by Catherine G. Burke, Professor

School of Public Administration
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

This book is focused on the relationship between technological innovation and politics, with special reference to the case of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). In includes a useful framework for the analysis of this problem as well as a wide variety of results from interviews with the key figures involved with PRT activities during the 1970's in the USA and elsewhere in the world. It also includes some penetrating analytical work on the many public documents that together describe the efforts of many public officials to come to grips with the need for and concepts of a new mode of public transportation. It is sobering and "must" reading for anyone interested in trying to bring a new mode of transportation to life in the 1990's and beyond. And, it is remarkable how current it seems indicating how little things have changed since it was written in 1979 -- except that all of the urban transportation problems current then have gotten much worse.

The text is richly documented with references for anyone who would wish to dig more deeply into these exciting times. Especially interesting and still relevant are the case studies in four cities: Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The book was published by Lexington Books: D.C. Heath and Company, Lexington, MA. in 1979. It contains 401 pages and can probably be obtained through interlibrary loan in most cases. The call number is HE 308 B87. Or order on-line. Click here

Table of Contents

Part I - Politics, Innovation and Transportation (94 pp)

Chapter 1 - Introduction

The Problem of Innovation
Personal Rapid Transit
Objective and Methods

Chapter 2 - Politics, Technology and Innovation

Political Subsystems
Macropolitical Systems
Domains - Consensus and Conflict
The Power Setting
Network Patterns and Relationships
Environmental Conditions
Organizational Politics
The Urban Transportation Network
People and Politics
Technology
Technological Innovation
Scope and Depth of Change
Paradigms
Invention and Innovation
Systems of Appraisal
The Role of Government
Entrepreneurship
Risk
Summary

Chapter 3 - The Rise and Fall of Public Transportation

Historical Overview of the Public Transit Industry
Summary
Conclusions

Chapter 4 - Today's Problems and Alternatives

Land Use
Congestion
Access and Mobility
Safety
Energy Consumption
Resource Consumption
Quality of Life in Urban Area
Costs
Freight Movement
Institutional Problems
Private Transportation
Public Transportation
Conclusions
The Transit Paradigm

Part II - The Federal Experience (97 pp)

Chapter 5 - History and Development of Personal Rapid Transit

Early Ideas
The HUD Studies
Morgantown
Transpo '72
Summary and Conclusions

Chapter 6 - The Challenge of Personal Rapid Transit

Alternative Systems
PRT - Service and Technology
Conceptualizing Change
PRT and the Urban Transportation Problem
The Paradigm Challenge
Summary

Chapter 7 - Paradigm Challenge and the Political System

UMTA
New Technology Opportunities Program
Automated Guideway Transit Technology
Local Politics and Federal Programs
Downtown People-Mover Project
Implications for Theory

Part III - A Tale of Four Cities (86 pp)

Chapter 8 - Denver

Chapter 9 - Minneapolis-St. Paul

Chapter 10 - Las Vegas

Actors
Chronology
Issues

Chapter 11 - Los Angeles

Chapter 12 - Local Politics and Federal Money

Part IV - A Larger Perspective (55 pp)

Chapter 13 - The International Experience

England - Cabtrack
Japan - CVS
Germany - Cabinentaxi
France - Aramis
Conclusions

Chapter 14 - Technology Innovation and Public Policy

The Hypothesis Restated
Technology and the Struggle for Power
Forces for the Status Quo
Summary

Notes

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the Author