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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

I don't know how this will work in an area that really needs public 
transportation.  A freight train in the Az desert was derailed a while back 
with the assistance of a five dollar rod of pig iron........

And, who will pay for the cost, and with what money?

We are about to open a new billion dollar light rail system in phoenix, and I 
have already heard talk that community groups will buy passes for the 
homeless to give them a free place to hang out all day. That kind of idealism 
is laudable.

Unfortunately, You can bet , if that happens, the light rail will be just 
like the bus system.  The people TPTB desire to quit driving so much will 
stay away .   .....bobford

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--- On Wed, 10/15/08, Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com> wrote:

> From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
> Subject: [Homestead] Progressive Ithaca onto pod cars
> To: "Homestead" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 9:12 AM
> ITHACA, N.Y. — 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.
> 
> 
> 
> We trust that our very own Ithaca insider, Moon/Celia/Mrs.
> Morgan will  
> keep us up-to-date on this exciting possibility.
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