SELF-CONFLICTED PUBLIC TRANSIT

Have you ever considered how self-conflicted conventional public transit is? It keeps getting in its own way. For example:

• Adding stations adds stops, slowing everything down
• Higher capacity requires larger vehicles which need bigger, more expensive infrastructure
• Bigger infrastructure is best laid out along large corridors
• Passengers must first get to the corridor, then catch transit, then get to their ultimate destination
• Adding a new line adds a transfer. Passengers hate transfers.

Automated transit networks (ATN) avoid these conflicts by:

• Having all stations offline (on sidings) so through traffic bypasses them at speed
• Using many small vehicles travelling close together (more like cars than buses). Smaller vehicles require smaller infrastructure that costs less and can be retrofitted to smaller streets
• Smaller infrastructure is best laid out in small, interconnected one-way loops spread throughout the community – not just along corridors
• Small vehicles on small loops can travel directly from origin to destination with little or no intermediate stopping
• Small loops minimize out-of-the-way travel
• A network of interconnected loops can be infinitely expanded with no need for transfers.

ATN does not suffer from self-conflicts and can simultaneously provide quick, reliable service throughout the community with good capacity and low cost.