[Mpls] Re: Transit modes

[A.J.Colianni]

On Jan 9, 2005, at 3:03 PM, Tim Bonham wrote:

> Also, regarding PRT in Minneapolis.  I think people have been using an 
> unfair example here -- thousands of people leaving Target Center at 
> the same time.  That is obviously a situation for MASS transit, not 
> PERSONALIZED transit.  Or better yet, a mixture of transit modes.  
> Obviously, this does work now -- people attending games there do 
> manage to travel home, without waiting over 4 hours for 
> transportation.
>         Personally, I like the idea of PRT.  Especially if integrated 
> with light rail, buses, etc.  But I'd like to see it tried on a real, 
> working model before we commit large amounts of tax money to building 
> a large PRT system.

I realize my previous message came off as very anti-PRT. That wasn't 
the point. The point is PRT folks seem to be advocating it for every 
possible situation. My point is that we need a system. We don't have a 
system at the moment.

Another previous email went into great detail about freedom and not 
wanting to be herded around like cattle. Fine, but isn't that what we 
have right now with our bumper-to-bumper "freeways". Are we not 
basically forced to use them? We want to freedom to get from point A to 
point B, but if we are forced into one mode of transport, that isn't 
much of a choice. I want freedom from my car, and I think a lot of 
other people do too.

LRT is a proven technology for mass-transit, successfully used across 
the world. I think it is vastly under-utilized in Minneapolis. Hiawatha 
has proven to be a great success... now just think of lines down 35W, 
University, etc. Moving lots of people is our current problem.

I think once we fix our MASS transit problems, we worry about last mile 
solutions. PRT is interesting, but I view it more as a last mile 
solution... complementing/replacing taxis and such. (In other words, 
let's worry about the 20,000 transit riders and who knows how many cars 
up and down 35W every day before we worry about 40 senior citizens who 
don't want to step outside...  ever...)

-A.J. Colianni