Friday, May 28, 2010

MnDOT Publishes List of Respondents

Posted on MnDot's transit page:

List of respondents to Mn/DOT’s Personal Rapid Transit Viability and Benefits Request for Information (PDF here)

MnDOT is planing a workshop "tentatively in July or August" to discuss the responses and something they are calling the "PRT Alliance"

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Mark Dayton Picks Pod Person for Running Mate

State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon was a co-sponsor of PRT legislation with Michele Bachmann.

Watch Prettner Solon testify about the amazing awesome-ness of pods mid-way in this video clip:



DFL-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher in Session Weekly. April 23, 2004 (PDF):

I have a great concern about the PRT project - the word "boondoggle comes to mind.


Margaret Anderson Kelliher was right in 2004 about the pods and six years later, MAK is still right.

Review....

No $25 million earmark for PRT pork project in Winona, Minnesota.

The ULTra PRT launch at Heathrow has been delayed at least 3 times. The new launch date of the glorified golf carts of Heathrow is some time next month.

The Swedish/Korean PRT prototype malfunctioned recently in front of the media.

The Masdar PRT (actually computer-guided golf carts that follow magnets imbedded in the roadway) has been scaled way back. This setback got a mention in the NY Times.

The much-hyped PRT project in Daventry ended in fiasco.

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.