The members of ATRA have not seen a lot of improvement in transportation systems since the building of freeways and the introduction of the jet passenger plane after World War II.  Some of us have been around long enough to have witnessed these changes, yet we continue to hope for more.

Off-line stations are an integral part of many advanced transit systems.

Vehicles pass right by those that are loading or unloading at stations unlike brand new rail-based transit systems whose vehicles must stop in the middle of the mainline track to load and unload passengers.  While the train is stopped no other can progress which severely limits use of the rail line and of right-of-ways.

Another feature of advanced transit systems is their ability to load passengers very close to their point of origin and drop them off very close to their destination.  This convenience is a measurable efficiency that means a great deal to people and to businesses as is demonstrated by the overwhelming popularity of cars and trucks.

Efficient switching is also essential to advanced transit, both to enable the off-line stations and to allow wide dispersion of destinations on a network of interconnected routes.

Because of their smaller scale and greater economy, advanced transit techniques are sometimes called 'lean' transit in contrast to 'mass' transit.  Other characteristics of advanced transit are automated operation and nonstop trips that begin whenever you are ready to travel.

The members of ATRA envision a future when advanced transportation technologies - a combination of computers, magnetic levitation, and linear motors - will all be orchestrated for the convenience of people and their businesses - as well as for the benefit of our planet. We see advances in both transit technologies and in transit techniques as fundamental to further development of the industrialized economies.

In the developing countries, where resource use and growth remain critical issues, we see advanced transit as essential to their being able to leap-frog many of the problems associated with our current transportation technologies while at the same time supporting the development of prosperous, sustainable economies and livestyles.

1. The Citizens and Businesses of Many Cities, Suburbs, and Towns are Increasingly Disadvantaged by the Lack of Adequate Transit Service

The relatively poor service, low productivity and high costs of most transit systems has led to an excessive dependence on the automobile in most urbanized areas. Although automobiles satisfy the needs of many people at acceptable costs, growing numbers of people cannot afford the high purchase, operating, parking and insurance costs of these vehicles, or they are unable to operate them. Also, automobile dependence is producing unmanageable road building and upkeep costs, as well as serious environmental problems.

2. The Economic Characteristics and Productivity of Conventional Transit Systems

   Buses, light and heavy rail have proven to be troublesome even in places where their use has been considered most advantageous - the most densely settled and traveled business cores and corridors of urban areas. Even in these places their use typically requires heavy subsidies. The weaknesses of conventional systems are even more evident in the medium and lower density parts of the metropolitan area, where an increasingly large portion of the population now lives and works. The productivity of such systems is too low, with the result that they are commonly considered uneconomic where they are now located and unacceptable for needed expansions of transit service in poorly served areas. Some automated, large vehicle, "people mover" technologies are perceived as inadequately productive and too costly for use in meeting expanded transit needs in the medium/lower density suburbs.

3. In these Circumstances, a Clear Need Exists for the Development and Demonstration of New Advanced Transit Systems

   Systems are needed that can provide significantly better service at significantly lower cost through automation, smaller guideways and stations, higher seat utilization ratios, shorter trip times and more places linked in service networks. However, policy-makers are hobbled by the lack of demonstrated options for improving and expanding transit service. Thus far, investment in research, development and demonstration projects to encourage advanced transit concepts - several plausible candidates exist - has been negligible.

4. This Gap between a Serious Unmet Public Need and Currently Inadequate Efforts to Respond to It Represents the Challenge that is the Focus of the Activities of the Advanced Transit Association.

   ATRA seeks to assist governments, transportation and related industries, and research centers by helping to identify the importance of closing this gap, encouraging the development of highly service-effective and substantially lower cost advanced transit options for this purpose, and helping to probe the utility of such options as may be developed. Five means for responding to the above concerns have been identified:

   I. Focus public attention on critical unmet urban transit needs and on the ways in which advanced transit concepts can help satisfy them.

   There are unmet needs: (1) for productive transit that uses personnel and material resources far more efficiently than present systems are able to do; (2) for service that enables patrons to reach many more destinations than is possible now, puts stations nearer to the origins and destinations of patrons, and brings vehicles more frequently and reliably; and (3) for systems that minimize life-cycle costs and provide smaller, less environmentally destructive guideways and stations that can be built more quickly and less disruptively than those required by conventional rail systems.

   II. Seek wider agreement on the main features, including cost, service and environmental impact characteristics that advanced transit should possess to satisfy the critical needs noted above and on the ridership and goods movement which such transit should be able to attract.

   The present lack of consensus on these features and how they would affect the use (and, thus, the revenue/profitability) of a transit service that provided them is a major reason why entrepreneurs, investors, manufacturers, consultants, and governments have not been able to move forward with development and adoption of advanced transit systems.

   III. Draw attention to transit systems, or well-developed concepts for such systems, than incorporate the desired features of advanced transit.

   People will motivate industry or governments to action on behalf of "advanced transit" only if they understand how it could give them significantly better service than they can get today. "Advanced transit" will, of course, be understood better as specific systems are demonstrated that clearly are significantly more effective in cost and service provision compared to present urban transit systems for a particular service, or when they can provide service not yet provided.

   IV. Help define the test and evaluation capabilities that must become available for the demonstration and safety certification of advanced systems and technologies offered by manufacturers.

   The lack of accepted means for validating such new systems is a major impediment to their consideration and acquisition by urban policy-makers and to their support of sources of venture capital.

   V. Identify solutions to problems that inhibit conceptualization, development, demonstration and deployment of advanced transit systems and technologies.

   Advanced transit is impeded by product liability worries, patent and monopoly concerns, standardization questions, lack of a perceived market for substantially different technologies, institutional and personal biases and commitments relative to existing technologies and the resources invested in them, and an absence of well-developed methods for validation of new service concepts and technologies.