I definitely don't recall that.

I think that's what we call ... a LIE.

Will

On Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:22:49 -0700, rdpence03 <rpence@...>
wrote:

> 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
>>
>
>
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