What's New Archive: 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2013
The following is a list of news items and additions and changes to this web: present to 2007
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June, 2013
2013 World Transit Research Newsletter from Monash University in Australia
Central Japan Railway Co. unveils new high speed maglev prototype, testing program to begin
New report on declines in driving in the U.S. & Link to critique of this report by Wendell Cox
May, 2013Doppelmayr ropeway carries autos on a suspended platform - YouTube video shows how it works.
German rail system to test foldable electric car for feeder/distributor system in Berlin
Mexican ModuTram PRT now operating a large test track, aerial photo available at their website (click on Productos)
Update on City Car development and plans included in an article in the Financial Times, May 5, 2013. Includes a photo of the current vehicle design and plans to offer it for sale in the EU next year.
The Growing Transit Communities Strategy: Public Review Draft, Puget Sound Region
April, 2013
Vectus APM presentation.pdf
Moving Freight in Metropolitan Areas - Volpe Transportation Systems Center webinar in MayATRA's response to San Jose's Automated Transit Network Studies - an open letter
Urbanaut monorail You Tube video now available, 10 minutes, illustrates Korean project: See www.urbanaut.com for more details
Link to a TED talk: How to Solve Congestion Problems, the experience of Stockholm, Sweden
Ingenuity Awards 2013, Urban Ideas in Action, transport systems entries wanted
Workshop on the Future of Road Vehicle Automation, July 16-19, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Energy for Tomorrow, conference sponsored by the New York Times, includes Future of Transport and Traffic on agenda, April, 2013
Link to article: Beyond Widgets- Envisioning a Real Transportation Revolution
Conference announcement: 14th National Transportation Planning Applications Conference, May 5-9, Columbus, OhioLink to a paper by Wendell Cox on Transit Policy in an Era of Diminished Federal Aid
Link to article entitled The End of Transportation Funding As We Know It
Chinese automakers race to Latin America's hot auto market, preparing to enter US market
Link to Forbes article (Part 5) entitled Here's How Automakers Can Still Win Against Google's Driverless Cars, by Chunka Mui (Links to Parts 1-4 are included, Part 6 is planned but not yet published)
February, 2013
Link to a New Vectus PRT presentation
Smart Cars newsletter from the Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering project
Conference announcement: 14th International Conference on APMs, Phoenix, AZ, April 21-24, 2013
Construction of Beijing's 1st urban maglev train to start soon
Link to a youtube video of a very interesting airport baggage handling system, from a German company
Heathrow announces plans for an additional PRT system
Every new car connected to the web by 2014?
Update on the Vectus PRT project in S. Korea - expected to open to the public in April
Link to information about electric bikes for a variety of urban applications
January, 2013
Toyota is testing autonomous vehicles in Michigan
Link to new JPods video - funds available, ready to build theme.
Exploratory Advanced Research solicitation from the Federal Highway Administration of the US DOT
Link to Quarterly report: National Transportation Statistics, from the US DOT, includes 269 tables
Link to Automate Dualmode Newsletter, #5 - includes a link to a new SkyTran video from Plum TV
US DOT seeks stakeholder input as part of preparation of it's next strategic plan
New PORT PRT concept website eliminates need for stations, includes 6+ minute video
Pocket Guide for Transportation for 2013 now available from the US DOT
December, 2012
Why driverless cars will trump transit rivals - especially PRT, by Richard Gilbert
Link to a review article about various electric car companies during 2012
JPods and UK-based Equity Capital Ltd sign a letter of intent to build a large scale PRT system to help ease congestion in the Atlanta, GA region.
Copenhagn aims to be the first carbon neutral capital in the world by 2025
Link to the latest MicroWay presentation, featuring use of natural gas to generate off-grid electric power for operations
November, 2012
Link to a development study of a pneumatic path-guided transportation system, called TubeWay, from Germany, English available.
Description of RITA's Technology Scanning and Assessment program
Link to New Vectus PRT overview article
Link to an update on the Vectus PRT project under construction at Suncheon Bay in S. Korea
October, 2012
Link to the Official ARUP and Aerospace Corporation Automated Transit Network (ATN) Feasibility Study, 10/17/2012 for San Jose, California
Aerospace Corporation's report to the San Jose ATN study released - 421 pages. Executive Summary a good place to begin a review.
iMobility Challenge consortium to promote safe, smart and clean mobility in the EU
Link to new Cities for Mobility video - in English, 6 minutes
Monomobile dualmode system newsletters #5 and #6 now available
September, 2012
MegaRail website update now available
New slide show provides more detail about the Puget Pullway dualmode concept, being developed in Seattle
12th National Light Rail Conference: Sustaining the Metropolis, LRT and Streetcars for Super Cities, Salt Lake City, Novermber 11-13-2012
Auto Shuttle dualmode concept wins competition sponsored by Bombardier for new urban mobility ideas.
Link to article about privacy concerns stemming from California's robocar legislation
Major Parts of the Supplier's Technical Proposal, by Jeff Davis
Link to Automated Transit Networks, 46 slides, by Peter Muller, PRT Consulting
IEEE experts expect driverless cars to dominate the roadways by 2040
Link to the website for the Public Automated Cart Transportation (PACT), a maglev concept from India
19th ITS World Congress, Preview, Vienna, 22-26 October, 2012 (20 pp).
August, 2012
Discussion of Control System Attributes Relevant to Personal Rapid Transit Control Requirements, by Jeff Davis
Link to a paper entitled Energy and Autonomous Urban Land Vehicles, by Tyler Folsom
Will Robot Cars get Stuck in Policy Traffic?, by Joseph Coughlin, MIT Age Lab Director
Discussion of Brick Wall Stop issues, by Jeff Davis
Link to article about some possible future impacts of driverless cars on the status quo
Link to Borroni-Bird's Personal Urban Mobility presentation at the 2012 TRB Highway Automation conference
Link to Martin Lowson's presentation at the 2012 TRB Highway Automation conference
Implementing PRT: Client's Requirements that a Supplier Must Meet in a Proposal Review Process, by Jeff Davis
Financial resources requirements for a PRT project, by Jeff Davis
Michigan DOT prepares to test driverless cars
July, 2012
Link to article about the new Vectus PRT vehicle design by Pininfarina of Italy.
Link to an article about why urban transport innovation is so important in India, by Nathan Koren
Initial Korean maglev project at Incheon International Airport nearing completion
Current PRT projects and studies in India
Link to new website for the Northeast Corridor future rail improvement concepts (Boston - Washington)
June, 2012
Link to blog post by Peter Muller: Some paths to US personal rapid transit implementation
Link to the Transport and innovation Portal in the EU
Conference announcement: 6th Pod Car City, Berlin, September 18-21, 2012
Information about a Feasibility study, now underway, for the Colorado DOT I-70 project
Link to a website that describes a 2nd generation, high speed, switchable, maglev technology
New book: The Fight for Maglev, by Danby and Powell, available from Amazon.com
May, 2012
Link to the 19th Annual ITS World Congress, Vienna, Austria
Review of three major transport technology studies for the USA during the past 44 years
Link to FeatherRail updated summary paper
MLab, which stands for Mobility Thinklab: is a new think lab for sustainable mobility and innovation in transport
High Speed Rail Conference, San Francisco, May 22-24
Link to the Flightrail website - uses atmospheric propulsion, 1/6th scale model in operation in California
April, 2012
Link to PRT article in Discover Magazine, by the Impatient Futurist
City Alternative Transport Systems (CATS) - EU project aimed at developing driverless taxis for urban applications
Link to video about MIT's City Car development and applications, driven with joystick
Link to a new video from the Danish RUF dualmode system
Link to new website for continuously moving belt in a tube for high density urban applications
IEEE Unveils Transportation Electrification Web Portal
TEDx video about a three-wheel EV being developed in Eugene, Oregon (15 min.)
TRB paper on a new approach to solving the empty PRT vehicle redistribution problem
Technology Strategy Board in the U.K. establishes a Transport Systems Catapult group
March, 2012
Three approaches to dealing with the PRT capacity issue
ULTra PRT wins a London Transport Award
ITS International launches new website
FasTran cantilevered monorail update - excellent technical brief
PRT industry status report: 2getthere, ULTra PRT and Vectus PRT
New book published: The Fight for Maglev, by James Powell and Gordon Danby
Publishing opportunity - Journal of Modern Transportation - based in China
"Mass transit gets personal", article in Discover magazine, April, 2012, currently print edition only, pp. 24-25, digital copy available in April. http://www.innovateuk.org/
Updated Bubbles and Beams video from Sweden, dualmode concept, 15,946 views to date
February, 2012
Beem Car - a suspended GRT vehicle under development in the U.K. - makes use of composites
PRT Developments, seminar presentation by Martin Lowson at the University College London
Information about the US DOT's Small Business Grant Program that supports transport innovations (next solicitation April 2, 2012)
Mixed-mode PRT and GRT needs to be examined and analyzed - here's an initial commentary
New excellent YouTube video about Vectus PRT
January, 2012
MIT City Car, Renamed Hiriko, Is Headed to Production
Modutram of Mexico has now opened the third operational PRT test track in the world
What People Really Want from Transportation Systems, by Peter Muller (2012 TRB presentation)
Ridesharing Methodology for Increasing PRT Capacity, by Peter Muller (2012 TRB presentation)
Barriers to Entry for advanced transit systems, by Sam Lott (2012 TRB presentation)
Updates on MagneMotion's Urban Maglev efforts at Old Dominion University and future M3 system plans
Link to a new dualmode concept description: Tubular Guideway Transit, by Jon Bogle
Conference announcement: Sustainable Mobility and Cities: Marrying Technology and Policy, Berkeley, CA., Feb. 23rd
A New Architectural Design of Elevated Small Group Automated Rapid Transit, paper published in the Journal of Public Transportation
An Assessment of City-Wide Applications of New Automated Transport Technologies, 13 pp, 5 authors
December, 2011
Compact, updated, description of three market-ready PRT systems (ULTra, Vectus and 2getthere)
ATRA Workshop: Maximizing Airport Landside Value, March 22, 2012, Baltimore-Washington Airport
World's largest urban PRT system announced for Indian city
Conference on Electric Roads and Vehicles, Park City, Utah, Feb. 17-17, 2012
Third International Summit on the State of the Connected Vehicle, Troy, Michigan, Jan. 18-19, 2012
New paper published on empty vehicle redistribution algoritms for large scale PRT and taxi systems
New book announcement: The Road Ahead: "Why Are We Driving 21st Century Cars on 20th Century Roads with 19th Century Thinking?" by Phil Tarnoff , link to a YouTube preview
November, 2011
SkyTran PRT (aka Unimodal) wins award in national innovative concepts contest
Better Place to start operations in Israel and Denmark in 2012, after 4 years and investments of $750 million
Evacuated Tube Transport wins award from DaVinci Institute (Best Commercial Product of the Year)
Conference announcement: 3rd International Monorail Conference, Las Vegas, NV, December 14-16, 2011
October, 2011
Link to a paper titled The MaglevTube Puckpodcar for mass urban transportation, from South Africa
Link to a new dualmode concept called AutoMate, from Israel
Link to a Maglev 2011 keynote presentation: Status of Maglev Projects in the USA, by Larry Blow
Link to new dualmode concept called Bimodal Glideway
September, 2011
Link to slide show about Vectus PRT, entitled From Uppsala to Suncheon City, by Jõrgen Gustafsson
Link to an excellent video presentation of the EV-N electric vehicle prototypes and deployment concepts from General Motors
PRT system called ModuTram being developed in Mexico, prototype under construction
ULTra PRT officially opened to the public at Heathrow Airport in the U.K.
Link to updated website for Magne-Force's LEVX system
Link to Specifications of the Korean Urban Maglev system
August, 2011
Link to PodCar City Conference Newsletter #3, Stockholm, Sweden, September 6-8, 2011
Link to Future Transportation YouTube video - briefly shows 52 innovative concepts
Link to paper titled The Autonomous Tricycle, submitted to the 2012 meetings of the Transportation Research Board, by Tyler Folsom
Link to PodCar City Conference newsletter #2, 5.5 meg, Stockholm, Sweden, September, 6-8, 2011
Link to new Heathrow Airport video showing ULTra vehicles in operation
Link to Fontinalis Partners website - venture capital firm focused on innovations in transportation, based in Detroit. MI.
Link to paper titled Reallocation of Empty Personal Rapid Transit vehicles en Route, by Ingmar Andréasson
July, 2011
Conference announcement: 4th Annual Forum - Roads for Tomorrow, Rome, November 9-11, 2011
Link to an Early View abstract for a paper titled Simulation-based analysis of personal rapid transit: service and energy performance assessment,
by Katharina Mueller and Sgouris P. Sgouridis, forthcoming in the Journal of Advanced TransportationLink to new, compact description of current Personal Rapid Transit system attributes, prepared by ATRA Industry Group, 2 pp, illustrated.
Link to a paper titled Modelling and Simulation of a PRT Network, by Castangia and Guala, 2011, 13 pp.
Link to new Personal Rapid Transit information source, several languages provided
Update on MIT's CityCar project
Link to report from the MIT Energy Initiative's Symposium on Electrification of the Transportation System, April, 2010, 156 pp.
Position Paper: Urban Mass Transit Administration's Program of Development and Deployment of Automated Guideway Transit, by J.E. Anderson, June 1979, 25 pp.
June, 2011
PodCar City conference Newsletter #1 now available (Stockholm, September 6-8, 2011)
New partnership announced: Roadway Electrification and Automation (PREA), centered at Utah State University
Link to article about global land use trends of importance to future transport planning: The Dispersionist Manifesto, by Joel Kotkin
Link to report: Potential Viability of Advanced Transit at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, Center for Transportation Studies, U of Minnesota
Conference announcement: 5th PodCar City: Tomorrow's Lifestyle Today, Stockholm, Sweden, September 6-8, 2011
Link to Skyway website - concept features dualmode vehicles using an electrified guideway
May, 2011
Link to Final Report: Review of potential radical future transport technologies and concepts, from the EU, June 2010
Link to a report by Princeton U students on their study of a state-wide PRT network for New Jersey, 318 pp
Link to the Thinking Highways magazine - North American edition
Future mobility takes centre stage in Germany in May
April, 2011
New book: The Third Generation Roadway: Metropolitan Transport for the 21st Century, by Roger Davidheiser - quite inspirational, good graphics, paperback, 287 pp. Information about the content of the book and several pictures are
available here.
Link to the Electric Drive Transportation AssociationShanghai 2030 video - featuring EV-N dualmode vehicles from General Motors China
13th International Conference on Automated Peoplemovers and Urban Transit Systems, Paris, May 22-26, 2011
Bubble Motion PRT concept from BMDesign in Finland
March, 2011
Link to new PRT video featuring ULTra PRT, from India, 7 min. (withdrawn, no longer available)
Link to white paper: Preparing the EU Transport Area for the Future, 31 page roadmap to 2050
Link to new portal for urban transport mobility solutions launched in the EU
Link to a Cellular Mass Transit concept - devised by some people in Austin, TX
Link to the facts about Daventry's PRT investigations (a U.K. community)
Link to Pillar Track Regional People Mover concept, from Austria
February, 2011
An Invitation to a New Transportation Mode, by Tyler Folsom, 8 pp.
Ridership Effects of PRT with Mass Transit, by Ingmar Andréasson, 16 pp.
January, 2011
Link to Hiriko website in northern Spain - building MIT's CityCars - excellent illustrations
Link to new website for Freedom Transit - a dualmode concept for passenger and freight travel on electrified guideways. Additional details are provided in a 1 page WhyFT? statement and a 30 page paper.
Sky Ride Technology offers a suspended monorail -type human powered personal vehicle
Masdar launches an electric vehicle pilot study
December, 2010
Link to the long range plan for the PRT system at West Virginia University in Morgantown (401 pp., takes a while to download).
Link to paper entitled Social Ramifications of Autonomous Urban Land Vehicles, by Tyler C. Folsom
Link to website in northern Spain that describes work on MIT's CityCar, includes video
Presentations and videos from the PodCar conference in San Jose, CA., now available
Video of Masdar City personal rapid transit (PRT, Podcar) system in operation
Video from MISTER PRT shows ground level station concept-- other recent videos also availableLink to Trains of the Future: a Popular Science archived 10-slide show of 20th century concepts
Passenger Terminal Expo 2011, March 29-31, Copenhagen, Denmark (programme includes a session entitled PRT for Airports and Cities with 14 presentations, March 30th (billed as a World Class Airport Conference).
November, 2010Masdar's first building complex opens, podcar picture, top row, right side, click to enlarge
From Italy to China on Autopilot, Wired magazine article about an autonomous vehicle trial
Brief description of the Suncheon Bay Project in South Korea, by Vectus PRT
A Summary Report from the Personal Rapid Transit Workshop, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 18, 2010 - Sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, 20 pp. (link on left side of page)
New website - People-Express Thruway - the PET Solution, based in Hawaii
Link to GM Blue Paper: Roadmap to 2030 - GM Sustainable Urban Mobility, 11/2010, 32 pp
Link to reports from the Ithaca, NY, PRT study
October, 2010
Link to a YouTube video about an autonomous taxi project in Germany
Link to Guidebook for Planning and Implementing Automated Peoplemovers at Airports, 229 pp.
Link to an article that offers some explanation of the decision to limit PodCar deployment in Masdar
Bike Metro - new Danish invention features dualmode bike network for sustainable urban travel, video also available
September, 2010
Link to the new website for the Labis train for high speed and intraurban applications
Shweeb monorail wins $1 million from a Google competition about improving transportation in cities
Link to new MISTER YouTube video
Link to new website featuring TOD and Smart Growth news
Link to a new mass transit concept called Fastran - a cantilevered monorail
Link to a new brochure for the General Transport System Foundation in Sweden, 12 pp. Also, see the Bubbles and Beams video that is very similar to the GTS concept.
Link to new publication from the U.K. - Guidelines for Implementers of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)
August, 2010
Reinventing Transport blog from Professor Paul Barter in Singapore
Back to the Futurama with cooperative mobility (two Futurama videos and one Intel video)
July, 2010
Link to a major update of website for Modern Transportation Systems Corporation - an innovative maglev approach
Sustainable Urban Mobility 2020, July-August Futurist article, by Ryan Chin of MIT's Media Lab
Link to the website for the PRT conference at Heathrow airport, September 21-23, 2010
Newsletter about forthcoming 4th PodCar City conference, San Jose, California, program and early registration information
Link to new 21st century "superway" presentation by MegaRail
June, 2010
List of 21 responses to Minnesota DOT Request for Interest on PRT
ITS America Transportation Technology News - subscriptions available
Dual Mode Transportation - A Revolution in Motion, by Andrew Andrusko
Link to new report that analyzes the Danish RUF dualmode system's capacity
Link to Pod Car 4 conference website, San Jose, California, October 27-29, 2010 - early bird registration ends in July
May, 2010
Link to summary of the Modern Mobility conference held in Kansas City, Kansas - focus was on a PRT study.
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) - Automated People Mover (APM) Comparison, by PRT Expert Peter Muller
Link to a description of a deployment roadmap (strategy) for Robocars
Link to update of the US DOT's ITS Strategic Research Plan
Amberglen PRT network study, Portland, Oregon suburb
Link to a US DOT white paper: Achieving the Vision: From VII to Intellidrive
April, 2010
Conference announcement: PodCar City, San Jose, California, October 27-29,2010
Link to new website: FHWA Livability Programs Initiative
New General Transportation Systems foundation established in Sweden
Link to the latest ULtra PRT Heathrow video - features multiple passenger testing
Link to new webpage focused on MIT's Mobility-on-Demand project at their Media Lab
Passenger Terminal Expo 2010 – Summary of PRT Presentations
March, 2010
Short course announcement and illustrated flyer: Modern Mobility: What is PRT and Why Should You Care?, April 23, 2010, Kansas City, Kansas
Urbanaut releases specifications for its PRT version
Bigger is not always Better, article in Passenger Terminal World, March 2010, pp 64-68, by Peter Muller
Article about PRT in Cities-for-Mobility e-magazine, pp 11-13, Vectus PRT photo on the cover
Link to paper entitled "Development and Evaluation of Traffic Management Strategies for PRT", by Pengjun Zheng, David Jeffrey and Mike McDonald, U of Southhampton, U.K.
The Gondola Project - a cable-propelled transit primer
February, 2010
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) proposal in India - PRT being considered as a transport component - very impressive concepts
The Transport Research Knowledge Centre (TRKC) is a free database featuring up-to-date information on European transport research activities. It enables policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders to access results of EU or nationally financed transport research in the European Research Area (ERA).
Link to a report on the 2010 ATRA Technix meeting, held at the U of Maryland, by Stan Young. Includes an excellent BBC video that features the ULtra PRT project at Heathrow airport.
Link to Strategic Research Directions, Priorities and Performance Metrics for Implementing Personalized Transit in Urban Areas, submitted on behalf of the Advanced Transit Association to the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the US Department of Transportation, 7 pp.
Minnesota DOT issues a Request for Interest about Personal Rapid Transit, 10 pages
Links to a new website for Zesttrans - a Russian dualmode and PRT concept, English version provided
January, 2010
Link to a paper entitled "Improving Transportation Requires New Solution", by Peter Muller (10 pp)
JPods releases long-term deployment plan
Masdar video from Gulf News - walking tour
Winona, Minnesota, City Council agrees to apply for $25 M to develop a PRT demonstration
PRT vehicle testing underway at the Masdar eco-city in Abu Dhabi
Conference announcement: High Speed Rail 2010: Bringing HSR to America, Orlando, FL, March 4-5, 2010
Podcars - new travel on track: A sustainable travel option (summary of Swedish Government study, in English)
How to design a PRT guideway, by J. Edward Anderson
December, 2009
Link to news and a new video from String Transport in Russia
Link to Monocab VRT in Australia, patents pending
PRT Niche Options for Minnesota, including Edina, St. Paul and Rochester network illustrations
Link to new dualmode concept from Switzerland - a microcar-train combination - forthcoming in 2010
Link to a thesis that describes a Dualmode concept called Speedway, by Christian Foerg of Germany (English version, well -illustrated)
Link to CNN video on the Masdar eco-city status
Link to a major update of the ULTra PRT website
November, 2009
Adaption of a Harvard Business School teaching case on PRT, by Prof. Ben Edelman
Link to PodCar conference newsletter #4Link to new website for the Masdar eco-city in Abu Dhabi - lots of videos and an image gallery
Link to PRT brochure from Winona, Minnesota - Winona is Ready!
New Shweeb website now available - a suspended, human-powered monorail, with switching and off-line stations
October, 2009
Link to Zest PRT (Russia) website - new videos have been added
Evolution of PRT, by J. Edward Anderson
Conference announcement: Innotrans 2010, Berlin, Germany, September 21-24, 2010 (see marketing movie, available in 10 different languages)
MIT weekly transportation seminar underway, includes overview video presentation by Associate Dean Barnhart.
Conference announcement: Polis - EU Cities and Regions Networking for Innovative Transport Solutions, Brussels, December 10-11, 2009 (Lowson, Lohmann and Jan Van Dijke, TNO are presenting)Link to Intrago Mobility website - personal electric vehicles - on-demand
Link to conference announcement: Transportation Summit 2009, Portland, OR, November 4-6.
Link to a new MegaRail presentation - describes and illustrates its high-speed cargo system
Conference announcement: 3rd METRANS National Urban Freight Conference, October 21-23, 2009, Long Beach, California
Link to new website by group interested in encouraging PRT in Austin, TX.
Invasion of the PodCars - link to article in Boston.com - Ideas sectionLink to 3rd International PodCar Conference Newsletter #3
September, 2009
Summary of Swedish PodCar Study, in English
Are They Ready? - Mega-Regions Growth and Transportation Investment in 22 American Mega-Regions
World's first city-wide PRT system underway at the Masdar eco-city in Abu DhabiNew book information: Automated Transport Systems for Sustainable Urban Mobility, by Tom Voge, August '09 (see Amazon.com for details, Paperback, $75.
Link to the International Monorail Association, based in the NetherlandsSkyTran (aka Unimodal) partners with NASA on development of control software
Conference announcement: Sustainability, Social Responsibility, Energy Conservation, & Fall Maintenance,
October 4-6, '09, St. Louis, Missouri (agenda only)August, 2009
Conference announcement: 21st Annual Public Private Ventures in Transportation, Sept. 24-25 '09, Washington, D.C.
Conference announcement: PodCar City COP 15, December 9-10, 2009, Malmö, Sweden
TRANSvisions: Final Report on Transport Scenarios with a 20 and 40 Year Horizon, March, 2009, 244 pp.
Consultation on the future of transport in the EUEditorial: Mr. Kasai goes to Washington (Japanese High Speed Train - rail and maglev - experiences)
CargoTunnel - an underground system for goods movements to/from various locations within a city
The Buckminster Fuller Challenge winner for 2009 - MIT Media Labs City Car and Roboscooter: Sustainable Mobility and Mobility on Demand Systems
July, 2009
Integrated Urban Transportation Network Congress, 2009, Shanghai, China, 9/3-4/2009
3rd PodCar City conference newsletter #1, Malmo, Sweden, December '09
Hyundai Rotem (So. Korea) urban maglev webpage (go to Rail Systems > Products > MAGLEV'S)
Chinese video clip shows the new Beijing maglev prototype running on its Tangshan test track.
Speedway: a new dualmode concept from Germany (website and video)An Intelligent Transportation Network System (ITNS): Rationale, Attributes, Status, Economics, Benefits and Courses of Study for Engineers and Planners, by J. Edward Anderson, 35 pp.
Link to new Sky Tram website - a suspended mass transit concept that uses old airplane fuselagesJune, 2009
Mott MacDonald appointed lead designer for Masdar infrastructure
Boeing's Personal Rapid Transit history
China develops low speed maglev system for applications within urban areas
Link to paper about implementation the PRT plan for the Masdar eco-city: Introducing PRT to the Sustainable City, by Lohmann and Guala - a very extensive description of the plan, 15 pp.
Link to Brick Wall Stops and PRT, by Richard Gronning
Link to a Summary of the 15 PRT papers presented at the 12th International APM '09 conference in Atlanta, GA,
June '09, by Peter MullerPRT Plans in several Swedish Cities, by G. Tegnér, extensive review of current PRT planning studies in Sweden, 21 pp
Links to two additional analytical papers regarding PRT in Swedish Cities, by G. Tegnér
Extending PRT Capabilities, by Ingmar Andreasson - explores ways to increase the capacity and speed of PRTLink to the official blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray La Hood
May, 2009
ULTra PRT circulator network presentation for the Perimeter Center major activity center in Atlanta, Georgia
New website for sustainable transport interests: Thecityfix - global scope
Air Car update - inventor Guy Negre with Airpod compressed air-powered cars
FTA report on low speed maglev research program - focused on lessons learned, March, 2009, 47 pp.
The Tipping Point? - PP presentation at the Heritage Foundation, May 13, '09, by transportation analyst Alan E. Pisarski
Conference announcement: Cities for Mobility, Stuttgart, Germany, June 14-16, 2009
Open PRT specification project: Rethinking PRT design - a blog
Conference report: , April, '09, PRT at Heathrow Airport, by Peter Muller
Conference announcement: International Conference on Sustainable Urban Transport and Environment, Paris, June 24-26, '09
Link to an ATRA report about the Carbon-Free Mobility conference held in Oakland, CA,
Major update of ULTra PRT website: information about Heathrow airport project, proposals in San Jose, Santa Cruz and Alameda Point, implementation customization, details on vehicles, guideway, stations, control, capacity, environmental benefits, safety certification, solar, ATS staff, partners and history.
April, 2009
Link to a RUF concept that makes use of PUMA-like vehicles
Three new marketing presentations from Megarail: Low carbon alternative to traditional Texas turnpikes and Commuter Rail proposal for the Dallas-Ft. Worth region (applicable to other large metropolitan regions), Near-term I-25 & I-70 Mountain Corridor Solution (Colorado).
APM '09 conference PreProgram now available: Connecting People, Connecting Places, Connecting Modes
Link to some good PUMA information at Segway's website
Link to new English version of Schmid Peoplemover website
Conference announcement: City Mobil, Finland, May 8, '09 - program info in EnglishMarch, 2009
PRT conference at Heathrow Airport in April , 21-23 '09 - Final Program and Registration Information
Link to historical document: Lea Transit Compendium on PRT, 46 pages, 1975 (includes 11 system descriptions)
Link to historical document: Lea Transit Compendium: PRT Supplement, 21 pages, 1975 (updates on two systems)
Link to Intransition magazine - look for article entitled "Unconventional Transportation: Reinventing the Wheel", Winter '09, pp 11-18
Photo update on Magplane project in Inner Mongolia - construction of a maglev coal transport system is underway
Link to a new Sky Taxi website, mostly in Russian but has some content in English
Link to a 60 minute video on Transrapid maglev history and Shanghai installation - very instructive
Press release: MIT to take on global transportation challenges - will generate 21st century solutionsFebruary, 2009
Link to planned research program of the Federal Transit Administration, Fiscal Years 09-13
President Obama's Urban Policy agenda
Link to: The Transit Wire - information about emerging transit technologies
Japanese HSST urban maglev brochure used in Honolulu, HI, now available on-line
Abu Dhabi public transport plan revealed - includes three PRT projects
Can We Transform the Auto-Industrial Society? , New York Review of Books
Preliminary program: Carbon-Free Mobility conference, Oakland, CA, March 6, 2009
PRT study by Ingmar Andreasson for Södertälje, Sweden - contains superb graphics
January, 2009
Link to new website for the Multi-flow Air Car
Link to new website for Vehicle-Infrastructure-Integration (VII) activities
Conference announcements: Carbon-Free Mobility, March '09, Oakland, CA and ATRA Heathrow, Heathrow Airport, April, '09
Link to Newsletter #5 which provides an update on the City Mobil projects in the EU
Automated Electric Transportation objectives at Utah State University elab
Car-free Masdar City will run on green cars
PRT gets another chance at life, article in Venture magazineLink to paper by Dr. Mogge of CH2M Hill about the Masdar PRT project
Link to National Journal Transportation Blog, contributions by Expert Insiders
Photos of Masdar PRT vehicle from the World Energy Forum exhibition in Abu Dhabi
Article about Masdar, located in Abu Dhabi - site of the first areawide PRT application in the world
Transforming America's Transportation Future, Automated Electrified Transportation (AET) vision paper
Virginia DOT report to the legislature on the status of PRT systems
Urbanaut monorail project underway in Incheon, Korea
Rail Meets the Road with the TriTrack http://tinyurl.com/bqh5fe
December, 2008
Eulogy to Dr. Jack H. Irving, PRT pioneer at the Aerospace Corporation, by J Edward Anderson
New Vectus PRT videos on YouTube; one is a new animation, the other shows operations in the snow, in Uppsala, Sweden
Conference announcement: 12th International Conference on Automated Peoplemovers, Atlanta, GA, May31-June 3, 2009Link to website that describes an AirCar venture
Link to information about City of San Jose's interests in an Automated Transportation Network
Link to the EU's #1 web portal on urban transport and mobility - now in its 10th year
Call for Papers: PRT at LHR (Heathrow airport) conference, April 21-23, '09
Link to illustration of several innovative systems for getting around town in the future: Forbes magazine, December 22, 2008 issue
Link to a collection of recent ULTra PRT pictures at Heathrow Airport in the U.K.
Link to a new Russian website that illustrates PRT-Zest and Tram-Zest concepts - both have dualmode capabilities
NICHES + Newsletter: New and Innovative Concepts for Helping European Transport Sustainability Towards Implementation,
December, 2008, Issue 1.EU Video: The Hands-Free Future for Transport, 8 minutes, includes City Mobil and Heathrow Airport
MonoMobile and Monofreight Newsletter #4 - describes new development funding prospects
Link to new company called Fastransit - working with Applied Levitation (see videos) on a switchable Maglev GRT/PRT concept
November, 2008
Florida Solar Energy Center to support solar-powered monorail system (SkyTrain) development (press release)
Conference announcement: Intermodes, February 4-5, 2009, Brussels, Belgium
Link to: Mobility on Demand: Future Transportation in Cities, Smart Cities, MIT Media Lab, June, 2008
Entire SeaTac Major Investment Study is now available on-line - resulted in a PRT network being selected as the preferred alternative
New website for PRT International launched - J. Edward Anderson is Managing Director.
What happened at the PodCar conference in Ithaca, NY, September, 2008?
October, 2008Maglev 2008 conference program now available, December 15-18, 2008, San Diego, California
Santa Cruz, California, solicits RFQs for a PRT study, pre-submission conference October 30, proposals due Nov. 13, '08
MegaRail prototype vehicle video now available on YouTube (click here for background presentation)
Table of Contents for the Daventry PRT Scoping Study, and link to the entire document, 160+ pp.
September, 2008
Link to City Gondola website - suspended GRT concept
Link to Beamways website, a suspended PodCar system under development in Sweden
Link to Metrail monorail website - low cost monorail system.
Link to pictures of Rotem's Daejeon maglev monorail 1-km demo site, in Korea. Inchon International Airport project being planned for 2012.
Automated Road Vehicles website
Korean urban maglev project described in Railway Gazette article
Update of the ATI - Advanced Guideway System website
1978 video of 1/10 scale PRT model developed by the Aerospace Corporation
August, 2008
Some details on the Dual Mode Vehicle (road and rail) development effort in Japan
Conference Announcement: Monorailex 2008, How to Move the People, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 10-11, '08
Work begins on the Monometro suspended monorail application in Saudi Arabia
International Seminar: Automation for Urban Transport, Sept. 19 '08, La Rochelle, France
PodCar City conference newsletter-2 now available
2008 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicle demand and systems analyis update study released by the FTASelf-funding Commuter Rail that Really Works, a presentation by MegaRail Transportation
Beyond Oil, Transforming Transportation - Agenda for the Annual TransTech Conference, September 4-5, '08 - Microsoft Event Center, Redmond, WA
MicroRail passenger & cargo monorail/LRT/BRT + freeway alternative - presentation
20th International Conference on Magnetically Levitated Systems and Linear Drives, 15-18 December, '08
San Diego, California
Offer of Participation for novel German maglev system - Details at website, currently only in German
July, 2008New PRT website - concept only, features vehicles operating on the street on rails
Futrex System21 monobeam system offered for sale
MISTER suspended PRT system investor offering document now available
Transportation for America, new coalition of advocates for transportation improvements
Pod Car City conference newsletter, #1, July 25, 2008
European Transport Conference 2008, October 6-8, Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands
Robosoft delivers three driverless vehicles using autonomous GPS guidance - includes YouTube video
15th ITS World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems, New York City, November 16-20, 2008: ITS Connections: Saving Time, Saving Lives: Conference Program details, 80 pages. Technical sessions and demonstrations planned.
12th International Conference on Automated Peoplemovers, May 31-June 3, 2009, Atlanta, Georgia - call for Abstracts and Program Information
Hydrogen: Hope or Hype? - Design News Special Report
News regarding Swedish SkyCab PRT activities
New BAA Heathrow ULTra PRT video on YouTube
Scope of National Academy of Sciences study: American's Energy Future, report with transportation content, final report expected in January, 2009
Guideway Transportation System with Integrated Magnetic Levitation Suspension, Stabilization and Propulsion Functions, USPTO Patent Application 20080148991
Personal Rapid Transit: Preempting the Need for Oil in Urban Transport, by Bill James
Futuropolis 2058: Creating Sustainable Urban Environments Through Innovation, Singapore, October 21-22, 2008
June, 2008
Some details about the Masdar eco-city in Abu Dhabi, now under construction
Call for Papers: Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Challenge, Marseille, France, June 2009
Dual Mode System Design "Absolutes", by Kirston Henderson of MegaRail, formulated initially in 2000, with additions in 2008
Proposed System Design Requirements for a Dual Mode Transport System - derived from the CEETI study of dual mode transport
Low Carbon Vehicle development to receive major boost with funds from the U.K. government - 13 projects currently underway,
three more planned (press release) For overview, go to the Technology Strategy Board > Innovation Platforms > Low Carbon VehiclesMay, 2008
RUF publishes an Investor Prospectus - good summary of current status
Full report: Dual Mode Vehicle and Infrastructure Alternatives Analysis, by Christine Ehlig-Economides and Jim Longbottom, Texas A&M University and Texas Transportation Institute, April, 2008. 136 pp. Also available on-line is the Executive Summary and Table of Contents
These latter two pages also provide CEETI's definition of Dual Mode, a link to a video that illustrates one type of dual mode system and a link to descriptions of a wide variety of other systems currently being developed around the world.Link to a new Dual Mode concept called Railbus, being developed in the Netherlands
PRT Activism: Strategies and Attitudes Toward Conventional Transit, by Nathan Koren, 5/2008, 21 pp
17th Annual ULI Conference: Developing Master-Planned Communities, Washington, D.C., June 12-13, 2008
Simulated fly-through of Masdar eco-city, with NPR article, by Foster+Partners, 5 minute video
PRT Applicability to Sustainability, by Peter Muller
April, 2008
Link to European Local Transport Information Service - aims to be the #1 portal on clean urban transport in Europe
Cities-for-Mobility publishes first eMagazine, contains lots of relevant articles
Link to a website about folding bicycles - deals with first/last mile problem
New Aerotrain website - provides history of this effort by Rohr Industries in early 1970s to develop a tracked air cushion vehicle
(TACV) for 60 passengers with a speed of 150 mph.Conference Announcement: Opportunities in Transportation Infrastructure, Washington, D.C., May 14-16, '08
2008 Pocket Guide to transportation statistics, now available on-line
International Transport Statistics Database website launched, includes all G8 nations and others
A New Business Model for Urban Transportation, illustrates a transit utility concept using a PRT application example in the Dulles Airport Corridor in Northern Virginia, by Paul Hoffman, Booz-Allen-Hamilton, January '08, Power Point file, 14 megs
Conference Announcement: Cities-for-Mobility, World Congress, June 1-4, 2008, Stuttgart, Germany, English version
March, 2008
Link to an Automotive X-Prize competition blog for current information
Conference Announcement: The Pod Car City: Sustainable Transportation, Sept. 14-16, 2008, Ithaca, New York
New MegaRail presentation describes their Commuter Rail product - has dualmode capability
MegaRail's proposal for the Trans Texas Corridor concept
Relaunch of Intransition magazine: Transportation Planning, Practice and Programs
Link to the Transport Research Knowledge Center in the EU
February, 2008
3rd Annual Texas Transportation Forum, Austin, Texas, April 20-22, 2008 (includes session on the "future")
Link to a large and excellent collection of innovative transport videos at a website in Norway
Added new subsecond-headways page at ITT website
Magplane signs $1.9 M design contract with Inner Mongolia (see Latest News for press release)
ULtra PRT/Heathrow project update, includes several ground and one aerial photo of built guideway
High Tech Monorails - 2 disc DVD set now available, world wide coverage of operational systems, includes Shanghai Transrapid maglev
Conference announcement: Cooperative Vehicle Infrastructure Systems, March 31 - 1 April, Amsterdam
Link to "Some History of 32 PRT Simulation Programs", new paper by J.E. Anderson
Aerobus gains final approval for completion of high profile project in Weihai, China
Link to a PRT-focused website based in New Zealand
January, 2008
Link to a paper entitled A PRT/Airport Automated Peoplemover (APM) Comparison, 9 pp, by Peter Muller
Comparative Visualization: PRT & Conventional Mass Transit, by Peter Muller (Power Point presentation, reader needed)
Link to a small electric vehicle concept from Switzerland, called Acabion
Conference announcement: Maglev 2008, 15-18 December '08, San Diego, California
Forum 2008: Transport and Energy: The Challenge of Climate Change, Leipzig Conference Centre, 20-30 May 2008
MagneMotion receives $6.9 M award from FTA to continue urban maglev development work (press release)
Using PRT for goods movements - concepts and illustrations
Update on ULTra PRT installation at Heathrow Airport, includes construction pictures and videos
Link to new Australian Skyrail monorail website
Links to two excellent student project reports; one deals with the design of RUF junctions, the other deals with the design of a RUF route. Both are very impressive examples of what talented and motivated students with good direction can do.
PRT - the connective tissue of better mobility, by J. Schneider
Link to a new RUF movie, mostly animation but also shows prototype vehicle in operationDecember, 2007
2nd Annual City Logistics Expo, Padova, Italy, 27-29 November 2008
Transportation blog initiatied by French student - contributions and comments welcome
New contribution to the Dualmode debate page: An Interface Standard for a General Transport System, by Bengt Gustafsson
New contribution to PRT debate page: Fitting PRT into an Existing Multimodal Environment, by Richard Gronning
New book entitled Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil, by Gilbert and Perl, Table of Contents, forthcoming, January, 2008
Severe shortfalls in current public transport - and why podcars may make the difference, by Göran Tegnér
November, 2007
Transportation Research Board publication: Intelligent Transportation Systems and Vehicle-Highway Automation, 2007
New brochure from Vectus PRT now available on-line
HOVER - High Occupancy Vehicles on Express Routes -- ride sharing concept from New Zealand
Link to Cities-for-Mobility website - a global network of cities dealing with urban mobility issues
Link to A General Transport System - paper from the Swedish Institute for Transport and Communications Analysis (SIKA)
Link to Automated Transport Systems website - describes preferred attributes of a dualmode system
October, 2007TRB Session on Dual-Mode Transportation: Benefits and Challenges
Link to City Mobil project website - a large scale effort in the EU to develop automated urban transport systems
Videos of presentations at the October PodCar conference in Uppsala now available on-line
Updated SkyWeb Express website now available
Vectus PRT Quicktime movie that shows one vehicle being operated on Uppsala test track
BBC CyberCar demo video from the Daventry PRT conference
Updated, excellent, Bubbles and Beams PRT video from Sweden on YouTube
Conference: Sustainability - the Future of Transportation, Anaheim, CA, Dec. 2-5, 2007
Magplane to build maglev pipeline in Mongolia
September, 2007
Book: Transit Systems Theory by J. Edward Anderson, 1978, now available on-line, 20 MB download
Announcement: Transportation Research Board, Annual Meeting, January 13-17, Washington, D.C.
ATRA 2008 Call for Papers for January '08 meeting (date changed to January 12)
National Geographic video report on Transrapid Maglev development and initial application in China
New ULTra PRT animation on YouTube
Two new videos now available for Ollie Mikosza's MISTER PRT system from Poland
Updated Tubeway website from Germany, now features thin film PV for solar energy collection
New marketing brochure from SkyWeb Express: Product Introduction
Updated invitation to The Podcar City conference and details of the conference program, October 1-2, Upsalla, Sweden
CargoRail Port Operating Plan presentation for Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles assessment, 9/2007, 10 pp.
Two PRT articles are published in the September issue of Transport Times in the U.K. > click on Current Issue
August, 2007
Conference announcement: 1st World Forum on Sustainable Mobility, Nantes, France, December 9-12, 2007
Austin, TX, inventor of TriTrack to be included in the Automotive X Prize competition
Update for the Flyda monobeam technology - patents have expired and are now in the public domain
National Automated Highway System Consortium Reports from 1997 now available online -
includes details from San Diego automated vehicle technologies at Demo '97.July, 2007
New System 21 blog, illustrations, technical details and general discussion, by Larry Edwards
Conference Announcement - Daventry Transport, September 26, 2007 (located in the U.K.)
PRT Standards conference, Minneapolis (Fridley), MN, September 19, 2007, sponsored by ATRA
PRT simulation software course by Ed Anderson now available
June, 2007
Collaboration among Mutually Dependent Players is Required to Achieve Large Scale Change in a Ground Transportation System, by Jim Longbottom
Development of the Containerization Industry as a Close Analogy for PRT Advocates, by Nathan Koren
PRT article in Business 2.0 magazine, June 1, issue, now posted at CNN website (it's mostly about the ULTra PRT project at Heathrow Airport)
Customer Response to a Dual Mode Personal Rapid Transit System, MBA Thesis by Yonas Jongkind, Simon Fraser University, 2006, 74 pp.
International PRT Conference, October 1-2, 2007, Uppsala, Sweden - information now available
Report on the Feasibility of PRT in Santa Cruz, California, by Jeral Poskey
New eco-city project in Abu Dhabi will be auto-free and use a PRT technology for internal circulation > go to NEWS, page 3
Video from Swedish TV showing Vectus PRT test facility in operation, with English translation
New dualmode animation from Qwiklane, 9+ minutes
May, 2007
Bubbles and Beams - a delightful PRT/dualmode animation from Sweden
New website: Next generation of mass transit - NOWAIT Transit of Sweden
Report on a PRT seminar held in Luleå, Sweden
Call for Papers, 2nd Annual National Urban Freight Conference 2007, December 5-7, Long Beach, California
Call for Papers, Chinese conference on Urban Transport, Beijing, August 2-4, 2007
New Jersey PRT Study Final Report released, 144 pp, pdf format
New PRT system concept, called Y-Rail from Austria
April, 2007
City of Luleå, Sweden, encouraged to consider a PRT application (located 940 km north of Stockholm)
PRT consulting firm launches new website, focused on PRT applications in So. California.
Japanese Dual Mode Vehicle, works on roads and rail - YouTube video
TEXXI - the taxi you text with a cellular phone for a shared ride
Conference announcement and call for papers: 11 th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for
Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED): June 18-21, 2007; Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Call for Papers, Challenges and Opportunities Towards More Sustainable Transportation, Taipei, 4-6 December 2007
Marketing Strategy of the HSST Maglev SystemCabintaxi video now available on YouTube
March, 2007
Recent Q&A session with J. Edward Anderson, regarding Personal Rapid Transit
Urban Life with PRT - ATRA's Second Morgantown, WV, Seminar, May 4-5, 2007
Where Transportation is Going: Transportation in the CLIOS Era, Seminar by Prof. Joseph Sussman, MIT, at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
Future by Design - website includes cities, energy, construction, transportation, space ideas, by Jacque Fresco - Futurist
ITS America Annual Meeting, Palm Springs, CA, June 4-6, 2007, 35 page conference brochure now available provides program details
February, 2007
Toy maglev train video on YouTube - in German, high temperature superconductor, simple device, absolutely amazing.
Link to Edmontonians for PRT website (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Paul Hoffman's PRT presentation at the TRB meeings, "Personal Rapid Transit, Strategies for Advancing the State of the Industry, Washington, D.C., January, 2007 (requires PowerPoint reader), 7 megs
Illustrative PRT network design for Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, by Eric Baumgartner
The State of Urban Transportation, by J. Edward Anderson (written in 1970 but the problems are still the same, only much worse).
Transporting Freight Containers by Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline (PCP): Port Security and Other Issues, TRB paper by Henry Liu, July 2006
Draft report on the feasibility of Personal Rapid Transit in Santa Cruz, California, 52 pp (listed under Transportation Planning Program header)
TEXXI - the taxi you text with a cellular phone for a shared ride - operating now in Liverpool and San Francisco. A 13 MB video
is available that describes how the system is operated at: http://www.texxi.com/pro/texxi.nsf/videoviewer?OpenPage&video=driversbysHigh Capacity Personal Rapid Transit, Rationale, Attributes, Status, Economics, Benefits, by J. Edward Anderson, January '07, 20 pp
January, 2007
Preliminary Proposal for a PRT Network for Daventry, U.K. (press release)
Link to MegaRail's updated and extended CargoRail presentation to the Gateway Council of Governments Board of Directors and two COG Cargo Transportation Study Groups for Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, January 17, 2007
Link to a paper entitled "Major Activity Center PRT Circulator Design: Hacienda Business Park" (California), by Steve Raney
Link to a study focused on the design of an extensive PRT network that could assist the solution of some transportation and air pollution problems in the Melbourne regionLink to Open Source (OScar) project website - a group working on the design of a simple and functional auto concept
to spread mobility, using Open Source principlesJPods PRT signs agreement with Swiss company to commercialize its automated transit concept in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
-- Link to JPods website
