Tom Neuville R, Northfield, has been appointed to a judge position. Ray Cox is planning on running for his seat.
MN House website:
NEWS RELEASE REP. COX SAYS PERSONAL RAPID TRANSIT WILL IMPROVE JOB CLIMATE (3/19/2004)
ST. PAUL - On the heels of the recent announcement that the state deficit is falling thanks to a rise in job growth, State Representative Ray Cox (R-Northfield) is co-authoring legislation that would create more new jobs, showcases Minnesota technology, and puts consumers in the driver’s seat of public transit services.
“The February budget forecast recently noted the reason for the declining deficit is an increase in new jobs,” Cox said. “The Personal Rapid Transit project will continue this trend by providing hundreds more good-paying jobs for Minnesota workers. At a time when Minnesota is looking to expand its job base and lure new business to the state, PRT already provides all the necessary ingredients: local technology, a willing community, and an eager workforce.”
Cox said Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is a very innovative automated transit system developed right here in Minnesota, and the bill he is co-authoring would provide the Duluth Transit Authority with incentives to construct a PRT safety certification facility. It operates on demand; PRT passenger vehicles wait at stations for riders, not vice versa. As designed, PRT passengers would select an empty vehicle; swipe a pre-paid card; and enjoy a private, computer-run trip that would take them non-stop to their selected destination. The computer system automatically selects the fastest, most convenient non-stop route for passengers, and would be available 24/7. In addition, unlike any other system, PRT infrastructure and vehicles are fully mass-producible and can be quickly erected on site.
Cox said there are many benefits to PRT, including its high efficiency and low pollution rate. But Cox said the most important benefit may be a new job base.
“Once I discovered how many new jobs the project could create, co-authoring this bill became a no-brainer,” Cox said. “If we don’t act to keep PRT, this system and hundreds of jobs will most likely be exported to some other state.”
I asked Ray Cox recently if he still supports PRT and he replied that he does.
I recently received this message from a DMO reader:
I was rooting around on Lexis Nexis for info on Taxi 2000. There's very little but there was this one recent article which I paste below. You may know about this already. I also noticed that they have no registered patents ...and only registered two trademarks (skyweb express and Minnesota PRT), the second of which has been "Abandoned".
Interesting.
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