ATRA News

This is a round up of the latest news related Personal Rapid Tramsport and Advanced Transport. If you would like to submit a news item please email news@atra.org

2013 Membership

December 27th, 2012

With 2013 around the corner, it is time to renew your ATRA membership. Whether you are an individual or a company, ATRA unites professionals with an interest in advanced transit.

Individuals:
– Full Membership: $50
– Student Membership: $35
– Lifetime Membership: $1000

Companies:
– Corporate Member: $500
– Industry Group Member: $1500**conditions apply, please visit the ATRA IG pages for more information.

It is now possible to renew your membership online through paypal. Please follow this link and select your appropriate option.

Preceeding the Annual Transportation Research Board in Washington D.C., ATRA is organizing it’s Technix on Sunday, January 13. Please join the professionals gathered through ATRA in discussing the latest developments on advanced transit.

The Technix is hosted at the University of Maryland’s CATT facility in Washington D.C., conveniently reached by both road and rail (Metro station College Park on the Green Line). Doors will open at 8:30 for coffee and continental breakfast.

For registration visit the Technix event page: http://www.advancedtransit.org/library/news/ai1ec_event/atra-technix/?instance_id=23

Suncheon Update

November 5th, 2012

In recent months, real progress has been made in South Korea’s Suncheon Bay concerning the construction of the necessary infrastructure for Vectus’ much anticipated PRT system.

Vectus, a subsidiary of Korean steel giant POSCO, is currently building the first PRT network in the Asia Pacific region. Due to open for commercial service in time for the 2013 International Garden Expo, hosted by Korea for the first time, the 5km-long elevated link will serve the Coastal Wetlands Park on Suncheon Bay.

Download the full update here: Suncheon Bay Update 2012

Princeton Study

April 3rd, 2012

For the past 5 years Princeton University, the Boro of Princeton and Princeton Township have been engaged in discussions related to the University’s expansion plans. One of the outcomes has been an agreement to form a joint transportation task force and to fund a transportation study of Princeton’s next generation transit options. The RFP has now been released and innovative transportation is in the mix and that energy efficiency will be considered. Joint proposals are encouraged; therefore smaller players on the cutting edge might partner up with bigger rail oriented firms to respond.

The intent of the project is to determine if the existing commuter transit service can be extended to Nassau Street and perhaps beyond. The respondent shall consider a series of options including a conversion of this service to a light rail system reaching Nassau St. as well as other suitable transit options including those based on emerging new transportation technologies which have the potential to meet our needs.

To receive the complete RFP please contact:

Lee Solow PP
Princeton Regional Planning Board
400 Witherspoon St.
Princeton, NJ 08540
609 924 5366
lsolow at princeton-township.nj.us

March 22: ATN Seminar

March 14th, 2012

On March 22 David Holdcroft and David Little will be speakers at the Automated Transit Network seminar. The seminar will be held at the University of Maryland (Fairway Room at Univ. of Maryland Golf Course clubhouse, located off of University Blvd (MD-193) in College Park Maryland), commencing at 10AM.

Speaker: David Holdcroft

Mr. Holdcroft was the terminal manager for British Airports Authority overseeing the installation and start up of the Ultra Personal Rapid Transit system that now serves Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, connecting the terminal with a parking facility. The Heathrow project has been under full operation for several months. Mr. Holdcroft will share the history of the project, experiences and lessons learned while the system has been under operation including user feedback and economic impact, as well as look forward to perspective future projects for this technology.

Speaker: David D. Little, AICP

Mr. Little is a Principal at the transportation consulting firm of Lea+Elliott. He has worked on numerous airport landside mobility studies and implementations during his 20 years at Lea+Elliott. These studies and system implementations have included automated people movers and automated transit networks, as well as bus systems. David will present on airport landside development and how improved access to the landside facilities increases the facility’s value. He will also discuss typical funding sources for landside transport systems. Mr. Little authored ACRP Report 37 on the planning and implementation of APMs at Airports, published in 2010.

World’s largest urban PRT system announced

December 14th, 2011

The Punjab Government has awarded a contract for the world’s first urban Personal Rapid Transport (PRT) system in Amritsar, India to Ultra Fairwood.

At peak capacity the PRT system can carry up to 100,000 passengers a day on a 3.3km elevated guideway in over 200 specialist vehicles between seven stations, making it the world’s largest PRT system to date.

Financed entirely by private funding on a build, own, operate transfer (BOOT) basis, the passenger services will go live in 2014.

ULTra Perfomance Report

December 8th, 2011

The Ultra system at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opened on the 18th April 2011 and at the end of November had operated for a total of 4,595 hours, carrying over 200,000 passengers, with high availability, reliability and minimal waiting times. Usage of the car park served by the pods has grown steadily since the service was introduced, and we recently recorded our busiest day so far (1020 occupied vehicle journeys on Monday 28th November).

Masdar Year 1

December 1st, 2011

On November 27th the first year of Operations and Maintenance of the PRT system at Masdar City was concluded. Over the year the system carried over 230.000 passengers, including VIPs such as His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi), Mr. Ban Ki Moon (Secretary-General United Nations), Queen Noor (Jordan), Prince Albert (Monaco) and Prinses Victoria (Sweden).

For the full data, link to the 2getthere website.

Morgantown Tour

November 29th, 2011

Morgantown won a PRT design contest in 1968 and received a large federal grant to complete the project. Despite being very popular with the students of the town, who depend on it to get to classes, the Morgantown PRT has been virtually ignored by the media in recent years, explaining why it is completely absent from the public discussion of how to create more mass transit to relieve our congested roadways.

The above is quoted from the video posted on youtube showing off the Morgantown application.

Allan Gregory

November 25th, 2011

Interview with Allan Gregory, Surface Access Director at Heathrow Airport. “Many people are often surprised that BAA is a supporter of rail, we see air and rail as being complementary to each other and over the last ten years BAA invested over £715 million in Heathrow Express and other rail developments.” Watch the video to see which rail links are coming to Heathrow Airport and why BAA took part in the pioneering personal rapid transit scheme.