Written evidence from James Morshead (TE 46)
OPPORTUNITIES FOR AUTOMATING LOGISTICS, PERSONAL
MOBILITY AND MASS RAPID TRANSIT, BASED ON PERSONAL RAPID TRANSIT
(PRT)
SUMMARY
The economies of town and cities are dependent on
effective local transport.
The road-based system is often congested, unpredictable,
dangerous, polluting and noisy. Greener modes on separate infrastructure,
such as trams and light rail, don't take people to their destinations,
leave gaps between modes, restrict those with mobility difficulties,
and lack the flexibility to handle freight logistics, or most
passenger trips - 30% modal shift is considered optimistic.
Automated Local Transport (ALT) would revolutionise
a local economy. A network of light, low cost, fast guideways,
separated from road traffic, pedestrians and cycles would link
existing transport networks, community hubs, leisure and sporting
venues, and businesses and industrial estates. ALT is now feasible,
based on combining a number of existing, working ideas.
Based on Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), people and
goods would travel the guideway network using small, efficient
electric vehicles. The infrastructure will be more efficient,
less obtrusive and far more flexible than fixed infrastructure
modes such as light rail, and greener, safer, more inclusive and
accessible, and cheaper to operate than any other powered mode
of transport. Vehicles travel directly from origin to destination
with no delays, transfers or jams.
Based on the architecture of the Internet, traffic
would be dynamically routed to optimise capacity and avoid delays.
Open standards would enable anyone to innovate, to conceive new
services, vehicles and guideway technologies, and to extend the
network to their neighbourhood, factory, stadium, airport, hospital,
or any other point in the city.
Based on factory automation, ALT would carry pallets
and light freight, interacting with freight containers at rail
heads and ports, enabling goods to be transported nationally and
internationally, automatically and with no road use.
ALT would become the default connection between other
networks, improving all modes' capacity utilisation.
Based on network theory, once a network is established,
every new station would represent numerous new potential connections.
Additionally, based on emergent autonomous vehicle
technology, the vehicles could transfer onto local public roads
to complete their journey, taking people and goods all the way
to their intended destination as a true final mile solution.
Currently, many funding sources for transport research
are tied to specific existing modes of transport, making little
provision for wholly new modes such as this. We have an opportunity
to correct the balance, and ensure UK leadership at the outset
of an entire new mode of transport. This report recommends funding
and political backing for ALT, and support through organisations
such as the Transport KTN.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose of the Report
1.1.1 This submission seeks to make the Transport
Select Committee aware of the potential of automating local transport,
including rapid transit and freight logistics, based on Personal
Rapid Transit (PRT), autonomous vehicles and other related technologies,
and to ask that Automated Local Transport (ALT) be explicitly
provided for in research funding and support.
1.1.2 This is an emergent mode of transport,
with unlimited potential functions. It will link all other transport
networks serving the city with each other, with community hubs,
and with business and leisure activity, serving as a final mile
solution linking people and businesses to the global transport
and logistics system. Automating logistics, personal mobility
and mass rapid transit functions in a city will provide greater
flexibility, adaptability, efficiency, reliability, consistency
and carbon reductions, at lower cost than new installations of
existing modes, serving exactly the required functions and locations
identified in the Eddington Transport Study (2006).
1.2 Concepts and Definitions
1.2.1 This is an emergent field with few established
terms. This report builds on the following terms and concepts:
1.2.2 Podcars - the vehicles; small and
light, typically intended to carry up to four to six passengers,
or fewer people with cycles, luggage, pushchairs, etc. Automated,
running on a local network of dedicated tracks ("guideways"),
entirely separated from other modes of transport. As autonomous
vehicle technology develops, podcars will be able to continue
off the guideways onto local roads, to complete the final mile.
1.2.3 Path Standard - a possible inclusive
accessibility standard to aim for; to ensure mobility for the
whole community. A Podcar should be able to accommodate passengers
in the same way they would progress along a path; for example,
flat floor access for people in wheelchairs or mobility scooters.
1.2.4 PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) - a
mode of transport comprising passenger podcars on dedicated guideways,
with lower predicted costs and more flexibility than other fixed-infrastructure
modes.
1.2.5 GRT (Group Rapid Transit) - some
PRT vendors propose adding high-capacity podcars, for group travel,
or for routes such as Park & Ride to city centre, or airport
to mainline station.
1.2.6 Guideway - the light, low cost,
usually elevated track or rail the podcars travel on, separated
from roads and cars, pedestrians and cycles, built over roads,
rivers and railways, through buildings and across roofs.
1.2.7 Stations - built at nodes, off-line
such that other podcars can always pass, frequently indoors, always
with flat-floor access for wheelchair users.
1.2.8 Nodes - the junctions at which podcars
have a choice of routes to take.
1.2.9 ALT (Automated Local Transport) -
this report is introducing the term ALT, as PRT is only one of
the potential functions of the system. In ALT, the podcars may
be passenger, freight or any other service offered on the system,
and as autonomous vehicle technology advances, may extend beyond
the guideways to reach any individual premises.
1.2.10 Network Theory - the reason networks
take off. As a network grows, its value increases exponentially.
Adding a 10th node to a network (telephone, station, social network,
etc) only adds nine potential connections. The 10000th adds 9999;
the attraction of joining becomes more compelling. Connecting
two networks significantly benefits both networks.
2. PERSONAL RAPID
TRANSIT (PRT)
2.1.1 Using PRT is like using a lift in a building,
but across a network. A podcar waits at each station. Passengers
indicate where they wish to go, possibly just by pressing a button
if the network is small. The doors open, and the podcar takes
them straight to their stop, with no delays, traffic jams, changes
or transfers. Podcars are centrally coordinated but generally
steering themselves.
2.1.2 Although first proposed at least 50 years
ago, the world's first three true PRT systems are only now being
installed:
- Heathrow Airport, London: an "ULTra"
system, from ULTra PRT Ltd (UK), completed and opening shortly;
- Masdar City, United Arab Emirates: a "2getThere"
system (Netherlands), under construction;
- Suncheon, South Korea: a "Vectus"
system (Sweden/S.Korea), proposed for the site of a forthcoming
festival.
2.1.3 Several other PRT systems are being developed,
from individual inventors right up to NASA.
3. FUNCTIONALITY
- WHAT ELSE
COULD ALT DO?
3.1 Technology and Timing
3.1.1 ALT has the potential to be far more than
PRT. ALT will be a more extensive evolution of PRT, offering
mass transit and extensive freight logistics services as well
as personal mobility, and seeking to offer the greatest range
and balance of services, to serve the whole community and engender
the greatest possible modal shift away from roads.
3.1.2 The emerging field of Autonomous Vehicles
will enable podcars to proceed on public roads to any address,
and back to a network access point. The mode-separated guideways
will remain the high-speed arteries of the network.
3.1.3 However, it is important to be able to
implement this idea quickly, rather than wait for future innovation,
to realise the carbon savings and economic benefits as soon as
possible. Such innovation will be easier once a network is operating
somewhere, and Eddington specifically warns against "untested
technology".
3.2 Serving the Whole Community
3.2.1 On ALT, a standard podcar, designed
to a standard of almost universal accessibility for people with
special mobility needs, would be waiting at or near each station.
Specialist podcars would be developed, such as for those with
more extreme mobility limitations, or high capacity GRT podcars,
and would be summoned when required.
3.2.2 Passengers will also be able to travel
with cycles, pushchairs, luggage, shopping, or even electric scooters
or handcarts. Cycle use is therefore opened up for more journeys,
as ALT could take users some of the way.
3.2.3 ALT would support the existing structure
of many communities, where compact walkable neighbourhoods are
centred on a hub of shops, where the ALT station could be built.
Other modes, particularly the car, encourage a more spread out
structure and a reduced sense of community.
3.3 System Capacity
3.3.1 Based on four passengers per podcar and
two second headways (a conservative estimate), capacity for a
single link is 7,200 passengers per hour. With a half second
headway, this reaches 54,000.
3.3.2 Capacity for a single station berth, given
four passengers per pod and a 10 second turnaround, is 2,800.
High capacity locations such as stadiums, airports or railway
stations would feature multiple, parallel berths.
3.3.3 Capacity can be increased as required,
by installing more parallel berths and extra guideway links, by
introducing high-capacity GRT podcars, and by distribution of
destinations to stations and car parks away from the stadium.
This also eases road congestion near the stadium.
3.3.4 ALT serves an area, as an integrated network,
rather than individual lines. Podcars travel between two points
on the network by any route available, avoiding pinch points.
3.3.5 Additional connections are constructed
where needed in the network, with far less planning, cost and
disruption than LRT. These would be seamlessly incorporated by
the system, improving capacity locally.
3.3.6 Stations are always off-line, so podcars
can pass.
3.4 Linking Networks
3.4.1 Linking two networks, according to Network
Theory, massively improves the value of both networks. Airports
and stations are only ever waypoints in a journey, never destinations,
so journeys by public transport always involve walking or road
travel to and between modes. ALT makes these connections, efficiently
conveying passengers between rail, air and any other mode.
3.5 Freight Logistics
3.5.1 The Masdar City PRT system also features
a cargo podcar design, but overall this potential has not been
well explored. ALT will include JIT logistics for manufacturing,
retail logistics, automated storage, and countless services not
yet conceived.
3.5.2 ALT will carry pallets between industrial
units, factories and rail heads. With automated materials handling,
end-to-end carriage of pallets and light freight would be enabled
between any two ALT-connected sites in the world, connecting the
whole local economy to the global logistics system.
3.5.3 Additional services for other logistics,
from post and parcels to garments and white goods for retail,
would rapidly evolve.
3.6 Internet Analogy
3.6.1 ALT can be imagined in many ways, one of
which is as the physical evolution of cyberspace. There are several
analogies to make, to illustrate the potential.
3.6.2 An inspiration for the Internet was resilience
- if any part of the network was incapacitated, data would be
routed around it to its destination. Podcars carry small payloads
directly to their destination, dynamically rerouting around obstacles
and disruption, and therefore less susceptible to breakdowns or
attacks than other modes, especially fixed-route modes.
3.6.3 The Internet's defining protocol, TCP/IP,
defines a four level structure. Any one layer can potentially
see innovation and new standards, and still work with the other
layers to enable uninterrupted service during upgrades.
3.7 Open Standards, Open Market
3.7.1 In keeping with Internet-style architecture,
the guiding standards of ALT must be open, and impartially applied
and policed, so any company can develop new services and technologies,
networks and podcars, which will then be compatible with each
other. In this way, innovation and uptake will happen far faster,
more efficiently and more effectively than if any one company
were controlling the process.
3.7.2 The Internet, as with any open network,
cannot be owned - or closed - by any one body. It is built on
open standards, onto which any number of new protocols and services
can be built, enabling rapid commercial and technical innovation.
3.7.3 Monopolistic ownership and operation models,
sadly a feature of most proposed PRT systems, will not be adequate.
Rapid evolution of an incredible variety of services for all
aspects of a city's economy will require impartial open access
for entrepreneurship.
3.8 Passenger Experience
3.8.1 Ticketing may be by RFID cards linked to
accounts, similar to Oyster cards. Passengers would be able to
specify preferences, and special needs, on their accounts.
3.8.2 Those with impaired mobility can therefore
be provided with appropriately equipped podcars, automatically.
Visually or hearing impaired users can set their accounts to
enable interaction by large type, Braille, voice or other appropriate
means.
3.8.3 As a monitored automated system, running
almost silently, ALT would be available 24 hours a day, every
day, with no timetabling.
3.8.4 In a podcar, in addition to the external
sensors for location and obstacles, internal sensors, including
microphones and cameras, could detect whether help or attention
is needed for example, or a podcar needs cleaning, or diverting
to a police station. There would be at least one main emergency
button, to alert an operator while taking the podcar to the nearest
station.
4. HOW ALT ENHANCES
OTHER MODES
OF TRANSPORT
4.1 High-Speed Rail (HSR)
4.1.1 With efficient local distribution of passengers
by ALT, there only ever need be one HSR station in any city.
4.1.2 Proposals to add 15 minutes to every trip
on HS2 due to a detour to Heathrow Airport, for example, would
be unnecessary. A Heathrow network, and a network linking the
London railway termini, could be connected with a high-speed guideway
constructed over the A4. St Pancras International station (13
miles) could then be less than 15 minutes travel from Heathrow,
probably at far lower cost than the extra miles of the HS2 detour.
4.2 Suburban Rail
4.2.1 Eddington identified suburban rail as a
pinch point. Once ALT is established in a city, many suburban
rail services would be superfluous, freeing up rail capacity for
interurban rail services and improving rail reliability on "the
approaches to cities".
4.3 Airports
4.3.1 Integrated ticketing would enable passengers
to be taken to the correct station, terminal, hotel or car park
without having to specify manually. Car parks can be relocated
to nearby motorway junctions, reducing site traffic. Staff movements,
airfreight, retail logistics, airline catering supplies and many
other services could be provided for.
4.3.2 Enabling a wider geographical spread of
warehousing, catering and other facilities could reduce the footprint
of an airport by integrating with the local area. This also enhances
local communities' direct economic benefit from being close to
an airport.
4.3.3 Remote check-in, even in a passenger's
town of origin, may develop.
4.3.4 By integrating freight, ALT would also
enable less urgent baggage movements on short to medium haul routes
to be taken off the plane and handled by ALT and rail, automatically,
at lower cost to the passenger.
4.4 Road Transport
4.4.1 Many who drive out of necessity rather
than choice would no longer have to, leaving the roads clearer
for emergency vehicles, specialist transport, and enthusiasts.
Roads will not disappear, but with reduced traffic, road building
can be scaled back, better provision made for cycling, and walkable
neighbourhoods can become a standard feature of cities.
4.4.2 ALT enables car parks to be located away
from city centres, airports and bottlenecks. Large ALT-connected
car parks built next to motorway junctions would make use of already
noisy and polluted places, and completely remove this traffic
from local roads.
4.4.3 The demise of car ownership has been predicted
even without ALT; with ALT, more people could withdraw from car
ownership and pay for car use as a service. Rental or shared
ownership enables people to pay for car use instead, forget maintenance,
tax, MOTs and probably insurance, and use exactly the right vehicle
for each trip.
5. ECONOMIC POTENTIAL
OF ALT
5.1 Congestion
5.1.1 Eddington reports, "89% of the delay
caused by congestion is in urban areas", and "Eliminating
existing congestion on the road network would be worth some £7-8 billion
of GDP per annum."
5.1.2 City-wide ALT would directly reduce congestion,
by competing for movements, as long as ALT construction stays
ahead of growth. Road congestion would also become less relevant,
as ALT is increasingly relied upon.
5.2 Agglomeration and Local Specialisation
5.2.1 According to Eddington: "Agglomeration
effects [...] add up to 50% to the benefits of some transport
schemes in London". This economic benefit arising from companies
in a market locating close to one another, and to common suppliers
and expertise, is mutually beneficial with efficient local transport
and logistics.
5.2.2 Widespread ALT would improve transport
efficiency nationally, but any ALT will improve transport locally,
improving the competitiveness of agglomerated industries in the
area, boosting manufacturing as a whole, and helping to rebalance
the economy.
5.2.3 Restoring local specialisation, particularly
if linked to a resurgent manufacturing sector, could help restore
the identity and pride of certain industrial towns.
5.3 Freight Logistics
5.3.1 The ONS Blue Book 2009 reports transport
and storage directly represent £54.3 billion (7%) of
UK GVA.
5.3.2 Eddington reports most logistics operations
have their major hubs in the West Midlands region, but most traffic
to and from them, both upstream and downstream, in the region
and long haul, is by road.
5.3.3 ALT service providers could systematically
to work through the road transport usage associated with these
operations, and provide alternatives.
5.3.4 A similar approach for manufacturing logistics
would be similarly beneficial, enabling predictable JIT logistics
on reduced inventory, and at lower cost, making UK manufacturing
more competitive and helping to re-balance the economy.
5.3.5 It should become the expected standard
that retailers and manufacturers are supplied by ALT, from logistics
hubs on the network, and in turn from suppliers, rail heads or
road freight terminals on the network.
5.4 Entrepreneurs and Evolution of New Services
5.4.1 Open standards and open access will enable
rapid evolution of diverse services. As firms in related fields
agglomerate on a common network with customers, suppliers and
competitors, so specialist transport for that industry can be
easily provided.
5.4.2 Resilience and reliability are built into
the system: no problem or dispute could ground the whole system.
A level playing field would exist for transport competition.
5.4.3 Central planners cannot possibly anticipate
every relevant need or invention. A system with the flexibility
to evolve to serve future needs, driven by the entrepreneurship
of anyone who wants to get involved, but under democratic planning
control, gives the best balance.
5.5 Quality of Land Use
5.5.1 By clarifying the urban-rural divide, urban
hinterland and brownfield sites become more valuable, land use
becomes more efficient, and marginalised neighbourhoods better
connected. Potential urban sprawl land on the edges of a city
will become less economically attractive, farmland and wilderness
more secure.
5.5.2 As primarily an urban transport and final
mile solution, ALT will improve the quality of a city's economy
without needing to expand the city.
5.6 Export Opportunities
5.6.1 Establishing leadership and expertise in
an emerging technology such as this will play to the strengths
of the UK economy, and could provide impressive export potential
in the future.
6. ENVIRONMENTAL
POTENTIAL OF
ALT
6.1 Electric Power and Carbon Reduction
6.1.1 The network will be fully electric, enabling
full use of renewable energy, high energy efficiency and massive
carbon reduction.
6.1.2 ALT can help balance demand spikes in the
national grid, managed by dynamic electricity pricing. Battery
power enables waiting podcars to act as floats, drawing and feeding
back charge, while lower priority journeys such as redistribution
of empty podcars can be made when more charge is available and
hence lower cost.
6.2 Urban Environment
6.2.1 To enable installation in urban settings,
the design of guideways must be made elegant and unobtrusive -
a challenge.
6.2.2 However, weighed against the potential
visual intrusion are reduced noise, dirt and pollution, taking
cars and trucks off the road, improved safety and reduced death
toll, redefining urban and rural landscapes, creating value for
brown field sites, regenerating city centres, enabling cycle paths
and walkable neighbourhoods, and halting the detrimental effects
of car dependency on urban design.
7. SOCIAL POTENTIAL
OF ALT
7.1 Supporting the Natural Structure of Communities
7.1.1 In addition to transport nodes, in any
area ALT reaches, connecting to existing community hubs must be
prioritised, to serve the maximum number of people and maximise
modal shift.
7.1.2 In urban settings, people already tend
to live within walking distance of their local shops. If ALT
stations become the gateways to neighbourhoods, opening a station
away from the existing hub will create pressure to open shops
near the station, and close shops at the existing hubs.
7.2 SOCIAL COHESION
7.2.1 A properly conceived and regulated ALT
should help social cohesion by ensuring people mix. It has been
shown that people spontaneously share podcars if the destination
is displayed. This must be a choice but should be encouraged.
7.2.2 ALT may also serve as a way of breaking
down divisions in education, by making it easier for schools of
all types to share the facilities of better-equipped schools.
7.2.3 Connecting poorer neighbourhoods to the
network will help regeneration, and social inclusion and employment
prospects for residents.
7.3 Revitalising City Centres and Neighbourhood
Hubs
7.3.1 Out-of-town retail developments have the
advantage of accessibility in a car-based economy, which will
be lost if ALT becomes widespread. Given this choice, more people
will choose to shop, mix and relax locally or in a city centre.
7.3.2 Former warehouse stores would then make
good factory units for a resurgent manufacturing sector.
8. HOW CAN
GOVERNMENT HELP
8.1 Political Will
8.1.1 The EDICT report (Evaluation and Demonstration
of Innovative City Transport, 2005), from the EU-funded NETMOBIL
(NEw Transport system concepts for enhanced and sustainable personal
urban MOBILity), concluded PRT (and by extension ALT) would work
as soon as there was the political will. Overcoming fears based
on being the first system, or of building before stable standards
have evolved, will require political will and coordination.
8.2 Funding
8.2.1 If PRT and ALT are left entirely to the
market to develop, they are likely to remain a disconnected group
of incompatible and exclusive systems for some time. Even as
one or two standards emerge, most systems are likely to serve
private developments, not communities, and the huge potential
benefits for local agglomeration and specialisation, as well as
carbon reduction and social cohesion, could be missed. Carefully
targeted funding, linked to desired outcomes, could ensure it
develops in an inclusive way that can benefit the whole economy.
8.2.2 Eddington states the necessity of "making
a comprehensive assessment of the full range of economic, environmental
and social impacts of transport policies, including climate change."
This substantial work, along with developing the required engineering
standards, studying the societal implications, and others would
clearly need to happen before revenue service can begin; so pump-priming
funding and investment will be needed.
8.2.3 A dedicated group within the Transport
KTN (Knowledge Transfer Network) may be beneficial to this emerging
industry.
8.3 Level playing field
8.3.1 As this sector develops, the open nature
of the market will come under pressure. Provision must be made
to prevent monopolies and oligopolies from emerging, at any level,
which would stifle the free unrestricted nature of the system.
9. CONCLUSION
Automated Local Transport - ALT - has the potential
to transform urban areas. Economic growth and balance, carbon
emissions, social inclusion, the built environment, and many other
aspects of a city could be dramatically enhanced. Carbon emissions
targets may yet be met. UK leadership in an emerging field could
be established.
To achieve this, the political will must be there
to support ALT, and the funding available to progress this idea
towards implementation and an eventual tipping point.
Look out for the name "PodStream".
10. APPENDIX:
RESPONSES AGAINST
EDDINGTON'S
5 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
10.1.1 In 2006, Eddington would not have been
aware of the potential of automating local transport. Yet in
the Eddington Transport Study (2006), his five key recommendations
almost perfectly mirror the potential of this approach.
1. To meet the changing needs of the UK economy,
Government should focus policy and sustained investment on improving
the performance of existing transport networks, in those places
that are important for the UK's economic success.
10.1.2 ALT would form the link between all other
networks in the area served, for all purposes except heavy goods.
As roads would no longer serve this purpose, car parks could
be moved to the outskirts of cities, particularly next to motorway
junctions, removing this traffic and pollution from the city.
With retail and manufacturing logistics also catered for, road
congestion could be dramatically reduced. In addition to the
economic benefits, the urban landscape could be brought up to
date to provide for fully walkable neighbourhoods in a fully cycle-friendly
city.
2. Over the next 20 years, the three strategic
economic priorities for transport policy should be: congested
and growing city catchments; and the key interurban corridors
and the key international gateways that are showing signs
of increasing congestion and unreliability. These are the most
heavily used and economically significant parts of the network;
10.1.3 By addressing congestion as described,
cities will be able to grow economically without sprawling physically.
ALT will help redefine the distinctiveness of the urban vs. rural
environment, and reinvigorate city centres and neighbourhood hubs
by making them competitive with road-dependent sprawl developments.
10.1.4 Congestion of key interurban corridors
would be eased, as suburban transport would be less reliant on
rail and road. As rail capacity is required less for suburban
services, identified by Eddington as a "pinch point",
this capacity is freed up for interurban traffic. This reduces
the tendency towards ribbon developments along roads out of cities,
which generate congestion by forcing reliance on road transport,
then interrupting road users with endless junctions and extended
speed restrictions.
10.1.5 International gateways, where high-speed
rail, air or sea meet local and national scale modes such as road
and rail, are identified as key pinch-points in the system: hence
the numerous people-mover systems that already exist. ALT supersedes
these to provide an integrated, flexible and intuitive way for
people to move between terminals, stations and car parks. Car
parks could be more remote and dispersed, to reduce road congestion.
3. Government should adopt a sophisticated
policy mix to meet both economic and environmental goals. Policy
should get the prices right (especially congestion pricing on
the roads and environmental pricing across all modes) and make
best use of existing networks. Reflecting the high returns available
from some transport investment, based on full appraisal of environmental
and social costs and benefits, the Government, together with the
private sector should deliver sustained and targeted infrastructure
investment, in those schemes which demonstrate high returns, including
smaller schemes tackling pinch points;
10.1.6 Charging based on the economic, social
and environmental costs of other modes, could raise significant
sums. This could faster realise the equivalent benefits of ALT,
including the improved effectiveness of existing modes, by relief
of suburban pinch-points and by improved inter-modal links.
4. The policy process needs to be rigorous
and systematic: start with the three strategic economic priorities,
define the problems, consider the full range of modal options
using appraisal techniques that include full environmental and
social costs and benefits, and ensure that spending is focused
on the best policies;
10.1.7 ALT will be an organic system, easily
and cheaply extended and adapted as required, enabling allometric
scaling to fulfil economic requirements. A first ALT installation
is likely to be an initially freight-only line between a major
factory and a supplier, to demonstrate the concepts, gain acceptance
and start generating revenue. This would be followed by a passenger
service at a pinch point such as an airport, or providing a park
and ride scheme for a town centre. Both seed networks would quickly
extend to other local neighbourhoods, transport nodes, factories
and other facilities.
5. Government needs to ensure the delivery
system is ready to meet future challenges, including through reform
of sub-national governance arrangements and reforming the planning
process for major transport projects by introducing a new Independent
Planning Commission to take decisions on projects of strategic
importance.
10.1.8 Small networks can develop separately
and grow into one another, as with the Internet or the phone network.
Additional links can be added at later dates, as capacity is
required. Planning and governance must be addressed, but such
coordination is operationally far less critical with ALT than
with existing modes. More important aspects to be addressed in
installing ALT would be ensuring democratic accountability, given
the high impact of ALT on a city, and standards for safety and
interoperability between networks.
September 2010
| 
