ATRA News

SmartTransit 2016 – UPDATE – Letter to ATRA Members

LETTER TO ATRA MEMBERS

from

GLOBAL TRANSPORT FORUM

Dear colleague,

I am pleased to notify you of our upcoming SmartTransit Congress, taking place on October 25 – 26 in New Jersey. As a member of Advanced Transit Association you are entitled to a 10% discount by quoting ATA10 when registering. Transit agencies are invited to come for free. Please read on to find out more.

A dynamic, connected and successful transit system can support job creation, improve passenger journeys, and relieve environmental pressures. SmartTransit brings together sector leaders to discuss strategies for improving connectivity, maintaining safety and reliability, and increasing ridership.

The prestigious line-up of 40+ C-level speakers includes:

• Leanne Redden, Executive Director, RTA Chicago
• Paul Comfort, Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Transit Administration
• John Lewis, Chief Executive Officer, Charlotte Area Transit System
• Andrew Johnson, General Manager, Connect Transit
• Lauren Skiver, CEO/General Manager, Sunline Transit Agency
• Doug Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Virginia Railway Express
• Dwight Ferrell, Chief Executive Officer, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit
• Sandy Modell, General Manager, Alexandria Transit Company (DASH)
• Kenneth Leonard, Director, USDOT Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office
• Thomas Littleton, Associate Administrator for Safety and Oversight, Federal Transit Administration

DOWNLOAD THE EVENT BROCHURE TO FIND OUT MORE

SmartTransit is the definitive transit technology show, bringing together 400+ sector leaders from rail, bus and metro agencies, government, industry associations, and technology vendors.

Why attend?

• With content for rail, bus, and metro agencies, SmartTransit is a comprehensive show providing opportunity for ideas sharing
• Learn from our line-up of 40+ senior speakers: take back new ideas to improve your networks.
• Share knowledge with colleagues from across the industry in intimate roundtable and workshop sessions.
• Enjoy over 10 hours of networking time, including an exclusive drinks reception, private meeting rooms, and a pre-conference networking app.

Join us there and get full access for only $800. Alternatively, bring 4 or more people from you team and save 50%. If you would like to speak to a member of the team click here or alternatively visit the website to find out more.

Kind Regards,

James Pickard

Event Producer

marketing@globaltransportforum.com

+44 (0)20 7045 0900

Connect Times at the University of Utah

An article by Peter Muller, President, PRT Consulting, Inc

The recent University of Utah Campus Parking and Transportation & Research Park Mobility Master Plan tabulates the travel times and by walk, bike, shuttle bus and UTA (commuter) Bus between different origins and destinations. It also presents a potential PRT layout and a brief discussion of a PRT solution.

We took their PRT layout, rationalized it a bit and used Podaris to figure connect times. We then added half the headway (time between buses) to the bus trip times to develop connect times for the bus systems. Our findings for two different origin points are in tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1. Total Trip Time Comparison from President’s Circle

Walk plus wait plus primary mode

Table 2. Total Trip Time Comparison from Student Union

Walk plus wait plus primary mode

Figure 1 shows PRT travel times for trips starting from the middle of President’s Circle. Any point on campus can be reached in fifteen minutes including walking, waiting and traveling.

Figure 1. Travel Times from President’s Circle

PRT clearly provides a superior solution. However, capital costs are a hurdle despite the fact that lower operating costs may result in life-cycle costs being less.

Podcar City & Advanced Transit – September 19th – 21st 2016

Podcar City & Advanced Transit – Automated Mobility on Demand

Welcome to three days of intense talks and showcases of automation in public transit.

Podcar City & Advanced Transit is a conference about autonomous vehicles reshaping the way we live our lives in the urban landscape.
We are an open forum for the people behind automation in public transportation, similar to what is happening at a fast pace in the world of private autonomous vehicles.

This year´s conference is the tenth since the first in Uppsala, Sweden 2007 and takes place in the beautiful City of Antwerp in conjunction with the Antwerp Mobility Week. The organizers are Advanced Transit Association (ATRA), International Institute of Sustainable Transportation (INIST) and our local partner Crossroad in Antwerp, Belgium.

Please register now! Please see bottom of page for hotel information.

Vice Mayor Koen Kennis and The Podcar City & Advanced Transit Team

For more information please look at link below :

http://podcarcity.org/antwerp/

Four Wins at GSP !

Four Wins at GSP

What great new opportunities at GSP! First, new maintenance and carrier contracts sound exciting. And GSP is ideally suited to handle the special flights and jobs that these companies will create.

Secondly, there seem to be four solid business/ economic factors that support new remote parking with connectivity to the renovated terminal supported by an automated transport network system. There are wins for customers, for the airport, for tourists, and for economic development:

1. The positive business case is clear! GSP airport wins by saving capital costs. 1,500 new parking spaces are needed. Future parking costs to provide spaces are clear:   a) A 3rd parking deck will cost $30 million to build and citizens will pay a $14 daily rate, Or   b) an additional economy lot will cost $7.5 million to build and users pay a $5/day rate.

GSP airport can provide on-demand transport/ mobility on the proposed automated transport network (ATN) from the newly renovated terminal to both current and future remote parking lots for $15 to $20 million. The new remote parking and new automated system total $27.5 million or less. GSP solves two needs with a remote lot and an automated system! and saves at least $2.5 million.

2. Customers win! Satisfaction of airport users will improve because the automated system is elevated across roadways and doesn’t cause congestion. ATN is personal, on-demand, origin to destination w/ no stops, more convenient and more comfortable than walking from remote. There are zero accidents and zero emissions.

3. Tourists/visitors win! Traffic will increase as Greenville opens the first airport in America to have an automated system like this – WOW! Visitors will come from all across America and from around the world to see and ride (and duplicate) the ATN system.

4. People win! Jobs and incomes increase! Economic Development will be attracted to a new ATN transport sector! The Upstate can be the epicenter for designing & engineering ATN systems, building vehicles & infrastructure, and operating & maintaining the systems.

Four wins makes it an easy decision for me!

I hope the GSP Airport Commission makes the right decision to move ahead.

Fred Payne

Greenville County Council

SmartTransit 2016 – THE DEFINITIVE TRANSIT TECHNOLOGY SHOW

SMART TRANSIT are pleased to bring you the 6th annual SmartTransit congress 2016. Now located in Elizabeth, New Jersey SmartTransit will help rail, bus, and metro agencies bring transit to the heart of smart cities using the latest technological solutions. Join our 400+ attendees at the definitive transit technology show of the year!

Please follow the link below for more information:

http://www.smarttransitusa.com

ATRA VIDEO

The Advanced Transit Association (ATRA) is a non-profit organization aimed at increasing the knowledge and under- standing of innovative transit concepts. ATRA envisions a future when transportation will all be orchestrated for the convenience of people and their businesses – as well as for the benefit of our planet.

Greenville County, South Carolina – REGIONAL PERSONAL RAPID TRANSIT

Author: Jenna Moran

“Article courtesy of the National Association of Counties”.

Please follow link below for full article:

Greenville Co SC NACo case study

ATRA Award For Outstanding Contributions To Advanced Transit

ATRA Award For Outstanding Contributions To Advanced Transit

At the ASCE Automated People Mover and Automated Transit System Conference in Toronto on April 20, 2016, Dr. Ingmar Andreasson, ATRA VP, presented the above award to Dr. Jerry B. Schneider for creating the world’s leading source of information on innovative transit technologies, thereby attracting interest in transit solutions for livable cities and a better world.

His website “Innovative Transportation Technologies” describes all kinds of PRT/GRT/ATN/DualMode systems together with relevant papers, reports and presentations. It attracts more than 16,000 visits each day, has three times been ranked among the top 50 of all websites, and now contains over 650 megabytes in over 2 700 files.

The Second Martin Lowson Paper Award

The Second Martin Lowson Paper Award

A visionary, inventor and entrepreneur in modern ATN systems

ATRA fosters the development of automation and networking to advance the quality and sustainability of transportation, particularly for our urban areas.

The ATRA academic committee has instituted an annual paper award to recognize contributions in that area. The award, which is donated by the Lowson Family, has the objective to recognize high quality, original work that advances the thought and practice of fully automated networked public mobility systems.

The submitted work can consist in a Master thesis or a PhD thesis authored and/or published by students within the last 5 years. To qualify as a student, the person must be enrolled at a degree granting institution either at the time of the authorship or publication/presentation of the work, or time of submittal to the ATRA competition. The work can have been previously published as a paper or have received prior awards. The emphasis in the 2016 award is on Automated Transit Networks toward sustainable urban mobility.

The best paper will be presented at the Podcar City Conference 2016 (http://www.podcar.org/), where the winner receives a $500 reward, in addition to a sponsored conference participation.

Contact information: lowsonaward@advancedtransit.org

Rules of the competition:

1. Submit your thesis or paper to lowsonaward@advancedtransit.org by 16 August, 2016.
2. ATRA will follow TRB guidelines for a blind peer review and selection process.
3. The authors will be notified by June 30, 2016.
4. The winner is required to present her/his work at the Podcar City Conference 2016. The participation at the conference will be free of charge and travel expenses up to $500 will be refunded. The winner must submit her/his work as a regular paper, following the formatting rules of the conference.
5. The $500 award is handed over at the Podcar City Conference 2016.
6. ATRA reserves the right to publish all submitted works on its website

Automated Vehicle Policy and Regulation – A State Perspective Workshop

Hosts : University of Maryland – National Transportation Center

Date: May 18, 2016

Time: 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM

Location: Howard Frank Auditorium/Robert. H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland, College Park, MD

The focus of this workshop is to identify key principles the states will need to make effective policy decisions to enable the safe operation of advanced automated vehicles (sometimes called autonomous, self-driving, or driverless vehicles) on their roadways. The current approach is unsystematic considering the huge impact this new technology will have on our roads. A few states permit testing of these vehicles either through legislation or order of the governor, while others are testing without this official approval. In the interim states are relying on their existing vehicle laws to govern automated and autonomous vehicle operations until appropriate policy and regulations are identified.

With this as background and point of departure, this workshop seeks to identify key principles that can provide a foundation for the common operation of automated vehicles across the states. This is critical to insure safe operations, efficient travel, and environmental benefits at the introduction of automated vehicles as well as to speed the deployment of future advances.

For more information please follow the link below:

Automated Vehicle Workshop 2016