DOWNTOWN PEOPLE MOVERS AND ENERGY: THE NEGATIVE SIDE

"People Movers" are a relatively novel concept in transportation: a short, high capacity rail line, serving only the high density portions of a city. The author analyses the energy impact of three of these systems--Cleveland, Los Angeles, and St. Paul--and finds that all three use more operating energy than the combination of modes which they replace. This is, even without taking account of the energy capital required to construct the systems, they have a net negative impact on energy consumption. This negative energy impact does not, of course, imply that the systems should not be built. If they can make a significant impact on smog, congestion, or downtown revitalization at a reasonable cost then they would be well justified despite their energy losses. /GMRL/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Published in Energy Use Management: Proceedings of the International Conference, Volume 1, pp 639-644, 1977.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Berkeley

  Institute of Transportation Studies Library
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720
• Authors:
  • Lave, C A
• Publication Date: 1977

Media Info

• Pagination: 11 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air pollution; Central business districts; Energy; Fuel consumption; People movers; Traffic congestion; Urban areas
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00183021
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 12 1978 12:00AM