TRANSPORTS OF DELIGHT?

This is a discussion of innovative transport as applied in Ontario, Canada. $1.3 billion will be invested over ten years, hopefully giving Canada the lead in the world market. Because of rapid urbanization, the Ontario government has, since 1969, heavily supported public transport. The goal in planning now is to reduce the need for travel, rather than to allow a suburban sprawl. Toronto is the location for several experiments. A dial-a-bus service operates in the suburbs, while staggered working hours have reduced peak-hour travel. The most important step is the development of an intermediate transit system, in a public park, to test the acceptability of such a system. This could carry up to 30,000 passengers per hour, with far less visual intrusion, noise and pollution than rapid transit or motorways. Eight firms tendered for the design, and Krauss-Maffei of Germany won the contract, with a magnetically-suspended vehicle. A test track and vehicles were built in Germany. They have now withdrawn, leaving the project to the public urban transportation development corporation. Another company, with government help, is designing linear induction motors. The current system design is for a rubber-tyred vehicle powered by linear motors. One large American Firm has a license to market the Krauss-Maffei system in the USA, and is collaborating with the UTDC on the Toronto demonstration. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  MacMillan Journals Limited

  4 Little Essex Street
  London WC2R 3LF,   England 
• Authors:
  • Croome, A
• Publication Date: 1975-2-20

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 580-581
• Serial:
  • Nature
  • Volume: 253
  • Issue Number: 5493
  • Publisher: MacMillan Journals Limited

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automated guideway transit; Buses; Demonstration projects; Electromagnetic induction; Future; Innovation; Intelligent transportation systems; Investments; Land use; Linear induction motors; Linear systems; Magnetic levitation; Motors; Paratransit services; Personal rapid transit; Public transit; Rapid transit; Staggered work hours; Suburbs; Technological innovations; Telephone; Transportation modes; Transportation planning; Urban development; Urban transportation; Vehicles
• Geographic Terms: Canada; Germany
• Old TRIS Terms: Advanced systems; Automated guideway systems; Dial-a-bus; Future concepts; Intermediate rapid transit; New systems
• ITRD Terms: 1057: Air transport network; 1272: Bus; 8018: Canada; 1152: Future transport mode; 8125: Germany; 6927: Induction; 227: Investment; 6484: Linear system; 1334: Motor; 304: Suburbs; 390: Telephone; 374: Urban development
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Railroads; Society; Vehicles and Equipment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00125073
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 18 1981 12:00AM