By Ken Avidor
Rising oil and gasoline prices and the collapse of the 35W bridge have made Transportation a very important issue for the next legislative session and for the 2008 election. Northstar commuter line and the Central Corridor LRT line will likely be competing with highway projects for scarce public dollars as lesser-known transit projects such as the Southwest LRT Line get into the queue.
The exhibit on transit at the Minnesota Historical Society's History Center in Saint Paul is a musty time capsule of the debate on transit from the years leading up to the completion of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line in 2004. Much of the information in the exhibit, particularly statements in the videos about Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is either wrong or misleading.
In the years leading up to when the exhibit was installed, there was some debate whether LRT was going to be successful in the Twin Cities. That debate for the most part has been settled and LRT has wide support among public officials and citizens.
The portion of exhibit about Personal Rapid Transit is even more out of date and misleading. For over 30 years PRT seemed to have support in Minnesota from members of anti-transit, pro-highway groups. PRT had no support from traditional transit groups such as Transit for Livable Communities and the Sierra Club North Star, both of which have resolutions opposing the public funding of PRT.
Perhaps the high point for PRT promoters at the Capitol was the 2004 session when a PRT bonding bill for $4 million was passed by the House only to be extinguished in a conference committee. Things went quickly downhill after that.
Late in 2004, PRT "visionary" Professor J. Edward Anderson was prevented from regaining control of the Taxi 2000 Corporation from Morrie Anderson who was also the chair of the Citizen's League's Transportation Committee at that time. The Citizens League is a Minnesota organization that has traditionaly been opposed to rail transit.
A previous CEO of Taxi 2000, Sheffer Lang 1927-2003) was a strong opponent of rail transit at the Citizens League. Lang was known for fierce attacks on transit such as this statement: "The highway sets the standard. ... Behind every single one of these [rail] initiatives is a bunch of people who are convinced... that the automobile is the curse of modern civilization”. It is very likely that the strident Citizen League comment about LRT featured in the exhibit is from Lang.
Oddly, the one quote in the Skyweb Expres exhibit attributed to Sheffer Lang describes Lang as an "engineer" and does not mention that Lang was a professor of transportation at MIT and the prominent and influential role he played in public policy on transportation in Minnesota.
In 2005, the Taxi 2000 Corporation filed a lawsuit and restraining order against J. Edward Anderson and two associates. J. Edward Anderson is still trying to find a city willing to fund a testing facility for his new PRT company PRT International LLC. A recent report in the Springfield News-Leader says Anderson Anderson is trying to bring PRT to the Ozarks
Also in 2005, One of PRT's most energetic promoters, Minneapolis Councilman Dean Zimmermann, was investigated and charged by the U.S. Attorney's office with extorting bribes from a developer. Zimmermann subsequently lost his seat on the council to Robert Lilligren, a supporter of conventional transit. Zimmermann was eventually convicted and is serving his sentence in a Federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado.
Without Zimmermann, the remaining promoters of PRT in the Minnesota legislature are mostly Republicans opposed to rail transit. PRT has lost its support among liberal and moderate Minnesota politicians. An attempt by Rep. Mark Olson to attach a PRT amendment to a bonding bill in the Minnesota House on April 12th, 2005 was voted down 26 to 107. In the 2007 legislative session, no PRT legislation was voted on.
Five days after his re-election in 2006, Rep. Mark Olson was arrested for domestic abuse and was convicted on one misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse.
The Taxi 2000 Corporation's lawsuit against J. Edward Anderson as well as Olson and Zimmermann's troubles likely sealed PRT's fate at the Capitol, however a far more likely factor was the phenomenal success of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line... unfortunately, none of this history is in the History Center's exhibit.
More information:
Complete History Center video about PRT.
Complete History Center video about LRT.
Transit for Livable Communities resolution against public funding of PRT.
Sierra Club North Star resolution against public funding of PRT .
"Personal rapid transit spending draws fire at Capitol"- Laura McCallum's MPR report about PRT legislation in 2004
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