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People mover

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Osaka New-Tram

A people mover or people mover system is a fully-automated, grade-separated rail transit system. The term is generally used only to describe elevated single-track loops serving small areas such as airports or theme parks, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated systems.

Types

Simple back-and-forth shuttles are referred to as hectos, short for hectometric, meaning designed for a few hundred meters.

Multi-station systems intended for mass transit in a city are more formally known as automated guideway transit (AGT) systems. This term is generally limited to rubber-tired vehicles led by a guiding track; fully automated rapid transit lines, such as the Singapore MRT's North East MRT Line, are usually not considered AGTs.

It has recently been suggested that the term could be used for driverless transit services and potentially for 'dual-mode' automobiles [1]. A Rapid Urban Flexible (RUF) test track was opened at Ballerup, near Copenhagen in 2000. The track is very short (25 meters) and has one test vehicle. Tests have shown that practical personal vehicles can be developed with dual mode qualities [2] [3].

Complex APMs deploy fleets of small vehicles over a network of guideways with off-line stations in a dynamic configuration that supplies non-stop service to passengers. These taxi-like systems are referred to as personal rapid transit (PRT).

History

The term was coined by Walt Disney when he and his Imagineers were working on the new 1967 Tomorrowland at Disneyland as a working title for a new attraction, the PeopleMover. According to Imagineer Bob Gurr, "the name got stuck," and it was no longer a working title.

The world's first airport people mover was installed in 1971 at Tampa International Airport in the United States. The VAL (Véhicule Automatique Léger) system in Lille, France, opened in 1983, is often cited as the world's first mass transit AGT, but the title is disputed by Kobe's Port Liner, which opened two years earlier in 1981. Lille's VAL is, however, acknowledged to be the first AGT installed to serve an existing urban area.

Driverless metros have become common in Europe and parts of Asia. The economics of automated trains tend to reduce the scale so tied to "mass" transit, so that small-scale installations are feasible. Thus cities normally thought of as too small to build a metro (e.g. Rennes, Lausanne, Brescia, etc.) are now doing so. In the U.S. APMs have become common at large airports and progressive hospitals.

On September 30, 2006, the Peachliner in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan became that nation's first people mover to cease operations.

Examples

File:MiamiMetromover.jpg
Metromover trams in Downtown Miami, Florida
Singapore's LRT system is considered a people mover system.

Urban transit

Airport

Air-Rail Link at Birmingham International Airport, UK
An underground people mover station at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Many people movers operate at airports and some also connect with other public transport systems. Airport examples include:

Other

Different meanings

The term people mover is sometimes used to refer to moving sidewalks. The name People Mover is also used by:

See also

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