Ithaca Takes a Hard Look at Pod Cars
New York Times (09/21/08) P. 33; York, Michelle

Seeking to combat gridlock and sprawl, the upstate New York college town of Ithaca has taken an interest in the "pod car" concept being developed in Sweden, where Ithaca local activist Jacob A. Roberts has worked to persuade industry leaders to consider Ithaca as a potential test city. In September, a group of engineers, energy experts, and urban planners held a conference at Cornell University in Ithaca to look at the pod car idea, also known as personal rapid transit, which involves computer-driven electric vehicles on a monorail-like loop. Different systems use different electric power sources, such as batteries on the car or power in the guideway, but they all feature stations at major destinations where commuters can call for a car like an elevator, enter in a destination, and be taken there automatically. The lightweight pod cars hold four people on average and may cost between 50 cents and $1.50 per trip, and they are seen as more energy-efficient than cars and mass -transit systems like buses while also offering more personal service than usual mass transit. Right now, the pod car system is being tested for London's Heathrow Airport and in the Swedish industrial town of Hofors, according to conference organizer Christer Lindstrom, who said that one could be installed in the next half-decade in a U.S. city. "The U.S., of all countries in the world, really needs it, because its dependency on fossil fuels is alarming," he said. The pod car concept has come in for some criticism for the amount of guideway needed, although public awareness and political will would be the biggest obstacles, including the need to get interested parties to allow their land to be used. Ithaca–where Roberts' group Connect Ithaca is applying for a $75,000 state loan to study how a pod car system could impact vehicle miles traveled–could be a good place to test the concept, developers say, because of its educated and progressive nature, its heavy rush-hour traffic, an d a local climate that can show how the pod cars can perform in many different weather conditions.
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