Personal Transportation - Vision & Solution

By Paul Deis,

President, Personal Transportation Associates

The Vision- Imagine being able to walk or bicycle a few blocks from your home or office and board an entirely new form of transportation.  Fast, safe, quiet and inexpensive, it would take you directly from where you boarded to your destination miles away in less than half the time it would take you to drive, even in the middle of the night.

The pieces of technology required to create such a vision are available and have been for some time.

So, why haven’t “they” brought something like the vision above into being?  After all, unless some major change is made, the present transportation system will, according to every imaginable forecast, lead to progressively greater gridlock and greater travel distances, with the cost of transportation consuming an ever-increasing portion of everyone’s shrinking cash flow and discretionary time.

There are powerful reasons why “they” haven’t.  First, let’s consider the following:

100+ Year Old Technologies - The basic technologies we now use to get around are 100 years old or more.  Yes, thousands of detailed improvements have been made, yet the basic modes are the same.  George Stephenson (1814) and Colonel John Stevens (1815) would feel right at home in any of our rail technologies, from light rail (trolleys), to long-distance heavy rail.  Henry Ford would instantly know how to drive our cars, because they are human controlled, as were the horse-driven carriages that preceded the automobile.  And the Wright brothers lived to see their invention become essentially what we see today.

Bunched Movement - All non-automobile technologies involve the same concept, moving people or freight in significantly sized bunches, at varying time intervals, using conveyances driven and controlled by people – drivers/engineers, pilots, etc.  The concept here is presumed to be “economy of scale,” that it is cheaper to move people in as large a bunch as possible at intervals that are as far apart as possible. 

This one assumption almost universally held, and also utterly and completely false, leads to a massive array of consequences, from the size and scale of systems, engineering and construction costs and many others.

This also assumes that it is the cost of transportation that is the issue, not people’s time required.  Those of us wading through traffic, snail-like, at a cost of $0.40/mile or more would disagree.  A friend of mine calls this consumption of our lives, “an insult to our souls.”  We agree.

The Government Must Fix It - Everyone, almost to an individual, assumes that only the government can solve this dilemma, presumably because only the government “has the money.”  That somehow government can innovate a solution, or just overwhelm it with money.

But, no.  We are asking government to do something that it simply cannot do, was never designed to do, and is at direct odds with what government is for.  And, as if that weren’t enough, the government does not, and will never have, sufficient money to even begin to make a dent in this massive problem.

The Money Mirage - Let’s take the money assumption.  Suppose we take money (taxes) from one group, so that another group can have something it wants/needs at a lower purchase price.  So far, so good.  Now, expand that “good deal” so that virtually everyone can have this subsidized good.  Where will the money come from now?  Nowhere.  This is one of the basic follies of asking the government to provide a universal need at a subsidized price.  It cannot be done.  This is a bit like the old story of the farmer who lost money on every crop of lettuce he trucked to market, but who decided that he needed a bigger truck to cure the money losing crops.

Even in the private sector, as one who has worked run companies and worked with dozens of others, we can say  - “its challenging - a LOT harder than it looks” to provide something of value at a low cost over the long haul.  It is only a whole slew of ever-present pressures keeps the cost of delivering something low, and therefore the price charged for it.

Innovation and Government - So why CAN’T the government innovate, develop some exotic technology that “runs for free” or something?  First, it is NOT the FUNCTION of government to innovate.  The function of government is to limit, control, ration, allocate, re-distribute.  This is its JOB, one that it is well designed to do, and of which, in the case of the United State, does an excellent job.  To solve our transportation dilemma, directly, we are asking government to do the impossible, to become an elephant that flies, and at a low price at that.

Intelligent, skilled people, often with great dedication run our public agencies, and organizations like the MTA are no exception.  Neither these people nor their organizations are the problem.  It is the paradigm within which we are all operating, and what government IS, that is the controlling factor.  To ask otherwise is to ask the impossible.  And, we have been asking for a long, long time.  The Federal Department of Transportation opened for operation on April 1, 1967.  Its mission is (from its web site) is:

“Serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.”

Ask yourself if this mission has been, or is being performed well. Don’t ask how much the DOT costs to operate, money that has been taken from one group, to provide something for a few.  Now ask the question again, especially the “quality of life” part.  Remember, the vision of the Interstate Highway system was articulated before the DOT was hatched.

Think of any innovation in wide use today, to cement the point in place, that it is not the job nor capability of government, any government agency, to solve our transportation problem with innovative, new solutions.  All, virtually without exception were developed and brought into wide use by private companies. 

This does not mean that government has no role at all in these things – it certainly does, a vital one at that.  It can and does block some and facilitate others.  It just can’t invent, develop and bring to market at a workable cost. 

I hear a voice calling out – “but what about all the technology flowing from the defense and space programs?”  Yes, the government PAID FOR the development, the invention process, which actually occurs in the private, for-profit companies, by the way.  However, these technologies became widely used in the private sector only after private, for-profit companies picked them up and (usually) brought the cost way down.  This process is one reason our military has become so expensive, while our telephone service and computers have become so inexpensive.  It is the nature of the beast.

PerTran - Vision and Solution - So, what does the solution we see look like?  Here’s the basic aspects of this system.  Every component and aspect of this system involves ordinary technology that is already in wide use today, just not put together this way - yet.  PerTran's well-worked out, detailed design has these features:

• Direct Travel – small vehicles traveling independently and automatically directly from boarding point to destination via a network of routes, selecting the best path to the destination through the network.
  
• Environmentally Sound – less sound “footprint” than a car, electrically driven, non-polluting.  Small size creates minimal visual “footprint.”
  
• Fast – Speed is MUCH higher than a car, while being at least as safe as airline travel due to automated operation and fully redundant design.
  
• Pays for itself – the cost of construction and operation is low enough so that routes can be built everywhere, with a very low break-even point, low day-to-day operating cost, and to pay public and private property owners for the use of rights-of-way, as well as a good return for investors.
  
• Provide government revenue - PerTran will pay significant, volume-based right of way usage fees to government agencies, without requiring any associated expense or liability.
  
• Inexpensive – cost to ride is less than an automobile, with the advantage that one only pays for use when it is incurred.  Vehicles cost much less than a car to build, and the routes cost much less than roadways to build and maintain.
  
• Investor Funded – any industry that is profitable can grow quite rapidly, because its profitability is where the money ultimately comes from to fund the growth.  Investors provide funds because there will be a return, greater than what was invested.  So, this system can grow rapidly, in effect generating its own funds.

The Vision, Redux - Imagine once again, boarding such a system near your home in Woodland Hills.  You enter the small vehicle, selecting your destination, LAX, from a touch screen, fasten your seat belt and the doors close.  It briskly leaves the boarding point, accelerating very rapidly, as it switches its way through the guideway network reaching a speed that, for a car, would be truly remarkable.  Yet, you are comfortable, enjoying the ride.  Your vehicle soon rapidly decelerates as it heads toward the exit point, gliding to a stop at the unloading point near your airline terminal.  The doors open, and you exit the small vehicle. It has been a bit over 15 minutes since you left Woodland Hills.  It’s going to be a great day.

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Paul Deis is President of Personal Transportation Associates, an emerging company dedicated to bringing the PerTran vision into reality.  He has a served as a senior executive in manufacturing companies, and consultant, with over 25 years experience, with nearly 60 companies in the US, China, and Mexico. He has followed and studied developments in public transportation for over 25 years.