Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2005 November
2005 October
2005 September
2005 August
2005 July
2005 June
My Links
PRT Skeptic Web Site
Personal Rapid Transit – Cyberspace Dream Keeps Colliding With Reality
Pulse Article on PRT
Dump Bachmann Blog
Mpl Upside Down
Old PRT Blog
TLC's Resolution on PRT
Pictorial History of Gadgetbahn
Let's Get Real About PRT
New York Press on PRT
Joshua Frank on PRT
Minneapolis Confidential
Lloydletta Nooz
www.publictransit.us
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
|
| "Personal Rapid Transit" Taxi 2000's "Risk Factors" Revealed |
| 06.30.05 (3:34 pm) [edit] |
By popular request, I post an excerpt from the Taxi 2000's Risk Factors Document that acknowledges the Personal Rapid Transit headway problem is a major safety concern that would prevent a nose-to-nose PRT system from operating under current safety regulations. Without the close headways, PRT cannot match the capacity of LRT and BRT.
--------------------
Federal and State safety regulation of automated transit systems can make PRT systems unworkable.
Since there are no examples of our technology currently in operation, we cannot predict what sort of state or federal government safety regulation might apply. At this juncture, the Federal Transit Administration - which would exercise whatever regulation might apply at this level - has left the matter up to the states. Management believes the states will look foremost to the work of a committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which has developed a set of safety standards for "Automated People Movers" (APM's). We have been following that work and think at this point it will pose only one problem: eg., "brick wall stopping" requirements for the control system (borrowed from railroad signaling practice). The requirement is that if one vehicle stops instantaneously, the next vehicle must be able to stop before hitting the stopped one. That requirement would inhibit the sort of minimum vehicle headway used in our design, but it would not affect operation of the first, lower density systems. In the context of PRT, "headway" means the nose-to- nose time spacing between two sequential vehicles. Setting a minimum allowable headway determines the maximum carrying capacity of the guideway. We will work to have the headway requirement amended, since we believe it is inappropriate to PRT technology, but there is no guarantee we will be successful in that regard.
--------------------
There's more at: http://www.roadkillbill.com/P...
Learn more about "Personal Rapid Transit" at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: Not Nice. |
| 06.28.05 (10:36 pm) [edit] |
Some recent comments to this blog:
"The rebuttal PDF proves your presious Oki study is full of cr@p, as if you wrote it."
"A loon you are. A clue you must get. Prozac you should take."
"In other words, you're a liar."
"Obviously you are bought and paid for by the auto-lobby."
"I bet you Kenny-boy can't post it, because he made it up."
With nice people like this promoting PRT, it's no wonder it's gone nowhere for thirty years.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: What You See Isn't What You'll Get. |
| 06.28.05 (7:24 am) [edit] |
A monorail booster in Seattle is disapointed that the slender, futuristic guideway design that was used to sell the project will not be used when they build Seattle's monorail. Instead, massive and ugly concrete guideways will be used. See the pictures here http://seattletimes.nwsource....
Monorail is not PRT. But, PRT advocates have used similar pictures of slender, sleek guideways. The problem with PRT's slender guideways is they cannot support fully loaded pods, head-to-head, particularly on curves. The Ratheon PRT project and the Morgantown PRT project had to use massive, ugly supporting structures.
Engineers for the2001 OKI study concluded that the slender guideways Taxi 2000 shows in their pictures would "deflect " by as much as 3 feet.
If PRT was anything serious, they would do real computer simulations that tested the strength of the guideways under peak load conditions... but PRT advocates are more interested in bashing real transit than building anything.
Don't fall for the PRT hype.
If you're looking for a sleek, modern, "innovative" transit system that doesn't block out the sky, ride the new Minneapolis Hiawatha LRT.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: Anti-Transit from the Start. |
| 06.27.05 (7:28 pm) [edit] |
One PRT blogger's complaint:
"Let's all stop bashing each other's favorite form of transportation. It's an apples and oranges arguement, and it doesn't get anyone anywhere." http://aaronsroad.blogspot.co...
Just to set the record straight, look up PRT web sites in the internet archive called the Wayback Machine http://www.waybackmachine.org... . What you'll find is right from the start, PRT sites bashed rail transit... and still do.
Here's an example. From the first page of "Get There Fast", April 24th 2003 :
"Traffic Congestion Is The Problem. Trains and Buses Aren't The Solution."
Compare how similar PRT anti-transit rhetoric is to this more traditional, right-wing, libertarian pro-highway, anti-rail screed:
"Light rail has already infected the Twin Cities, but find out how you can help other areas fight this disease" http://lloydletta.blogspot.co...
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Persoanl Rapid Transit: Taxi 2000 and SEH's Lobbyists |
| 06.27.05 (6:42 pm) [edit] |
What does the Taxi 2000 Corporation and SEH (the engineers for the The Excess Project) have in common?
========================= ===========
http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/lobby/adetail/a5166.html" title="http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/lobby/adetail/a5166.html" target="_blank"http://www.cfboard.state.mn.u...
Taxi 2000 Corporation
Identification Number: 5166
This report includes filings through 7:58 am, Jun. 20, 2005.
8050 University Ave
Fridley, MN 55421-1338
Lobbyists Registered Registration
Number Registration
Date Termination
Date
Edwin E Cain 9152 4/14/2004
Christine L White 344 3/14/2005
Return To Association Index
========================= ====================
http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/lobby/lbdetail/lb344.html" title="http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/lobby/lbdetail/lb344.html" target="_blank"http://www.cfboard.state.mn.u...
White, Christine, L
Registration Number: 344
This report includes filings through 7:58 am, Jun. 20, 2005,
1943 Sicard Ln
Somerset, WI 54025
Telephone: (715)247-5331
Association Represented Identificatio n
Number Registration
Date Termination
Date
Middle St Croix Watershed Organization 5105 3/14/20 05
Stillwater, City of 3775 3/14/2005
Taxi 2000 Corporation 5166 3/14/200 5
Return To Lobbyist Index
========================= =======
http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/lobby/lbdetail/lb9152.html" title="http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/lobby/lbdetail/lb9152.html" target="_blank"http://www.cfboard.state.mn.u...
Cain, Edwin, E
Registration Number: 9152
This report includes filings through 7:58 am, Jun. 20, 2005,
PO Box 2131
707 Lake Dr
Stillwater, MN 55082
Telephone: (651)439-7681
Association Represented Identificatio n
Number Registration
Date Termination
Date
Middle St Croix Watershed Organization 5105 7/6/200 0
Short, Elliot, Hendrickson 5080 2/13/200 1
Stillwater, City of 3775 Pre-1996
Taxi 2000 Corporation 5166 4/14/200 4
========================= =========
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit For Microsoft? You Prove it!!! |
| 06.23.05 (2:02 pm) [edit] |
I like this comment from the previous post:
------------------------- -----
PRT punk [outside user] Tuesday 06.21.05 [9:41 am]
What do you care? You don't even live in Redmond. And since this is a private campus, no public money would be used. I thought what upset you is that public money would fund what you see as "bogus".
Wouldn't this be the perfect situation for your position? A private corporation gets to be the guinea-pig for the public, forever proving PRT's bogushood went it inevitiably flops. And judging from your left-wing politics, won't it be great that nasty ol' monopolist Microsoft gets "flim-flamed" itself for a change?
No, I think what you're really afraid of is that it will succeed. For whatever reason you seem to want LRT everwhere with no alternative and PRT is therefore a threat precisely because it will be so effective.
------------------------- -----
I really doubt that this "project "will get more than a glance from Bill Gates. Like the rumored PRT project in Dubai, this stuff is meant to impress the suckers - investors and politicians. A savvy investor would ask to see the Taxi 2000 "Risk Factors" document filed with the State of MInnesota. The Risk Factors document clearly states that the headway problem is a problem that no technology can fix...instead Taxi 2000 suggests lobbying for a change in ASCE guidelines for automated transit... fat chance. No professional engineer is going to sign off on a change on safe stopping distances that will kill or injure passengers.
Like the Dubai rumor, I am waiting for some proof that Microsoft is really serious about this proposal.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit... and Microsoft? |
| 06.20.05 (11:08 am) [edit] |
Here's more PRT cyber-flim-flammery http://gettherefast.org/bette... . All the usual boasting about their non-existing system...the flashy animation.
Like Bill Gates is going to invest $150 million in a monorail to get his employees across the corporate campus when he could buy a shuttle bus or buy his employees a bunch of golf carts and bikes.
I didn't see anything about the company (TAxi 2000?) that's supposed to build this system for Microsoft.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: |
| 06.18.05 (7:24 pm) [edit] |
Pleasanton to analyze 'personal rapid transit'
CONTRA COSTA TIMEShttp://www.contracostatimes.c...
"It's kind of like a shuttle bus on steroids, from the BART station to the offices," said Raney, executive director of Cities21, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit group working to improve commutes."
Steroids? The PRT model I saw at the State Fair two years ago crawled along its short track like it was on Qualludes.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: A Modern Cargo Cult? |
| 06.18.05 (7:05 am) [edit] |
In previous posts I have mentioned that PRT proponents do not like to admit that others have found fault in their "system" or that PRT is flawed in any way. For PRT proponents, PRT is perfect and critics are all scoundrels with "agendas". This is a trait that Richard Feymann referred to in his essay “Cargo Cult Science”. This is how Feynman describes how science research should be done:
" If you've made up your mind to test a theory, or you want to explain some idea, you should always decide to publish it whichever way it comes out. If we only publish results of a certain kind, we can make the argument look good. We must publish BOTH kinds of results."
"In summary, the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another."
This is why I say PRT is a modern Cargo Cult:
"Cargo cults sprang up in many Pacific Ocean Islands during World War 2 in response to the invasion by more technically advanced Japanese and American troops. The islanders who had never seen an airplane before began to build their own airstrips in the hope the "big birds from heaven" would come to them and deliver the cargo they were convinced was being sent to them by their ancestors. Thousands of these cargo cults sprang up independent of each other all over Micronesia and New Guinea.
"It’s not surprising that all this PRT gadgetbanen activity comes at a time when Americans are once again being confronted as they were in 1973 with the realization that the oil their economy depends on is a finite and rapidly vanishing resource. We are trapped in bloody conflicts for oil in Asia, Africa, and South America. Scientists are warning us that our increasing fossil fuel use contributes to catastrophic climate change. Oil and gasoline prices are climbing again. In Washington and state capitols smaller transportation budgets pit the supporters of transit against highway construction and automobile lobbyists. Along with aging baby boomers nostalgic for the care-free, top-down, car-hopping, hot-rodding, post-WWII glory days of the cheap petroleum era, Generation X’ers holding together a shattered dream of better living through cyber-connectivity have been drawn to the futuristic allure of the PRT pod. Other PRT supporters, the conscientious and environmentally-minded, feel terribly guilty about the cars they are forced to drive because of suburban sprawl or lack of adequate transit. For these people the knowledge that their driving a car contributes to global climate change is very disturbing. The current war for oil in Iraq and oil combined with reports that oil may run out mid-century adds to their unbearable guilt. For them, PRT’s claim to be a “green technology” holds an almost messianic promise of miraculous deliverance from a depressing, guilt-ridden existence.
"This strange group of hucksters and true believers march through state capitols and city halls shoving their petitions and brochures at lawmakers, in the process, they spread misinformation and confusion about real alternatives to automobiles and highways. They hallucinate back and forth on Yahoo and other e-mail forums. Like other fanatical, faith-based groups such as right to lifers and creationists, they have an indefatigable desire for confrontation and debate. They call up radio talk shows and write letters and e-mails. For transit activists, having to combat the disinformation campaign of the PRT fanatics is exhausting...."
Read more of this essay here: http://www.roadkillbill.com/P...
More about Cargo Cult Science:
“Cargo Cult Science” by Richard Feynman: http://www.physics.brocku.ca/...
“Cargo Cult Science-Revisited” by T. M. Georges: http://tgeorges.home.comcast....
|
|
|
| |
| Correction: One Personal Rapid Transit site mentions the Taxi 2000 Trial (barely) |
| 06.18.05 (5:14 am) [edit] |
A comment From "David Gow, aka GTF, PRT Liberal":
Your implication is that PRT sites are somehow hiding or ignoring bad news, a kind of Bad News Blackout.
Ken-- may I call you Ken? Ken, I know you visit my site http://www.kinetic.seattle.wa.us/prt.html" title="http://www.kinetic.seattle.wa.us/prt.html" target="_blank"http://www.kinetic.seattle.wa... ("The world's best general-knowledge PRT website") several times per week, so unless you've been doing it with your eyes closed, you know that MY news page has all the links about the Taxi 2000 shakeup and the company's suit agains Ed Anderson.
In addition, the site of a PRT group with which I'm involved, http://gettherefast.org ("the most attractive transit website in the universe") also lists these articles on it's News page.
Best wishes in all your future endeavors.
My Reply to David Gow:
For once you are right, Mr. Gow!
Are you the only PRT website that's mentioned the lawsuit? Did I miss any others?
How about a follow up on the trial? Aren't you interested in the affidavits that were filed after the Pioneer Press article you linked to (but did not discuss)? You'd think that the PRTers would be all yakking away about this trial... Taxi 2000 is suing Ed Anderson... PRT's best chance since Raytheon going up in smoke in Hennepin District Court!
Incidentally, what's the deal with your Google News Search? Why does it exclude the LRN website and my website?
This is a Google search for "Personal Rapid Transit" using Gow's code from his "PRT Kinetic" web site.
An untampered Google search for "Personal Rapid Transit" (notice that Light Rail Now and PRT Is A Joke are on the first page.)
David Gow, aka GTF, PRT Liberal:
Reply to: PRTskeptic
Oh... Ken... I think I've been right a lot more than once.
I link the lawsuit, gettherefast.org links the lawsuit, both are high-traffic sites in the PRT community. Other sites link to the news about Anderson's departure (by linking to me and GTF, they link indirectly to the lawsuit links). If they don't link specifically to the lawsuit news, I don't know why, you'd have to ask them.
It's probably because there isn't much definitive we can say about it yet. Even people who are close to the company and Anderson honestly say they don't know much.
I haven't written anything about it because I haven't seen the filings in their entirety, and I'm not about to start making stuff up.
But if you've posted the worst excerpts from the filings, and I'm sure that was your intention, I see no indications of the fraud or shady dealings you allege.
It sounds like a serious disagreement, between incompatible personalities, over the strategic direction for company. Anderson may be trying to use his political connections to the company's detriment, which is his right-- and means he must be really pissed off.
As for the criteria of my Google News search, I have an editorial policy against linking visitors to information that is known to be false.
Best wishes in all your future endeavors.
PRTskeptic:
Reply to: David
[David Gow] "Anderson may be trying to use his political connections to the company's detriment, which is his right-- and means he must be really pissed off."
[Avidor] Ed Anderson "pissed off"? That's really interesting... you should explain what you mean by this on your web site.
If Microsoft sued Bill Gates, I'm sure every computer geek would be discussing every aspect of the case.
The fact that there's so little or nothing about the Taxi 2000 vs J. Edward Anderson trial on PRT proponents' web sites including yours is an indication that PRT proponents can't handle adverse publicity. I will have something to say about this in a future blog.
[ David Gow]"As for the criteria of my Google News search, I have an editorial policy against linking visitors to information that is known to be false."
[Avidor] You should have a disclaimer saying so on your Google search button.
So this exception proves the rule, PRTers don't like bad news or contrary information on their web sites and they don't like to link to web sites that do have bad or contrary news. The PRTers (including Mr. Gow) don't even want to spell my name for fear that someone will do a Google search on me and my PRT skeptic web site."
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: New Bush Strategy for Global Warming? |
| 06.18.05 (1:24 am) [edit] |
From :
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Cities21 and Hacienda Business Park a grant to study a new concept to reduce driving, provide alternative transportation to workers and the community, and reclaim parking areas for more productive use in Pleasanton, CA.
Cities21 will explore a “Personal Rapid Transit” shuttle system that would complement and significantly increase BART ridership, carpool, vanpool, bicycle, and bus commutes for the business park's 19,500 people. The elevated monorail system -- with many three-person, driverless, electric vehicles --travels non-stop at 30 mph over the commute's last mile.
The plan has the potential to reduce 16,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year for Pleasanton, potentially at zero taxpayer cost. If all 42 California suburban employment centers with 20,000 or more employees used the same system, carbon dioxide reductions could reach 1million tons per year."
This study of a bogus transportation system with a thirty-year record of failure, whose would-be vendor is suing its founder and former CEO in Hennepin District Court is a clear signal that the Bush administration plans to do nothing about global warming
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: How Many Chances Do these Guys Get? |
| 06.17.05 (5:42 pm) [edit] |
It seems that every time somebody mentions LRT or BRT in a meeting, some gadgetbahning busybody gets wind of it and J. Edward Anderson, Dean Zimmermann and the Pod People from the CPRT swarm into the room demanding equal time for their PowerPoint-dog-and-pony-s how.
For example, the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis was considering having a trolley line run alongside the existing bike and pedestrian way. The Pod people got two meetings to convince the Greenway Committee to try Zimmermann's $600 million PRT plan instead.
Of course the PRT flim-flammers didn't have a viable system to sell. What they had was the $24 million test track to sell. The two meetings were a big waste of time. Here's an example of how pathetic Ed Anderson can be when questioned:
Mr. Springer: Is there an evacuation plan?
Mr. Ed Anderson: Yes. With cherrypickers, ropes, etc.
Needless to say, the Greenway committee decided to go with trolleys... trolleys don't require cherry pickers and ropes to exacuate passengers in an emergency.
If you want to read the full account of the silly Taxi 2000 PRT dog-and-pony-show at the Greenway, go here.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| After "Personal Rapid Transit"? More Gadgetbahn |
| 06.16.05 (5:53 pm) [edit] |
PRT is "gadgetbahn", but not all gadgetbahn is PRT.
Gadgetbahn or "advanced transit" as it's followers call it are wacky transportation concepts that are supposed to be "faster, cheaper, better" than conventional transit.
Long ago, the automobile and highway industry discovered that PRT and other gadgetbahn concepts could be used to block funding of rail transit. Gadgetbahn is weird, but it works like a charm.
In Detroit, Michigan where all attempts to establish a light-rail transportation system have been unsuccessful, gadget transportation media hype has been used to convince people that trains and buses are "too old fashioned".
Articles like this one are used to convince the public that they should wait for PRT, flying cars or the Interstate Traveler instead of investing in a light rail system.
In the meantime the highway construction industry goes forward with their plans to build new and expand existing highways.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Michele Bachmann and Personal Rapid Transit |
| 06.16.05 (5:01 pm) [edit] |
The nice folks at the Dump Bachman Blog posted a letter I wrote about Senator Bachmann and her PRT obsession.
Read it here.
Just about every PRT fan I've met claims to be a left-winger. It's ironic that the most prominent promoters of PRT in the Minnesota State Legislature are Michele Bachmann and Mark Olson who are both on the extreme right-wing of the Republican Party.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit: No News is Good News |
| 06.15.05 (2:54 am) [edit] |
A Google search of "personal rapid transit" will turn up a bunch of websites for "advanced transit" companies and "citizens for PRT" organizations linked to one another and to news stories about PRT projects across the globe.
Do these web sites represent a growing PRT industry and a citizen's grassroots movement to put PRT guideways on every street?
Take a closer look... most of these sites represent moribund or dead PRT projects such as Skyloop which Cincinnatti rejected in 2001. Click on the "news" link on these websites for the latest PRT news. Anything about the Taxi 2000 vs J. Edward Anderson lawsuit?
Skyweb/Taxi 2000:
Latest news - October 29, 2004 Morrie Anderson Hired as New CEO of Taxi 2000 Corp. - Press Release, Taxi 2000 Corporation.
The Austin Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit:
5 Mar 05 - "Changes and Progress at Skyweb Express (Duluth News Tribune)"
The Skyloop:
September 26, 2000 - "OKI rejects 'sky loop' elevated rail system": an article in The Cincinnati Post about the September 25, 2001, final CALSC meeting and vote on technology alternatives.
Skytran:
This is 2005,not 1805! People are still being conned into voting yes to be taxed to have archaic, hideously poor performing light rail systems built.
Tucsonans for Personal Rapid Transit:
12/23/04 - I am getting settled into my new house. The problem is that my new house is not in Tucson. It is not even in Arizona. My family and I have moved to Minnesota. I am from MN, so this is going back home for me.
:
Cities21 in Palo Alto seeks a light electric shuttle to connect various companies within the Stanford Research Park with the California Avenue CalTrain station... SkyWeb Express is moving rapidly toward a PRT system in the U.S.
Citizens for Personal Rapid Transit:
May 3, 2004 - News Roundup - PRT covered in many local media outlets
PRT has been all over the news lately, with several front-page stories. Unfortunately, many of these stories lack balance, and contain easily refuted criticisms of PRT, but the good news is that PRT is being taken seriously as a transportation option.
June 7, 2005 Annual Meeting: New Powerpoint presentation
June 7, 2005 Annual Meeting: Election Update
Here's an exception; ULTra in Cardiff, Wales has some happy news from April 2005:
£1M INVESTMENT
Advanced Transport Systems has completed a round of investment which has raised a total of just under £1M. This investment is being used to provide an expansion of critical technical areas in advance of new contracts. Jeremy Le Sueur of Church House Investments, the lead investor, said "We are delighted to be long term partners in this exciting new transport technology". Alan Bristow of ICON, the corporate finance advisers to ATS, said "ATS have a world class product and this investment will considerably enhance the company's progress. I have no doubt ATS will become the leading company in the PRT sector".
(ULTra is perhaps the most bogus of all PRT "systems" since ULTra's pods run on batteries.)
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Profiles in Personal Rapid Transit: David Morris |
| 06.14.05 (6:29 pm) [edit] |
"David Morris supports PRT?"
Sadly, the very eloquent and liberal David Morris is a PRT gadgetbahner. Morris has written an op ed in the Star Tribune promoting PRT and serves as an advisor for Taxi 2000. Why David Morris, the vice president and director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance would risk his organization's reputation by supporting a bogus, stalking horse for the highway industry like Taxi 2000 and the CPRT is beyond my understanding.
I have read that David Morris was a close friend of the late CEO of Taxi 2000, Shef Lang who was also a virulent opponent of rail transit.
David Morris and the ILSR are very influential among many "progressives". This accounts for the confusion among some DFL legislators who think PRT is "sustainable" and "environmental".
With the huge success of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line and Taxi 2000's legal troubles, perhaps David Morris will see the light and cease his anti-transit gadgetbahning.
David Morris on PRT: (click here)
|
|
|
| |
| Profiles in Personal Rapid Transit: Dean Zimmermann |
| 06.14.05 (5:50 pm) [edit] |
On the left-wing of the PRT cabal is Mineapolis Councilman Dean Zimmermann (Green Party). Dean is an avid PRT gadgetbahner. He has given numerous Taxi 2000 PowerPoint presentations to just about any group willing to suffer through it. Dean has even teamed up with right-wing Republican Mark Olson at the Capitol and Minneapolis City Hall to say wonderful things about the Taxi 2000 Corporation and spread nasty disinformation about buses and trains such as "People don't like to ride with strangers".
Zimmermann has helped spread the PRT-gadgetbahn gospel throughout the Green Party. Ralph Nader and David Cobb have been prompted by Zimmermann and his fellow Green-gadgetbahners to say nice things about PRT when they visit the Twin Cities.
Zimmermann has even proposed his own $600 million, 64 station PRT plan for South Minneapolis which is on view at the CPRT website.
Some people suspect that Zimmermann's real purpose in supporting PRT is to avoid having to oppose the 35W Access Project which runs through Ward 6. By proposing a "PRT-pie-in-the-sky-by-an d-by" solution, he doesn't have to confront the very powerful corporate and government coalition that wants to expand 35W and widen Lake Street.
It may be a coincidence, but according to court records in the Taxi 2000 lawsuit, SEH, the engineers for the 35W Access Project gave a lot of cash to Taxi 2000... hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Zimmermann is running against Robert Lilligren for the 6th Ward council seat. Lilligren has been a staunch foe of the 35W Access Project and an advocate for proven, conventional transit alternatives to highway expansion. This blog will keep a close watch on the race.
Learn more about Dean Zimmermann:
Dean Zimmermann's Sorry Record (click here)
Dean Zimmermann testifies at the Capitol for PRT (click here)
Pictures of Dean and Mark Olson promoting PRT at Minneapolis City Hall (click here)
|
|
|
| |
| Profiles in Personal Rapid Transit: Mark Olson |
| 06.14.05 (4:32 pm) [edit] |
Representative Mark Olson is Minnesota's leading Republican, pro-highway, pro-PRT gadgetbahner. He's so proud of his association with the moribund Taxi 2000/Skyweb Express Corporation he's linked his website to the troubled PRT company.
He has authored PRT bills in 2004 and 2005 that would give Taxi 2000 tax breaks and authorize subsidies. These are the 2005 bills:
HF1174 (Olson) Personal rapid transit local bonding authorized.
HF1173 (Olson) Public personal rapid transit systems exempted from certain taxes.
HF 1641 (Olson) Personal rapid transit local bonding authorized.
HF1366 (Olson) Minnesota Regulated Public Transit Utilities Act adopted providing for regulation of transit services, and requiring legislative reports.
That last one is really odious because it authorizes a new regulatory agency for "subsidized transit". Since gadgetbahners like Mark Olson claim PRT is not subsidized (although they request subsidies for PRT), PRT would not be subject to regulation. HF1366 seems to create special areas where PRT companies could exclude conventional transit such as buses and trains. If this bill were enacted, it could prevent transit initiatives such as the proposed BRT line on 35W or the planned LRT line between the Twin Cities.
I sincerely doubt that Mark Olson has any illusions about a successful PRT system ever being built. For Mark Olson, PRT is just a convenient propaganda tool to bash rail transit. When his constituents in Big Lake discover the convenience of taking the Northstar Commuter Line to the Twin Cities, they'll vote Mark "Gadgetbahner" Olson out of office.
More about Mark Olson:
Pictures of Mark Olson giving a Taxi 2000 PowerPoint presentation with Minneapolis Councilman Dean Zimmermann (click here)
Olson is a sponsor of the Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment (click here)
Mark Olson Web Site (click here)
|
|
|
| |
| Profiles in PRT– Michele Bachmann |
| 06.14.05 (11:52 am) [edit] |
Profiles in PRT– Michele Bachmann
Minnesota State Senator Michele Bachmann belongs to the Republican right-wing of the PRT cabal with Rep. Mark Olson, Senator Gen Olson and others.
Bachmann has authored PRT legislation in 2004 and 2005. PRT has a 30-year record of failure and controversy. Although it calls itself "transit", PRT is not supported by traditional transit groups such as Transit for Livable Communities and the Sierra Club Northstar (both organizations have resolutions opposing public funding of PRT projects).
I have looked at the court records in the Taxi 2000 Corporation vs J. Edward Anderson lawsuit in Hennepin District Court and there is plenty there to show that the Taxi 2000 Corporation was a very snarky operation... Minnesota's mini-Enron.
There's a sample of the exhibits in the case here:
Like Enron, the Taxi 2000 story is very complicated, so I've been encouraging the media to assign reporters to investigate PRT and sort out fact from fiction.
People need to ask why Bachmann is authoring and supporting legislation that would benefit a corporation (with tax exemptions and subsidies) that is in deep trouble (suing its founder and former CEO). People should also ask why Bachmann who has made many statements opposing state funding for transit would bother supporting a controversial and untested "transit system" for cities outside her district.
Please write to the editors of the Star Tribune and other Minnesota newspapers and Minnesota business publications and ask for an investigative article into what's going on with the Taxi 2000 Corporation and why Michele Bachmann continues to support PRT.
Read More About Senator Michele Bachmann!
The Dump Bachmann Blog.
City Pages Article about Bachmann.
More on Bachmann and PRT
"Bachmann Morality Minutes" on The Wendy Wilde Show
|
|
|
| |
| Is "Personal Rapid Transit" Really Transit? |
| 06.14.05 (11:14 am) [edit] |
From the Transit for Livable Communities Website:
Interest in PRT has increased following its display at the 2003 State Fair and proposals to build systems in Duluth and Minneapolis. During the 2004 Legislative session, State Rep. Mark Olson (R) of Big Lake sponsored a bill to provide $10 million in state general obligation bonding to help construct a test track facility, and a variety of bills were filed to permit local bonding and exempt construction from sales taxes. TLC is studying the idea of PRT, but because the proposed technology has never been built anywhere in the world, there is no real engineering data to create reliable estimates of costs and benefits. Due to these concerns and the scarcity of public funding for established transit, the TLC board passed a resolution in April opposing state funding for PRT at this time. View the resolution (PDF file) here.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| More Bad News for Personal Rapid Transit |
| 06.14.05 (10:53 am) [edit] |
If a complex, automated transport system won't work for your suitcase, why would you trust it with your family?
United Airlines Will Abandon Troubled Automated Baggage System in Denver- Associated Press, June 7th 2005
"The automated system was an underground, computer-driven railroad network for moving baggage. But bags were misdelivered, luggage was chewed up and cars derailed and jammed tracks. The system was responsible for repeated delays in the opening of DIA, which began operating in 1995"
"It has never worked exactly how it was intended to do," Green said. "
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Personal Rapid Transit, After Taxi 2000 |
| 06.14.05 (10:50 am) [edit] |
All signs point to Taxi 2000 giving up its ghost soon.
PRT will likely go on and on. There are a lot of foolish investors who can be bamboozled by flashy pod-art on a well-designed web page.
Here's a new clone of Taxi 2000. All the usual bogus claims and the picture of a grinning family crammed into a silly PRT pod.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Peersonal Rapid Transit - Debate!!! |
| 06.13.05 (5:42 pm) [edit] |
A letter in this week's
America needs to prepare for post-oil future
Very good interview with [James Howard] Kunstler. You asked all the right questions.
Unfortunately the mainstream media and local policy makers here in the Twin Cities seem hell-bent on hitting the Peak Oil brick wall at warp speed. Read about MnDOT’s plans for highway expansion in yesterday’s [May 25] Strib and in the Skyway News. The Strib has an editorial today endorsing MnDot’s expansion plans.
The only city politician who is talking about Peak Oil is [Dean] Zimmermann. Unfortunately, he says PRT is the answer. Since PRT is totally bogus—see Troy Pieper’s Pulse article [April 28,2004]—this can only give the public a bad impression of the Peak Oil theory. I’ve offered to debate PRT with Zimmermann … maybe Pulse can offer to sponsor that debate.
Ken Avidor
Minneapolis
|
|
|
| |
| The Taxi 2000 Corporation, PRT- What's the Real Deal? |
| 06.13.05 (5:18 pm) [edit] |
Don''t be fooled. Taxi 2000 doesn''t have a workable, full-scale system to sell. They are selling
From the Skyweb site:
Funding: This phase will be funded at approximately $15 million for the design, engineering and construction phase. Sales, marketing, administrative and contingency expenses of up to $9 million are planned. In total, this phase has a $24 million budget and a 30-month duration.
But, they haven''t said who will certify PRT. At a recent hearing on HF 1174, MnDOT said it can''t certify PRT. Even if it were to get some kind of blessing from the state, no large scale system is likely to get built without federal funding.
Taxi 2000 wants to spend $9 million of the $24 million of taxpayers'' money on sales and marketing even before it gets "certified". What they will "market" will be more websites with flashy computer graphics and more brochures with anti-transit propaganda saying stuff like "People don''t like to ride with strangers". The only "sales" will be of worthless shares in a bogus company to foolish investors.
Most likely this facility will end up like the Raytheon project....rusting away somewhere. But, they will move on to another city and propose another test facility and all the while spreading their gospel of futuristic-pie-in-the-sky -pod-transport while highway mega-projects and suburban sprawl continues.
If you want to know the real deal on PRT, read the Risk Factors document that the Taxi 2000 Corporation filed with the State of Minnesota.
It says one of the risk factors is the headway problem (which cannot be solved by any sort of advanced technology). It instead suggests that Taxi 2000 would ask to have the guidlines for headways changed to allow pods to stop on a dime and subject passengers to gut-wrenching g-forces. I don''t think too many professional engineers are going to sign off on that.
So while the budgets of Metro Transit, Minneapolis libraries and schools continue to be cut, every taxpayer should be furious about this useless waste of time and money called PRT.
Taxi 2000 Corporation and the PRT proponents are asking for $24 million and a whole lot more:
The PRT bills in the current session of the Minnesota House are:
HF1174 (Olson) Personal rapid transit local bonding authorized.
HF1173 (Olson) Public personal rapid transit systems exempted from certain taxes.
HF 1641 (Olson) Personal rapid transit local bonding authorized.
HF1366 (Olson Minnesota Regulated Public Transit Utilities Act adopted providing for regulation of transit services, and requiring legislative reports. ( this nasty bill proposes a new regulatory agency that will regulate "subsidized" transit and create exclusive zones for PRT)
There are similar PRT bills in the Senate, one senate bill is authored by the notorious Senator Michele Bachmann.
If you live in Minnesoata, please call and write your legislators and tell them to vote no on all PRT bills.
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| The Pod People Fear K*n Av*d*r |
| 06.13.05 (5:17 pm) [edit] |
The PRT proponents dare not spell my name or link to my site lest the Googlebot ups the rank of my website... like at this PRT proponent''s web site. For example:
"For other critics of PRT, fighting innovative transit technology is a holy war. For example, one Minnesota anti-PRT activist has created a website filled with distortions, innuendo, conspiracy theory, and manipulated images, all crafted to make PRT look like an unworkable, crackpot idea." (Click on "See How They Distort")
Recently one blog-roving PRT proponent - "PRT-Liberal" was invited to participate in a PRT podcast debate with me... Mr PRT Liberal decliined the invitation.
I have the facts, I know my stuff. That is why no prominent PRT proponent will debate me. Not Representative Mark Olson who scratched his bill HF1174 from committee agendas twice to avoid giving me a hearing, not Mark Olson''s PRT partner Minneapolis Councilman Dean Zimmermann who has not replied to my challenge to debate his PRT plan for Minneapolis.
Learn more about why PRT really is "an unworkable, crackpot idea." at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
| Letter to SWJ: Investigate Personal Rapid Transit |
| 06.13.05 (5:15 pm) [edit] |
Learn more about PRT at the PRT is a Joke web site.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
