiration to change the way transportation is viewed in cities across the world. That starts with a Vision to
"Provide climate-friendly and easy-to-use Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) for movement around Milpitas that bypasses traffic with quick, point-to-point and fare-free rides." The vision, however, extends
worldwide: The LoopWorks PRT project inspires rapid adoption of advanced transit that dramatically reduces transportation sector emissions.

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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