Was Aldous Huxley a PRTista?

Really bad marketing blooper from a Vectus PRT brochure (PDF):

PRTistas Eating Their Own

The Mayor of Fountain Valley California in the Cyburbia Forum:

Hi,

My name is Gus Ayer, and I'm a City Council member in the fair city of Fountain Valley, California, currently taking my turn in the largely ceremonial position as Mayor.

Recently, I've been working with the Swedish Institute for Sustainable Transportation, which has been working to rescue the concept of Personal Rapid Transit from the clutches of crackpots, ideologues and anti-transit nutjobs. They recently sponsored the PodCar City conference in Uppsala, which I attended and spoke at, and their new Kompass group will help cities interested in new transit solutions to find a common direction.

From the comments of a PRTista's Daily Kos Diary in response to MnRaindog:

I've read your comments in DK history, and I can really appreciate your disdain for Bachman, but PRT as public transit doesn't rely on batshit crazy Republicans. The Swedish Institute for Sustainable Transportation, that has inspired me, is working to reclaim a valid idea form the wingnuts and crackpots.

Congratulations, Gus you're an honorary member of the Pod Squad:



UPDATE: The Daily Kos Diary posts by "Aeolus" on the Podcar Conference have apparently been removed.

Swedes and Koreans Put a Happy Face on Vectus PRT

The Vectus PRT testing facility takes shape on Swedish television. Here are some stills:



...note the massive steel pipe at the center of the guideway:



... looks just like the Raytheon PRT guideway. Also notice that it's mounted on slim posts close to the ground. Why? Because G-forces would require heavier posts if it were up higher. Here's the Raytheon PRT guideway with the massive posts that I Photoshopped over a typical street in Minneapolis:



If Vectus is just like the Raytheon PRT (which flopped) why the heck are they doing it again? For a clue to what the Vectus testing facility is really about, look at the flag posts:



It's phony prop for the media... a futurist Potemkin village.

It won't be long before we start seeing and hearing a publicity barrage about how Vectus is Sweden's and Korea's technological answer to Global Warming and Peak Oil. In October, there's going to be a PRT Conference in Uppsala, Sweden.

The same thing almost happened here in Minnesota.

Speaking of PRT in Minnesota, what's new with the Taxi 2000 Corporation? Nothing since 2004.

Remember the breathless publicity barrage for Taxi 2000's unveiling of the Skyweb Express model at their Fridley office and at the Minnesota Stae Fair?? Watch the video of the Fridley fiasco with Rep. Mark Olson (trial in July) showing off for the cameras:

"PRT is clearly in the future of transit. It is Jetson-esque but not a cartoon. It is the Microsoft of public transit!" -Rep. Mark Olson.



Ken Avidor says Vectus will likely end up on the trash heap like all the other Personal Rapid Transit projects.