Masdar City is piloting its Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, which is made up of electric-powered, automated, single-cabin vehicles.
Magnets embedded in the road are used to locate their positions and on-board sensors detect obstacles in their path. They are also powered by a recyclable battery that recharges while the vehicles are standing at the stations between trips. The vehicles can travel up to 40 kilometres per hour on straight roads and 25 kilometres per hour on curves.
News reports have said Masdar plans to scrap the PRT system.
When "Weekend Review" asked Masdar about it, they said that "in the past two years, there has been a surge in the development of electric and robotic vehicles in the commercial market and we wish to study these to make comparisons with our PRT system".
Another big FAIL for ill-starred, would-be pod vendor 2GetThere. But the PRT hucksters will likely continue to promote 2GetThere's glorified golf carts into the next decade. Here's a wacky video that offers a collage of animated pods, King Kong, dirigibles and other junk as some kind of an environmental solution:
The PRT hucksters like to claim the pods are a "new technology". PRT is neither new or a technology.
PRT is an argument - an argument that conventional transit is not "faster, better, cheaper" than so-called "innovative transportation technologies", PRT being one of them. The problem is futuristic pie-in-the-sky gadgetbahn PRT schemes exist only as unproven concepts. At times, the PRT hucksters produced prototype pods or even a test track... but there really is no there, there.
The anti-transit arguments of the PRT hucksters of today or no different than when they wore sideburns and bell bottoms.
Joe Lampe wrote these comments: Unfortunate 1889 streetcar revival for Minneapolis & St. Paul? I've heard that Ed Anderson upset (insulted?) Mayor Ryback at a meeting some years ago, and Ryback has banished any discussion of PRT.
Another participant in the MnDOT workshop last August, would-be PRT vendor Jack Slade chimes in with this comment:
It is interesting that they will study the streetcar versus bus service, but not streetcar versus bus versus PRT service. Real foward thinking.
We should be thinking of a fitting memorial for this type of Mayor. Anybody know where we can get 100 trainloads of horse manure?
Minnpost: What's your reaction to Gov.-elect Dayton reappointing Tom Sorel as transportation commissioner?
Frank Hornstein: He's a breath of fresh air at MnDOT and a good advocate for a multimodal approach to transportation. The only complaint I have is that he has embraced PRT (personal rapid transit) in a way that's not helpful. It's something suitable for an amusement park and a distraction from the bigger challenges we face.
With Republicans in control of the MN legislature, there has never been a better opportunity for the PRT hucksters to get a PRT bill passed.
MNObserver has a good post on The Cucking Stool about the consequences of the Wisconsin's Governor-elect Scott Walker decision to opt out of the Upper MIdwest high speed rail network.
Having campaigned on a platform of jobs, jobs, jobs, Wisconsin's Governor-elect Scott Walker has taken steps - even before he has been sworn in - that have driven a private manufacturing employer from the state, has eliminated 4,700 short term jobs, and cost hundreds of permanent jobs...
Walker's decision, of course had consequences for Minnesota. Kevin Giles at the Strib::
About $1.2 billion in federal money had been reserved for high-speed projects in Wisconsin and Ohio. The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday awarded those funds to 13 other states -- but not Minnesota -- because Republican governors-elect in Wisconsin and Ohio had promised to kill the projects despite years of planning to build a network of faster trains in the Midwest.
The Wisconsin segment that lost funding -- $810 million from Milwaukee to Madison -- was one of 25 "alignments" under consideration in a Minnesota study to determine the best route to Chicago and what it would cost, Krom said.
The preferred route will be named when the study is completed in June 2012. But "when it gets built is another issue," he said.
[snip]
Jerry Miller, who chairs the Minnesota High-Speed Rail Commission, expressed disappointment that Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker opposed the project.
"Connecting our region by high-speed rail will create 15,000 new jobs and economic opportunities for years to come," Miller, who is also mayor of Winona, Minn., said Friday. "By shifting this funding to places like Washington, California and Florida, we are also exporting future private-sector job growth to our neighbors and making the region less competitive."
Both Miller and Krom said they would work with Minnesota Gov.-elect Mark Dayton to seek his support for the rail line.
As Chair of the MN HSR Commission, how hard did Jerry Miller lobby his fellow Republicans in Minnesota and Wisconsin? Did Mayor Miller lobby as hard for HSR as he did for Personal Rapid Transit?
Here is a video of Mayor Miller wasting everyone's time promoting fantasy-based pod transport instead of reality-based conventional transportation from Winona 360:
Reporter Megan McNulty interviews Winona City Manager Eric Sorenson and Mayor Jerry Miller on their thoughts about the proposed plans for a Personal Rapid Transit model of transportation in Winona.
I'm sure you've received a sizable amount of emails regarding your anti-PRT stance. Add this one to the pile.
I won't try to change your opinion, nor will I try to change your anti-PRT religion. Both would obviously be futile. What I would like you to know is that the costs of what we have now are far too great and current public transportation will not enjoy forever its taxpayer-supported funding bounty. In the end, your side will lose because it is far more costly, far less convenient, and by any measure of ridership it has consistently failed to reach an adequate percentage of the population (unless you're talking about ultra-dense cities like New York). Let's face it, light rail and buses are doomed to pass away into history. The economy and the mood of the taxpayers to continue to support a failed system is growing thin.
I offer you best wishes through what will in the coming years be a greatly trying time for you and your light rail funders. I feel sorry for you that you picked the losing side, nobody likes to lose, but those are the facts.
PS: you do not have permission to use any of my words or information in any way shape or form.
Sincerely, A non-loyal (never again) reader of one of your columns.
I hate to disapoint Tom B., but I don't get a " sizable amount of emails" about my "anti-PRT stance". In fact, I hardly get any emails from pod people. There is a very, verysmall number of grassroots PRT supporters.
