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Transactions on the Built Environment vol 33, © 1998 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 Re-emergence of People Movers A.S. Jakes Jakes Associates, Inc., Jakes Plaza, 1940 TheAlameda, Suite 200, Email: jai9330@aol. com Abstract This paper reviews how various newly-developed People Mover technologies have solved visitor circulation needs in many resort complexes in the United States and selected countries. This approach can be duplicated in many cities worldwide since the level of ridership in environments such as Las Vegas, Nevada frequently exceeds levels typically found in medium-sized transit systems worldwide. We focus particularly on existing proven technologies and specific installations including the following: Ropeway Horizontal Elevators (Mirage, Primadonna, Circus-Circus and Sun City Automated People Mover installations); Monorails (MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail and its expansion plans); Minirails (Prim City Unitrak system); Beltways (Monte Carlo and Bellagio systems under construction); Miscellaneous. While the transit industry still perceives People Movers as an unwelcome novelty and as disturbing the daily routine of conventional transportation planning, the recent re-emergence of innovative, lower-cost People Mover technologies and the resultant successful installations worldwide prove otherwise. Defying the 'laws of gravity' held by a majority of conventional transit consultants may no longer be allowed as millions of satisfied riders continue to praise new technologies. Over 160 'standalone' People Mover technologies (developed to date) are no longer emerging; on the contrary, they have emerged fully, with 17% proven in operation and 22% proven on a test track. Many of the remaining 61% are currently struggling for funding to prove their viability. In fact, most of them are hardly 'high tech' by design principle as they are frequently entrenched in technologies known and proven over the last 100 years, such as cable or belt. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 33, © 1998 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 24 Urban Transport and the Environment for the 21st Century Introduction People Mover systems represent major changes and advances in equipment, facilities, operations, and services in comparison with conventional rail, bus, taxi, and other street modes. System performance and capacities can be tailored to match expected loads and a broad range of performance and operational requirements. Suppliers usually claim, with justification, that they can adapt their product to buyer's specific needs. Vehicle size can be expanded or reduced. Seats can be added or removed from vehicles. Various grades and curves can be accommodated by altering guideway design and speeds. Riding the circulation People Mover system can be as convenient, safe and comfortable as riding a modern elevator. Stations can be sufficiently numerous to provide development-wide access. Passengers experience little or no waiting for vehicles. The operation can be environmentally friendly with no emissions, very little noise and minimum visual impacts. The system could be fully integrated with both existing, and future developments. This inherent design flexibility of People Movers has been demonstrated very well in Las Vegas and other gambling oriented resorts, and now can be duplicated elsewhere. People Movers with Cable Propulsion Cable propelled street cars used to be widely applied in major metropolitan areas, including several US city cores. The City of San Francisco Charter has provisions that say: "There will be a cable car in San Francisco". Its' 100- year old cable railway used to have over 100 miles of trackway, much of which being later replaced with electric trolley buses and light rail. Four remaining lines offer 11 miles of service with 26 cars operating every 3 minutes with a 9.5 mph speed. The Cable Railway contributes over 26% to the Municipal Railway's (MUNI) revenues carrying approximately one million passengers per month. This operation defies the common misperception that cable systems are limited by length (it is the performance and design flexibility which limits their applicability). However, the modern cable propelled People Mover has been derived from ski resort applications rather than from urban cable car fleets. This has resulted from the simple fact that none of the urban cable car companies have survived. Today's cable People Movers are based on funicular (for fixed grip systems) and gondola (for detachable grip systems) technologies. The rubber tired cable People Mover for urban applications in Las Vegas was invented in the early eighties. However, it has taken until the mid-nineties for cable Transactions on the Built Environment vol 33, © 1998 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 Urban Transport and the Environment for the 21st Century 25 technology to achieve recognition by large airports and various municipalities around the world with several accelerated schedule new installations and improved technologies being developed worldwide. The first cable-system with an air cushion suspension for US airport application has been in successful operation since its' opening in 1995. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport People Mover has operated with nearly 100% availability. The Zurich International Airport has recently opted for the same type of technology. A conceptually similar system opened at the Getty Trust Museum in Los Angeles in December, 1997. The recently opened horizontal elevator at Mystic (near Boston) is an example of simplification for cable technology for basic links. The Treasure Island cable-driven shuttle system has flawlessly carried 22 million passengers in Las Vegas since its' opening in 1991 for under $6 million (capital cost). In fact, this is less than, for example, what Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana is spending to study transit alternatives in one of Cincinnati's corridors. Many other successful installations and projects (which are under construction) could be cited such as the de Gaulle and Narita International Airports and the hospital link with a railroad station in Milan. There are several established suppliers offering mature technologies including Poma, Leitner, Doppelmayer, Soule, Waagner Biro, and Otis. The concept for Skyrail came into existence in 1993 to address a Japanese industry perceived transportation mode 'gap' between traditional, high capacity monorail/rubber tired people mover systems and low capacity gondola-lift type systems. In addition, the vision for Skyrail included the ability to minimize transit system development costs and land use requirements. The Skyrail design has successfully been tested at the Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. A further .9 mile, elevated, dual lane Skyrail system is under construction in the Japanese community of Senogawa. System completion is expected in 1998. The Skyrail concept utilizes 25 passenger, passive vehicles which are suspended from an elevated, fixed-guideway monorail steel structure. A constant velocity haul rope provides vehicle propulsion at cruise speed. However, vehicles are accelerated and decelerated independently of the haul rope by linear induction motors. One of the principle design advantages of the Skyrail is its' ability to fully operate under adverse environmental conditions. As both the guideway and vehicle bogie are rigid about the lateral axis, vehicle performance is unaffected by significant wind conditions. As a result of the guide/support wheels making contact with the guideway in the web section of the I-beam cross section support rail, vehicle performance is unaffected by snow or rain. Hence, Skyrail is the ideal all-weather feeder transport. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 33, © 1998 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 26 Urban Transport and the Environment for the 21st Century The Skyrail system does incorporate several Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system features, including demand responsive operation and the application of small vehicles on a dedicated guideway. Several Japanese companies have been conducting PRT development (the Computer-controlled Vehicle and MAT) which demonstrate several advanced concepts including 10 second headways, fully computerized operation, 4-6 passenger vehicles, and on-board vehicle switching. As in San Francisco, cable systems initially captured many urban applications and were abandoned completely as new, more flexible self- propelled systems emerged. Now, the market is returning to cable solutions as self-propelled People Movers are becoming too complex and expensive for solving a basic problem such as a point A to B shuttle link. Cable technology, simply known as horizontal elevators, is getting its' long ignored recognition. People Movers with Belt Propulsion The high cost of People Mover systems has slowed down their wide implementation in spite of superior performance. To counteract this trend, the team of Mirage Resorts, Yantrak, and Jakes Associates is deploying an innovative technology that is likely to set a new price/performance standard within the People Mover industry. Jakes Associates, Inc., is serving as project consultant on a relatively low cost system currently being installed by Yantrak to link several Mirage Resorts properties within Las Vegas. The first system (under construction) will link the Bellagio resort (the most spectacular hotel development ever conceived) with the Monte Carlo resort. For these applications, a newly developed belt-propulsion technology is used. These systems provide superior