January 2021
From the President
Greetings! best wishes for the New Year - may we bring COVID under control and get back to normal soon!

Our Faustian Bargain by Ed Anderson (see below) is not about personal rapid transit (PRT) but it is about one of the primary reasons many of us support PRT. If you want to geek out on PRT technical details, take a look at Ed's paper on lateral dynamics here.

As always, enjoy reading!

Best regards,

Peter Muller, ATRA President
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ATRA News
Our Faustian Bargain
By J. Edward Anderson, PhD, Retired P.E.

This is an account of events that have led to our ever-growing climate crisis. Young
people wonder if they have a future. 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 as well as about the science that has enlightened us. These fuels drive heat engines that provide motive power and electricity to run our civilization, which has thus far been to the benefit of all of us. Is there a cost looming ahead? If so, how might we avoid that cost?
Solar Powered Spartan Superway and SIU Architecture Students
By: Associate Professor Shannon Sanders McDonald, AIA

Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois Comprehensive Masters Architecture Students incorporated the
the Spartan Superway, a solar powered automated transit network designed by engineering students at San Jose State University and Professor Burford Furman, in their studio work this fall, 2020.  
News
Podaris January 2021 Newsletter
• 2020 in Review
• The Road Ahead...
• Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro

COVID derails Musk's plan to shuttle CES attendees in underground Teslas
If CES 2021 were taking place in Las Vegas as usual, Elon Musk's underground loop tunnels would've been up and running to whisk conference attendees underground from one convention hall to the other.
Las Vegas Likes Elon Musk’s Idea For A Tunnel Transit System For The Entire City
The Boring Company, which was founded by Elon Musk to help ease the pain of traffic, is already building a transit system for the Las Vegas Convention Center. Bloomberg reported that Elon Musk wanted to build a new transit system for the rest of the city and that the Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously to advance the Loop project. So, now it will be a citywide network that will include hotels, and possibly the airport.
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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