Winona's request for nearly $25 million in federal funding to test a futuristic transit technology has been denied, city leaders confirmed Monday.
The city submitted the funding application in January to build a test lab for Personal Rapid Transit, which uses small, pod-like vehicles on guideways to shuttle passengers to their destinations. The money would have created the Winona Personal Rapid Transit Lab and Partnership Center, featuring a 0.9-mile elevated guideway. The grant would have also paid to build a testing laboratory on the main campus of Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical in Winona and fund it for four years.
Just one more big failure in a long list of flops and fiascos for the pod people - let's review the most recent:
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
There was one disappointment at the meeting: I expected to meet a lot of you guys that I have been talking to, for 15 years, here on this list. Peter Muller, Richard Gronning, and Myself....I really expected to see more familiar nametags. Ed Anderson was there, but I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him. I wish it had beern set up as a Convention, with a Hospitality Room where we could all meet and talk. Maybe next time...
Senator David Senjem, MN State Legislature, said he does not think PRT has a champion in Minnesota. Every cause needs a champion. The legislative process is not analytical. This is new to the legislature and they will need a lot of education. Start by selling it locally then request the State match local funds. A demonstration project is absolutely vital.
.... and...
Representative Frank Hornstein, MN State Legislature, said he is a PRT skeptic and will stick to demonstrated successful systems until PRT is demonstrated to be successful. He agrees that transportation policy has to focus on reduction in dependence on oil.
The PRTistas discussed "impediments to PRT implementation" during the "Facilitated Group Discussions" part of the workshop. Muller quotes one of the participants:
Dean Zimmerman said people love cars because they wait for you, go directly to your destination and keep you out of the weather. PRT satisfies all three and erases the negatives associated with cars.
In the discussion session, former Minneapolis City Councilman Dean Zimmerman, a Green Party Member who displayed the PRT network he developed for a portion of Minneapolis, commented that PRT provides what people want.
The pod people complain about "impediments to PRT implementation" and when a disgraced public official convicted of taking bribes (they claim Zimmermann was "set up" by the FBI) shows up at the workshop, they proudly quote his inane statement ... keep it KLASSY PRT guys!
Once again, here's a list of recent pod flops and fiascos:
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
Richard Gronning, described on his Linkedin page as an "advisor, coordinator at PRT Partners LLC" and "Board Member at Citizens for PRT" (more about the CPRT in the previous post) made this startling statement on the Transport Innovators Google forum today:
1. It was Tom Sorel that organized the PRT Symposium in Rochester, MN.
2. It was Tom Sorel that chose Mukhtar Thakur as MN DOT'S PRT coordinator because he has the reputation of getting things done.
3. Think about it! PRT is the most advanced form of ITS.
4. MN DOT has to think about and include ALL types of solutions or the (Luddite) politicians will be all over Tom.
5. Tom Sorel already has had to defend MN DOT and his office over the 1st PRT event. I've heard stories where a few of the politicians were screaming at him in the hall of the MN Gov./DOT building. I've been told that he soothed the situation and made his point very well.
The following is the purpose for the MnDOT-sponsored workshop scheduled for tomorrow:
Updated Purpose: The purpose of this workshop is to share responses to Mn/DOT’s request for PRT information and to allow participants to understand PRT benefits and barriers to its implementation. Workshop participants will also discuss next steps in exploring the viability of PRT in Minnesota, including principles to guide PRT service implementation, financing options, and organizational and governance approaches.
Seems to me one of the "barriers" to public-funding of PRT is self-inflicted; if the PRT promoters want public officials to give them money, they shouldn't trash them on the internet.
Once again, here's a list of recent pod flops and fiascos:
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
PRT promoters will tell you there is grassroots support for PRT. Whatever public support PRT had in the past, it has all but vanished. Internet PRT forums are quiet - the last post on the Minnesota PRT forum is June, 2010 and the last post on the Seattle PRT forum is February, 2010. A handful of PRT promoters and would-be inventors opine on the Transport Innovators Google forum, but few of the participants fit the definition of grassroots.
Looking around the internet, there's the moribund Sky Loop Committee in Covington, Kentucky. The Skyloop website used to have a news page which apparently has been removed. An archived Skyloop web page has this news item about what happened to PRT in Cincinnati:
September 25, 2001 The Central Area Loop Study Committee (CALSC) of OKI voted to not recommend Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) for adoption as the transit technology for linking the downtowns of Cincinnati, Covington and Newport. For more on the outcome of the Central Area Loop Study (CALS) go to Central Area Loop Study Ending, including the paper "Why the Central Area Loop Study Committee Failed to Adopt PRT" and the CALS Draft Final Report (DFR) Rebuttal Documents..
The "Loop Study", which began early in 2001, studied monorail, personal rapid transit, light rail, streetcars and buses. The Central Area Loop Study, as it was known, concluded in October 2001 that any further study of monorail and PRT in the urban cores of Cincinnati, Covington and Newport should be eliminated. Any additional study of surface alternatives should be conducted and incorporated as an integral part of the proposed Regional Rail Plan. This left the use of light rail, streetcars and buses as alternative systems.
PRT websites litter the internet. Years ago, there was something called Saint Paul Personal Rapid Transit with the unfortunate acronym SPPRT. There is another website for a SPURTS.org. There's a website for PRT promoters in Santa Cruz... there's likely more if you bother to look.
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
When a rail link to the airport was on the Auckland Regional Council transport committee's agenda three weeks ago, Mikosza emailed councillors from Poland with details of his system and an offer he thought they would at least acknowledge.
By the time a railway line to the airport has been researched, designed and built, PRT would be well established around the world, Mikosza claimed in his email.
"PRT is 10 to 50 times less expensive than any rail for the same capacity. And PRT can be built much quicker, requires almost no land, less planning, is faster, safer and profitable in operation," he wrote to the councillors.
His tone might not have endeared him to the councillors - "spending public money on inefficient, deficit-running systems ... is not something that is good to be remembered for" - but Mikosza thought his offer of the system, free of licensing costs, could have earned a response.
But the silence "confirms that politicians just mind their backsides and have no imagination".
Co-founder of the Winona Tea Party Patriots Joshua Chasco is running for an at-large seat on the Winona City Council, The Winona Daily News had a brief mention of Mr. Chasco's position on PRT. I asked Mr. Chasco for a statement for this blog and he graciously sent the following:
“The hopes and dreams of a PRT system for Winona, MN is just that; hopes and dreams. City leaders have stated that this project ‘Will bring in local jobs’ ignoring the fact that if it is a government funded project, the local businesses are not guaranteed the contracts in the bidding process. How about property rights? Who decides what yard is taken to put in support pillars or offsets the lost property value of a home because it’s once beautiful view of the bluffs or river is now a view of steel and concrete? We have a beautiful city of approximately 27,000 people and already have two cab company’s and a well developed busing system in town, this project is just an unneeded waste of money and resources in a time when we are already broke as a nation. Chock it up to over ambitious government representatives thinking they know how we should spend our hard earned money better than we do. I will break out my old Simpsons DVD’s and we can all sing the “monorail, monorail” song together as our money wasted on another dumb idea. I hope that our city leaders will come to their senses and start thinking about fiscal responsibility and stop acting like kids at a candy store with eyes glared over wanting to spend someone else’s money”
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
"Generally speaking it seems to be a good system. It is well-suited to Heathrow where there is a constant stream of people heading to different places.
"We will need to look at it again once it is being used in volume. And it is only one transport option being looked at for Daventry.
No mention in the article why the ULTra PRT June launch was scrubbed or why the Daventry District Council continues to promote PRT after their previous attempts to bring pods to Daventry ended in fiasco.
Once again, here's a list of recent pod flops and fiascos:
"Columbia [Maryland] failed to win a federal grant for a futuristic PRT that would have allowed riders to board driverless cars, key in their destination and proceed nonstop along elevated guideways." - Columbia Flyer [ explorehoward.com ] )(yes, this is history, but new info for this blog)
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
Co-founder of the Winona Tea Party Patriots Joshua Chasco is running for an at-large seat on the Winona City Council, The Winona Daily News has Chasco's position on PRT:
Chasco is also against the city's pursuit of Personal Rapid Transit, which uses small, pod-like vehicles on guideways to shuttle passengers to their destinations. He said the project will come with few guarantees, a likelihood of high costs to the city and the possibility that property owners' rights could be impacted, he said.
Chasco is on the ballot in the August 10th primary. The two top vote-getters will be on the ballot in November.
"Columbia [Maryland] failed to win a federal grant for a futuristic PRT that would have allowed riders to board driverless cars, key in their destination and proceed nonstop along elevated guideways." - Columbia Flyer [ explorehoward.com ]
The so-called Morgantown PRT (it's a mundane people-mover) was the subject of a student newspaper editorial after a malfunction created a "fireball" and filled a vehicle with smoke. The cost of fixing the Morgantown boondoggle is $93 million.
