Background

If we can send a man to the moon, we should be able to solve traffic problems in our cities, was said quite frequently and with conviction in the late 1960s. ^[1] The implication was that advanced technology can tackle any task and achieve spectacular results. Various means of propulsion became available; the capabilities of computers were seen as boundless, including the control and management of urban transportation services. This national attitude opened the door for many conceptual and applied explorations of automated transportation systems and sophisticated equipment.

The preoccupation with the perceived potential of gee whiz technology was further encouraged by two factors. One was the desire on the part of the high-tech defense industries to diversify into civilian markets; the second was the inauguration of a federally sponsored research and development program called Tomorrow s Transportation, envisioned as a catalyst to encourage the application of advanced technology to the solving of urban transport problems. The proposals that emerged were less a result of America s industrial giants developing new concepts than of backyard inventors and garage tinkerers doing their traditional innovative work.

Under these encouragements, during the 1960s and 1970s, many automated transportation devices were envisioned, designed, and engineered; some reached the pilot project stage, and a few were placed in service in the 1970s and 1980s. Work continues, but with reduced intensity and more realistic expectations.

These means of urban transportation first carried the name people movers, but since that term was too all-encompassing, the...