Ed KyleSome people movers connect to rapid transit systems, allowing users to reach "downtown" via. a connection. At Newark airport, you can ride an actual monorail to reach a rail connection, for example. . . .
At PHL (Philadelphia) the peole mover to/ from the airport facilities and the SEPTA trains at the airport are those 2 things at the bottom of your legs . . .
- PDN.
That Morgantown System was built when People Movers were a vision of George Jetson and the Jimmy Carter Oil Embargo
Morgantown West Virginia has a "Personal Rapid Transit". Back in the '70's I went to Pittsburgh and rode the Westinghouse test unit in the Park. On a later trip to Washington DC, I went through Morgantown and rode this system. It wasn't built by Westinghouse however.
Not too impressive, with only five stations and 70 "vehicles.
You can read about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgantown_Personal_Rapid_Transit
I suspect as I have heard this before is that Airport $$$$$ comes from a diffrent pot then Rail $$$$$ and that highway money comes from a diffrenrt pot then Highway $$$$ and none of the 3 shall mix. Airport monorails comes from FAA and cant be used for transit outside the airport
Some people movers connect to rapid transit systems, allowing users to reach "downtown" via. a connection. At Newark airport, you can ride an actual monorail to reach a rail connection, for example.
People movers (I'm thinking about the automated, elevated, rubber wheel type) typically cost a lot per mile to build, probably have high operating and maintenance costs, aren't high speed, and aren't typically designed to handle big crowds of mass commuters. The reason you don't see them much outside airports is probably simply due to the fact that there are cheaper, better mass transit alternatives.
- Ed Kyle
The People mover concept was started as the Skybus in Pittsburgh which would have been a 200 mile system that was used as the escuse by PAT to dismantle most of the streetcar system since Skybus was going to be next big thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpS5ess9VNc In the 1970s USDOT had a competition for a Fed Funded People mover Cleveland,Detroit and Miami applied and Detroit and Miami won the contract. Detroit people mover was under used as its downtown went into swift decay in the 1980s the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBl5YxHR89w. Jacksonville goes from one end of the river to the other but Jacksonville is the Pittsburgh Armpit of Florida and no one was on it when I was there. There are a few in Vegas for the hotels there. But as far as a actaul people mover that moves people in a downtown or a distance over 2 miles I cant think of one. Every Airport seems to have one but actauly extending the people mover as part of a larger system to get people to the airport from downtown is unthinkable.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.