Hmmm, my memory must be getting rusty. I don't remember that "we voted to fund
and
build a demonstration PRT system back in 1996, in the...Sound Move vote..." Do
you have
a cite, where in the plan that commitment was made?

--- In friendsofthemonorail@yahoogroups.com, "John C. Todd, Jr." <johntodd@...>
wrote:
>
> Excerpt:
>
> ITHACA, New York (AP) -- The thought of a driverless, computer-guided car
> transporting people where they want to go on demand is a futuristic notion
> to some.
>
> To Jacob Roberts, podcars -- or PRTs, for personal rapid transit --
> represent an important component in the here-and-now of transportation.
>
> "It's time we design cities for the human, not for the automobile," said
> Roberts, president of Connect Ithaca, a group of planning and building
> professionals, activists and students committed to making this upstate New
> York college town the first podcar community in the United States.
>
> "In the podcar ... it creates the perfect blend between the privacy and
> autonomy of the automobile with the public transportation aspect and, of
> course, it uses clean energy," Roberts said.
>
> With the oil crisis reaching a zenith and federal lawmakers ready to begin
> fashioning a new national transportation bill for 2010, Roberts and his
> colleagues think the future is now for podcars -- electric, automated,
> lightweight vehicles that ride on their own network separate from other
> traffic.
>
> Unlike mass transit, podcars carry two to 10 passengers, giving travelers
> the freedom and privacy of their own car while reducing the use of fossil
> fuels, reducing traffic congestion and freeing up space now monopolized by
> parking.
>
> At stations located every block or every half-mile, depending on the need,
> a rider enters a destination on a computerized pad, and a car would take
> the person nonstop to the location. Stations would have slanted pull-in
> bays so that some cars could stop for passengers, while others could
> continue unimpeded on the main course.
>
> "It works almost like an elevator, but horizontally," said Roberts, adding
> podcar travel would be safer than automobile travel.
>
> The podcar is not entirely new. A limited version with larger cars
> carrying up to 15 passengers was built in 1975 in Morgantown, West
> Virginia, and still transports West Virginia University students.
>
> Next year, Heathrow Airport outside London will unveil a pilot podcar
> system to ferry air travelers on the ground. Companies in Sweden, Poland
> and Korea are already operating full-scale test tracks to demonstrate the
> feasibility. Designers are planning a podcar network for Masdar City,
> outside Abu Dhabi, which is being built as the world's first zero-carbon,
> zero-waste city.
>
> Meanwhile, more than a dozen cities in Sweden are planning podcar systems
> as part of the country's commitment to be fossil-fuel-free by 2020, said
> Hans Lindqvist, a councilman from Varmdo, Sweden, and chairman of Kompass,
> an association of groups and municipalities behind the Swedish initiative.
>
> "Today's transportation system is reaching a dead end," said Lindqvist, a
> former member of the European parliament.
>
> Cars have dominated the cityscape for nearly a century, taking up valuable
> space while polluting the air, said Magnus Hunhammar, chief executive
> officer of the Stockholm-based Institute for Sustainable Transportation,
> the world's leading center on podcar technology.
>
> CNN: City hopes to shuttle people in futuristic 'podcars'
> http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/13/podcar.city.ap/index.html
>
> Hey, Seattle, remember when we voted to fund and build a demonstration PRT
> system back in 1996, in the same Sound Move vote that created Sound
> Transit and built Central Link Light Rail?
>
> Such a demonstration system would be small, useful, and dirt-cheap, so why
> hasn't our leadership (including Sound Transit) done doodly-squat about
> that part of the Sound Move vote yet? As an extra added bonus, with so
> much software and engineering talent (and at least four PRT companies
> either based in our area or having significant representation here),
> Seattle could take a leadership role in an emerging market poised to
> skyrocket when the London Heathrow PRT system opens to the public next
> year.
>
> Also note highly favorable PRT articles in the New York Times and Los
> Angeles Times from last month:
>
> The New York Times (via Balanced Transportation for Seattle): Ithaca Takes
> a Hard Look at Pod Cars
>
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/BalancedTransportationforSeattle/message/3\
751
>
> The Los Angeles Times (via Balanced Transportation for Seattle): Seeding
> the future with 'podcars'
>
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/BalancedTransportationforSeattle/message/3\
758
>