September 2020
From the President
Greetings! since the virus hit there has been a reduced amount of news about personal rapid transit. This month the volume seems about normal - hopefully that is a good sign.

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
Group Rapid Transit in Tunnels in Las Vegas
by Robert Johnson
Work started in the Fall of 2019 on an underground Group Rapid Transit system to serve the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). The project is currently nearing completion. It has had unusually high public visibility because the system concept was developed by Elon Musk, one of the richest people in the world, and well known for his Tesla and SpaceX ventures. Musk has kept his 38 million Twitter followers informed of the progress of the Las Vegas system, as well as other proposed applications of his underground transportation technology.

An Inventor’s Vision for America
by Hengning Wu
Book review by Peter Muller
Most of what is written about PRT is too narrowly focused to describe its true potential. An Inventor’s Vision for America by Hengning Wu does not suffer from this problem. The book starts by describing Wu’s unlimited vision for the “Autoway” PRT system in some detail and then dives into related quality-of-life issues that could be leveraged by PRT or approached separately. His PRT description quite accurately captures how a modern PRT system should work and what it should do.

ATRA Letter to FAA re LGA DEIS
The Advanced Transit Association (ATRA) commends the FAA on the very comprehensive Draft EIS for the La Guardia Airport Access Improvement Project. In addition, we welcome the fact that the study recognizes Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) as being an example of Automated People Mover (APM). Furthermore, we accept the conclusion that APM is the best solution and we support the conservative assumptions in the analysis. However, we do feel the need to point out that, in our opinion, the study is overly conservative. Please allow us to expound upon this conclusion.

News
Now Personal Rapid Transit will also run in UP, the picture will change
Jewar International Airport is soon being explored for connectivity with Delhi to run Ultra PRT Personal Rapid Transit. Yamuna Authority has decided to prepare its report from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Ultra PRT is being used for passenger transport service at Heathrow Airport in London. At the same time, if you talk about the cost, then it is much cheaper than the metro and rapid train. About seven thousand rupees are being spent on giving connectivity to the Jewar Airport by metro and Rs 18 thousand crores by rapid train.

Arlington City Moves Forward With Transportation Advisory Committee Recommendations, Innovative Transportation Solutions
In 2017, Arlington's City Council appointed a Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) to develop a transportation vision for the City. The committee, made up of 31 residents and stakeholders, spent a year researching and discussing the latest innovations in transportation technology in order to formulate recommendations. The Transportation Advisory Committee's recommendations are intended to serve as guidance for city leaders as they adopt policies and craft specific service plans to improve mobility and connectivity.

Self-driving pods and outdoor terminals: How the pandemic could change U.S. Airports
We came up with this concept in 2000 when I was Chairman of the Airport Consultants Council. It is nice to see somebody reinventing it. 

Can 70km Delhi-Jewar gap be bridged by short-transit pods?
NOIDA: The Yamuna Expressway Development Authority (YEIDA) has
initiated a feasibility study to explore the possibility of running pod cars or light electronic railway vehicles to connect the upcoming Jewar airport with the Blue Line at Delhi's New Ashok Nagar station

PRT will not run in the Fall at WVU
Morgantown, W.Va. (WTRF)- The world-famous Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) at West Virginia University will not be in service this Fall.

A statement made on the PRT Twitter account said the reason the PRT will not be in service is because they want to ensure the health and safety of the community.

How Public Transportation Will Change in the Future
As technology integrates with modes of transportation, public transit will change. To learn what these innovations could look like, read our brief guide.

In economics, any sort of wait time represents an inability to supply what people demand. Traffic and other delays represent a similar kind of failure by a city. In particular, these difficulties communicate a failure to streamline present transportation options and to promote worthwhile alternatives.

Lawuits filed over rock slide that hit car, WVU PRT
Two lawsuits were filed last week against the West Virginia University Board of Governors, stemming from a rock slide on Feb. 10 that sent three people to the hospital.

Chloe Bolin, a WVU student from Cincinnati, and Susan Cramer, a Morgantown resident, allege in separate complaints that the university failed to curb a decades-old problem of large rocks falling from WVU property onto Monongahela Boulevard. The lawsuits were filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court and both plaintiffs are being represented by Morgantown attorney Dino Colombo.


It is worth noting that the Morgantown PRT system has completed over 200 million passenger miles without itself causing an injury accident.
UPDATE: San Jose advances high-tech ideas to connect transportation hubs
Driverless vehicles zooming through underground tunnels and electric mini trains could be in San Jose’s future.

City leaders voted unanimously on Aug. 25 to advance projects connecting Diridon Station, Stevens Creek Corridor and the Mineta San Jose International Airport. Councilmember Maya Esparza was absent.

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