»On personal rapid transit

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hasan article on West Virgina University's thirty-year-old Personal Rapid Transit system.

The 20-passenger cars carry about 15,000 riders, mostly students, a day when classes are in session -- and twice as many for Mountaineer football games.

That compares with about 25,000 riders a day on the light-rail system operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which covers 25 miles and operates 45 more hours a week than the PRT. Also, the authority's LRV operating cost per ride is about four times higher than on the university-funded PRT.

A transportation charge in their activity fee entitles students to unlimited rides on the PRT. The single-ride cash fare for the public is 50 cents.

The system drew praise this month when the school played host to a small but spirited national seminar focusing on the PRT and other advanced people mover transit technologies. After 30 years, it remains relevant and ahead of its time, attracting transit officials, academics and researchers from around the globe.

Pittsburgh and Allegheny County almost got a similarly unique system in the early 1960s, but political opposition and community controversy killed Port Authority attempts to build an automated, rubber-tire Skybus project. Construction had advanced to building a test track in South Park, now demolished, and rebuilding an abandoned Wabash Railroad Tunnel, now a little-used high occupancy vehicle facility.

... shades of Maglev?