tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-198686722024-03-13T13:05:54.885-07:00The Laffable Luddite Chronicles<b>We check the freshness dates on the propaganda, so you don't have to.</b>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15110337375082902901noreply@blogger.comBlogger384125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-84735038787728933912015-09-24T22:25:00.000-07:002015-09-24T22:25:57.112-07:00Propaganda Easter?<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/">It awakens</a>!Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-17279593632898568162013-12-20T11:00:00.003-08:002013-12-20T11:01:59.555-08:00A poor muckraker<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken Avidor</span> has always fancied himself a '<a href="https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&q=ken+avidor+prt+skeptic" target="_blank">skeptic</a>' of Personal Rapid Transit, as well as an investigative '<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=ken+avidor+muckraker" target="_blank">muckraker</a>.' Repeatedly he has called PRT a scam/hoax/etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But we can't help but notice that when the PRT NewsCenter <a href="http://precipblog.blogspot.com/search?q=freely+ipert" target="_blank">exposes a real PRT fraud</a>, <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Avidor</span> says not one word about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy Holidays.</span><br />
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<a href="http://boy.ly/prtnews" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">gPRT</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #f5f5f6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not even an Atta Boy</span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-55354808799606037342013-09-23T10:55:00.003-07:002014-05-03T12:04:11.411-07:00Not synonymous<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">From reading the Laffable Luddite's tweet about Princeton's Alexander Street/University Place transit task force dropping PRT from consideration, you'd think the <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/09/mock-journalist-part-v-bonehead.html" target="_blank">bulldozers</a> were already idling at the construction site:</span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ken </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">says they killed a PRT </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">project. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cue visions of hard hat-wearing engineers throwing down blueprints and stalking off in high dudgeon.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Except if you actually <a href="http://walkableprinceton.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/no-prt-or-dinky-extension/" target="_blank">click on his link</a>, what you find is that what Princeton has dropped is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>not a project</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Princeton Council heard testimony at their September 9 meeting from </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kevin Wilkes</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the Chair of the Alexander Street / University Place Transit Task Force. He reported that the possibility of a heavy rail extension of </span><span style="color: #743399; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the Dinky</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Line to take it up to Palmer Square is no longer being </span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">considered</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Use of </span><span style="color: #743399; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personal Rapid Transit</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (PRT) technology has also been</span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> excluded from further discussion. </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, several other transport modes remain under </span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">discussion.</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did we get that? "Considered." "Discussion." They are </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">talking about </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the transit modes they could implement, and dropping some of those. What has been stopped about PRT is </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">scoping </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">--which,</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at this early stage, is basically just an on-paper technology assessment.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Such discussion does not a project make.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why was PRT dropped? The article itself says the reason is unknown, and speculates it's because PRT is "relatively unproven" (not noting the existence of Heathrow and Masdar). But an educated guess can be made, based on this statement about the proposal to extend the existing 'Dinky' heavy rail </span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>[italics in original]</i></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We don’t have the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_radius" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #743399; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">turning radius</span></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; we don’t have the ability to run the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_line" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #743399; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">catenary lines</span></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> up any street in town. We eliminated that as a possibility.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">If they're restricted as to where elevated wires can go, that probably also applies to elevated modes. The cliche putdowns "pie in the sky," "The Jetsons," and "anti-transit scam" do not make an appearance. Not even "more of a Shelbyville idea."</span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The verdict:</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Update 1</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken</span> has tried to learn from the above, posting this today (10/2/2013):</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XD7vMbj0Lr4/UkzKHZiuj8I/AAAAAAAAAqw/phCOv3w-G20/s1600/overcomp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XD7vMbj0Lr4/UkzKHZiuj8I/AAAAAAAAAqw/phCOv3w-G20/s320/overcomp2.jpg" height="173" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hedging his bets, he calls the Amritsar PRT thingamajig a "Proposal."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Except the Amritsar PRT thingamabob has reached the stage of laying a foundation stone, selecting a vendor, and drawing up detailed plans. I'm afraid that takes the Amritsar PRT thingy past the rank of proposal, all the way to being a real <b>project.*</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The verdict:</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9GOn5_oysg0/UkzKHi3AZRI/AAAAAAAAAq0/5GLaqv_U_EM/s1600/overcomp3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9GOn5_oysg0/UkzKHi3AZRI/AAAAAAAAAq0/5GLaqv_U_EM/s320/overcomp3.jpg" height="173" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Too bad, <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken</span>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">* <i>Although, </i>the headline on the linked article is "<a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-21/chandigarh/42272350_1_bus-rapid-transit-system-golden-temple-amritsar" target="_blank">Much-hyped Pod transit system for Amritsar <b><i>may</i></b> get scrapped</a>" (emphasis added), so as of now it can't be said to have actually bitten the dust yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews" target="_blank">gPRT</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-12774367316529580482013-09-07T11:11:00.000-07:002013-09-09T16:39:32.569-07:00Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...is what <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> might have shouted, if he is familiar with Becket, upon reading this Avi-adoring reader comment on the recent Mountain View Voice article, <a href="http://mv-voice.com/news/2013/09/04/pod-cars-have-new-champion-in-silicon-valley" target="_blank">Pod Cars have new champion in Silicon Valley</a> (highlighting added):</span><br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #ffffcc; display: block; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; padding: 12pt;">
Posted by Bill Hough, a resident of another community<br />
on Sep 5, 2013 at 11:31 am<br />
<br />
"Podcars or "Personal Rapid Transit" is an idea that's been around for decades <span style="background-color: yellow;">yet never seems to actually get built or solve any real-world transportation problems.</span> It basically combines the worst of both worlds: low vehicle capacity of the private automobile with the expensive infrastructure of a fixed guideway transit system.<br />
<br />
This topic has been discussed at length. I recommend a couple of articles on the Light Rail Now website.<br />
First, there's "Let's Get Real About Personal Rapid Transit" by Ken Avidor at <a href="http://www.lightrailnow.org/features/f_prt_2005-01.htm" style="color: #006699; text-decoration: none;">Web Link</a><br />
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Avidor points out that, "PRT has a <span style="background-color: yellow;">solid </span>30-year record of failure. Its main purpose in recent years seems to have been to provide a cover enabling its proponents to spread disinformation about real, workable transit systems. Except for the occasional laboratory-scale prototype, PRT actually "exists" largely in computerized drawings, in promotional brochures, and in cute, ever-successful animated simulations on the internet."<br />
<br />
"The unsubstantiated claims of PRT proponents are always presented in the present tense as if the system is a proven success ... which, of course, it certainly is not. Promoters never seem to fail to bash real transit, such as light rail (LRT), as "old fashioned technology". Sadly, the media rarely check the veracity of PRT publicity and propaganda."<br />
<br />
A longer, more technical article is "Personal Rapid Transit – Cyberspace Dream Keeps Colliding With Reality" and can be found here: <a href="http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_prt001.htm" style="color: #006699; font-size: 8pt; text-decoration: none;">Web Link</a>
<br />
<br />
"Despite the persistent and fervent claims of its promoters, repeated attempts to implement a working PRT system, even in very small-scale scenarios, <span style="background-color: yellow;">have invariably failed. Not a single PRT plan, </span>during these promotional efforts over the past 40 years or more, <span style="background-color: yellow;">has seen successful implementation even in a small test application, </span>much less a major, heavy-duty, citywide rapid transit application. Early would-be PRT installations, such as the AirTrans system at Dallas-Ft. Worth Regional Airport, and the PRT at West Virginia University at Morgantown, eschewed any attempt to provide true PRT-style, small-vehicle, customized origin-destination service, and were implemented in effect as line-haul automated guideway transit (AGT) peoplemover systems with some innovative features (such as offline stations)."<br />
<br />
And finally, the good folks at Light Rail Now have put up a helpful list of links to various Monorail, PRT, AGT, and "Gadget Transit" Analyses at <a href="http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_monorail.htm" style="color: #006699; text-decoration: none;">Web Link</a><br />
<br />
Council member Mike Kasperzak and the rest of the City Council need to realize that "podcars" are the latest manifestation of the PRT fad which has been around for decades yet <span style="background-color: yellow;">never seems to get built.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span> must have been so upset. I mean come on -- poor guy. Look at it from his perspective. He hides all of his hateblogs from the general public and enjoys a summer of peace and quiet, only to have this "Bill Hough, a resident of another community," remind everybody of the anti-PRT propaganda he helped write, but posted on websites not under his control.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Hough" does make for fun reading though. It's as if zero time has passed since those execrable documents were written -- <i>'Heathrow Pod? Masdar PRT? Suncheon Ecotrans? What are <b>they</b>?'</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Obviously the guy doesn't read the Laffable Luddite Chronicles or <a href="http://gettherefast.org/lightrailnow.html" target="_blank">Get There Fast</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">gPRT</span></a><br />
<b><span style="color: #f5f5f6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Leave Ken Avidor alone! You're lucky he performs for you bastards!!!</span></b>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-57222374683430682982013-08-31T11:43:00.000-07:002014-05-03T12:03:47.867-07:00Hot Potato - Update 2<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It used to be that when Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> wanted to smear pod transit as a right wing conspiracy, all he had to do was trot out one of his state's Republicans who had said or done something supportive in the legislature.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Leaving aside the issue of why Minnesota was able to produce, elect and nurture whackjobs like Michele Bachmann and Mark Whoever despite the (best?) efforts of <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken </span>the Dump Blogger, we have to remember that<i> </i>the pro-PRT community for many years was limited to one citizens group with limited resources.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Republicans were generally anti-light rail and therefore seen as the path of least resistance, and they became a focus of pro-PRT efforts. This was a mistake, especially since it turned out there were <a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AcIvKh4VP8tDZGNyZGNuZHdfODQwZ3hjNmJyZGQ&hl=en" target="_blank">plenty of Democrats willing to offer bills on PRT</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My point is that it was easy for <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span> to trot out Krazy Eyes and Slappy whenever (and that was often) he needed to dismiss PRT as fringe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But he can't do that now, now that there are Heathrow pods, Masdar City PRT and Suncheon pods in operation, and plenty of non-Republicans are interested.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He can't do it, but it doesn't mean he won't try.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recently <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken </span> tried to use his old technique of linking a politician to 'pod people,' hoping to achieve shaming. But this time the politician is Jim Oberstar, who is giving the keynote at <a href="http://www.podcarcity.org/washington/" target="_blank">this fall's Podcar City conference</a> at George Mason University.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGMP7FxbDyM/UiI18w4uTfI/AAAAAAAAAp0/EWLc7afpA7o/s1600/oberstar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGMP7FxbDyM/UiI18w4uTfI/AAAAAAAAAp0/EWLc7afpA7o/s320/oberstar.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oberstar is no small-time loon like the aforementioned duo.<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2013/08/hot-potato.html#update1" name="note1">*</a> For one thing, he's a Democrat. And in his 1975-2011 House career he amassed <b>enormous gravitas </b>on transportation issues. He was only Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In fact, Oberstar is an avid cyclist and promoted creation of bike trails during his long career. You'd think <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> would remember that. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Awkward.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Oberstar doesn't need </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 6pt; text-align: start;">Ken Avidor</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'s approval.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">attack Oberstar more as the Podcar City conference gets closer? It would be the stupid thing to do, but -- Nah; I think he'll drop it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2013/08/hot-potato.html#note1" name="update1">^</a><span style="font-size: large;">*</span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: x-large;">UPDATE 1</span></b> -- </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8px;">Ken</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> quotes us out of context again! <i>He tried to slime Oberstar, now tries to make it look like we did it.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Archive</i></b> -- </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8px;"><a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-two-fer.html" target="_blank">Ken Avidor</a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-two-fer.html" target="_blank"> misquotes all over himself</a> (2011)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: x-large;">UPDATE 2: </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/03/jim-oberstar-dead-dies_n_5259698.html" target="_blank">James Oberstar, 1934-2014</a></span>
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<span style="color: #f5f6f6;"><b>Get it together Ken, you're barely trying</b></span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-76451948842176525942013-07-30T09:08:00.001-07:002013-07-30T09:09:19.011-07:00The Turd Stirs<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Phil Krinkie, a Republican who cares so much about PRT that he hasn't said anything about it in seven years, <a href="http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_23699102/phil-krinkie-run-6th-congressional-seat" target="_blank">has entered the race</a>* to succeed Michele Bachmann in Minnesota's 6th congressional district.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So out of all the important issues facing the district and our nation, what is the ONE thing Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist (semi-retired) <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> decided to tell his Twitter followers about Krinkie?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You guessed it:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span><span style="font-size: 8px;"> </span>seems to think that there are simply no remaining issues in this race other than -- what a coincidence -- <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span>'s obsession.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">* <span style="font-size: x-small;">"Phil Krinkie joins GOP race to succeed Bachmann," St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 20, 2013</span></span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-80503047627193091952013-04-10T13:06:00.001-07:002013-10-09T11:12:42.323-07:00I Cannot Comment<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks to reader "Not THE Harry Harrison" <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2013/03/nothing-meaningful.html" target="_blank">for alerting me</a> to this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At first I thought maybe this was <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s extreeeme attempt to deprive me of material. But no, it's about all of his blogs, <span style="font-size: xx-small;">not just Dump Bachmann</span>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At first reading it is tantalizing for what he doesn't say -- not <i style="font-weight: bold;">I don't know</i>, or <i style="font-weight: bold;">There are technical difficulties</i>, or even <i style="font-weight: bold;">That god-damn Blogger. </i>What it sounds like <span style="font-size: xx-small;">to a reasonable person</span> is <i>I've been told to keep my mouth shut</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And here is his explanation for public consumption:</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s-5jRrTNfGk/UWXBI0b0a5I/AAAAAAAAAmE/yQwlBIlGQyg/s1600/invite_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s-5jRrTNfGk/UWXBI0b0a5I/AAAAAAAAAmE/yQwlBIlGQyg/s400/invite_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wow. The "Dump Bachmann" blog <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(and all of Ken's blogs) </span>has been retired with Bachmann yet-to-be-dumped.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Speculationing. Yes, <i>SPECULATIONING.</i></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's note that <span style="font-size: xx-small;">in general</span> "I cannot comment" is a very legalistic expression. People say it when they're in trouble. They say it when arriving at the police station to assist with their inquiries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe litigation is occurring, or is in the pipeline, about something or things <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span> has written<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> in one of his blogs</span>. Something serious and with merit, otherwise those blogs would still be up and <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span> would be blogging about it. Of course, libel can be libel even if distribution is limited.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.thefogbow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=9218" target="_blank">This is the "case"</a> mentioned by AnitaMaria, but I can't believe that has any merit, coming as it does from a right wing whackjob. I certainly wouldn't pull down my blogs in face of a nuisance suit from such a quarter (unless I had written something that -- oh never mind).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or maybe <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken</span> simply doesn't understand that to be of value an archive needs to be <i>accessible</i> to would-be researchers. ANY researchers. Otherwise your archive enters the realm of conspiracy theory-style 'secret knowledge.' Yes, Stupidity would be the simple explanation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More later (I suspect).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Don't hold a wake for the Laffable Luddite's blogs yet, though:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/01/end-of-era-for-personal-rapid-transit.html" target="_blank">His Jan. 2008 blogging retirement</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/04/game-on-or-so-much-for-new-years.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">April 2008 unretirement</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/09/it-sounds-familiar-somehow.html" target="_blank">Later in 2008 re-retirement</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2009/04/propagandist-vs-pancakes.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">April 2009 - He's back</span></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #f5f6f6;">I suppose I COULD treat it as a victory</span></b>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-55977432328760972612013-03-12T11:23:00.003-07:002013-04-10T13:27:28.977-07:00Nothing Meaningful<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Mock Journalist, Part XIII</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The new <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken Avidor</span> blog post is the work of a lazy, lazy man.<br /><br />You can tell from the title: <i>Was Minnesota Personal Rapid Transit Huckster Run Out of Fayetteville, Georgia on " a Greased Rail" After "Press Release Hoax"?</i> (<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2013/03/was-minnesota-personal-rapid-transit.html">PRT Moondoggie</a>, 3/12) The question mark at the end means <i>'I have no idea.'</i> Lazy.<br /><br />The story is about the foot-in-mouth attempts by the JPods PRT company to secure an installation deal with the city of Fayetteville, Georgia. We relayed this sorry excuse for transit development starting a month ago at the NewsCenter (<a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/nxtlevel/prt/othernews.html#fcpublic">see 2/13</a>) -- the linked stories show how JPods basically counted its chickens before they were hatched.<br /><br />The overview is that JPods accidentally or on purpose released a press statement prematurely claiming Fayetteville had agreed to host the company's first pod installation. When it found out, the city council was not pleased, and the gambit (or mistake or misunderstanding or whatever it was) appears to have been pivotal in the council decision to not let JPods build on/over public rights of way. Build it on private land, they decided.<br /><br />Which is absolutely the correct decision in this case, simply because JPods has zero track record it can cite to reassure a community it can bring off a successful project. JPods wanted Fayetteville to be the guinea pig for a pod design with no prototype, no testing results, no regulatory sign-off, no project team, no manufacturing capability, no supply chain. In effect, JPods wanted Fayetteville to host a testing facility -- and that is not the job of local government, even if (as JPods claims) the project funding was to be 100% private. The public still 'pays' by allowing use of public ROW, and in any negative impacts on overall transportation and land use.<br /><br />That <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken</span> gets the story right this time is due only to the fact that he sat back and waited for the Fayetteville media, the NewsCenter, and the Transport-Innovators Google Group to do the work of information gathering <b>as well as criticism</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And he concludes today's entry by telling any public officials who might be reading (I suppose it's possible), "If you're wondering whether PRT is a boondoggle or not, Google is your best friend" -- an unwitting admission that <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken Avidor</span> adds nothing meaningful to the coverage or discussion of personal rapid transit.<br /><br /> But you knew that.</span><br />
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Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-77050737153346389722013-01-29T13:32:00.001-08:002013-03-11T11:52:33.400-07:00Non-video video<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>It's 2013!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Laffable Luddite is so desperate to find bad PRT news, he's posted audio of a Minnesota legislative meeting with new transportation commissioner Charles Zelle. The remarks are actually neutral and do not result in any policy statements about PRT in Minnesota (i.e., pod transit is still going nowhere in the state). But it's not negative toward PRT either, so <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> has to call it "PRT rears it's <i>[sic]</i> ugly head", complete with obligatory <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> typo. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://blip.tv/personal-rapid-transit-exposed/personal-rapid-transit-rears-it-s-ugly-head-again-at-the-mn-legislature-1-26-13-6516661">LINK</a></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also:</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 6pt;"><a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2013/01/senator-torrey-westrom-r-promotes.html">Ken</a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2013/01/senator-torrey-westrom-r-promotes.html">'s blog post on the topic</a>, slamming both of the transportation commissioners (Zelle is second) appointed by Democratic Governor Mark Dayton. PRT continues to exist for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">only in a conservative Republican bubble he has constructed, ignoring nonideological PRT activity around the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-82439405869393626242012-12-07T10:35:00.002-08:002013-07-30T08:49:30.589-07:00Sense of proportion<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 66%;">
"King Kong was only three foot six inches tall."<br />
<div style="font-size: 9pt; padding-left: 72px;">
Peter O'Toole to Steve Railsback <br />
<i>The Stunt Man</i><br />
1980, 20th Century Fox</div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Scale. It's always good to put things in their proper scale. <i>Context, </i>if you will.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The history of this blog is replete with examples of us pointing out when <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> ignores or omits context, all the better to incorrectly portray Personal Rapid Transit technology.
I bet he thought he could sneak two non-contextual photos by us in his November 15 post, <i>Suncheon Bay Vectus "PRT" Revealed to NOT be Personal Rapid Transit</i> (<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/11/berther.html">Berther</a>, 11/15).
We could probably call it a Screen Play -- a Big Lie, 'Suncheon PRT stations aren't offline', running interference for this:</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vehK9erSXwo/UMIoO8R8WGI/AAAAAAAAAiw/0hHL-PKOPhY/s1600/massive.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vehK9erSXwo/UMIoO8R8WGI/AAAAAAAAAiw/0hHL-PKOPhY/s400/massive.jpg" width="325" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Two pictures in which there is nothing familiar to impart a sense of scale. <i>Sure, </i>thought <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>, <i>I'll just call them <b>'massive.' </b>It's not like anyone can prove otherwise -- it's all the way over in Korea.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He thought wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">An examination of the photo of Station One and Depot in <a href="http://www.advancedtransit.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Suncheon-Bay-Update-2012.pdf">the official Vectus PDF</a> <i>does </i>contain a good clue about scale: workers on the ground.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AMuSVx01zwo/UMIwQsvXYQI/AAAAAAAAAjE/IVkqPMbfg3g/s1600/stnzoom1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AMuSVx01zwo/UMIwQsvXYQI/AAAAAAAAAjE/IVkqPMbfg3g/s400/stnzoom1.jpg" width="365" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let's propose those workers are 5'7." That would make the station platform only about 28 feet above the ground. And the station roof only about 40 feet above the ground.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For even better sense of scale, behold these recently released photos showing a rather compact Suncheon Station 2:</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo_y-QKj9Xc/UMIx5DzEPJI/AAAAAAAAAjM/96ojEEwb0Mw/s1600/233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo_y-QKj9Xc/UMIx5DzEPJI/AAAAAAAAAjM/96ojEEwb0Mw/s1600/233.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption">PRT Consulting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4YO9eqpDCAk/UMIyY-Rk2RI/AAAAAAAAAjU/iWr2ncNawC4/s1600/Photo18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4YO9eqpDCAk/UMIyY-Rk2RI/AAAAAAAAAjU/iWr2ncNawC4/s320/Photo18.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><a href="http://www.prtconsulting.com/galleries/gallery13/Photo18.jpg">PRT Consulting</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As for the 'massive' main guideway to Station Two, it is holding 2
sets of rails, one going in each direction. Therefore that guideway is
twice as wide as what's shown above at Station One. Here's a photo of 3 guys standing on single guideway at Suncheon, just imagine it twice as wide.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MnWzSUoXvGM/UMI2PMKqecI/AAAAAAAAAjk/mj3csCDtxco/s1600/Photo09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MnWzSUoXvGM/UMI2PMKqecI/AAAAAAAAAjk/mj3csCDtxco/s1600/Photo09.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><a href="http://www.prtconsulting.com/galleries/gallery13/Photo09.jpg">PRT Consulting</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">UPDATE 1</span></i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">It's official: </span></i></b>Vectus lists 'typical' guideway width as 1400mm (4.6 ft. Ref: page 23 <a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/Vectus-overview-VUK-220612.pdf">here</a>). But the vehicles are 2100mm/6.9 ft wide (</span><a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/Vectus-overview-VUK-220612.pdf" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">p.22</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">), so the little pods are actually <i>wider than the "massive" guideway.</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></span> <span style="color: #f5f5f6;"><b>Massive Liar</b></span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-82326507782677241372012-11-15T10:13:00.000-08:002013-03-28T09:30:27.758-07:00Berther<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Laffable Luddite again displays ignorance of basic PRT concepts</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I think we've pretty well established how <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> is the <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/search/label/WORST%20EXPERT%20IN%20THE%20WORLD">Worst Expert In The World</a> when it comes to anything to do with PRT. So his new blog post <a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/11/suncheon-bay-vectus-prt-revealed-to-not.html">"Suncheon Bay Vectus "PRT" Revealed to NOT be Personal Rapid Transit"</a> can best be described as <i>maintaining his pattern.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> writes as follows (pay attention to what he has put in <b>bold</b>, they are not in the original):</span><br />
<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 80%;">
The <a href="http://www.advancedtransit.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Suncheon-Bay-Update-2012.pdf" target="_blank">Vectus October update (PDF)</a> has a preview of their much-ballyhooed Suncheon Bay project in Korea. <br />
<blockquote>
Station Two is currently under construction and due to be completed by the end of December 2012. <b>Both stations will feature in-line berths</b>, platform screen doors and touch screen passenger information/destination selection facilities.</blockquote>
According
to the Wikipedia PRT article which is mostly written by fans of PRT,
offline stations are a defining characteristic of PRT: <br />
<blockquote>
In
PRT designs, vehicles are sized for individual or small group travel,
typically carrying no more than 3 to 6 passengers per vehicle.[1] Guide
ways are arranged in a network topology, <b>with all stations located on sidings,</b>
and with frequent merge/diverge points. This approach allows for
nonstop, point-to-point travel, bypassing all intermediate stations</blockquote>
So
Vectus is just another monorail/people-mover that exist in airports,
amusement parks etc. all over the world. Not the revolution in
transportation we were promised, not "faster, cheaper, better" than
conventional transit modes.</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He really thinks he has something here, and sinks his teeth in. Except he's comparing apples and oranges: the fact is a PRT station is offline, <i><b>but its berths can be either inline or not inline.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u>Nomenclature review:</u></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A <b>station </b>is where multiple pods can park to load and unload passengers; it is <b>offline </b>on a <b>siding</b> so vehicles going to other stations can bypass it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The positions where pods park are <b>berths;</b> they can be <b>sawtoothed </b>where pods park at an angle so they can pass each other in the station, or <b>inline</b> (!!!) where pods park nose to tail. </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here is a PRT station at Masdar City:</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1en_0silITU/UKUqZk3TW4I/AAAAAAAAAiM/WffthOc-GP8/s1600/berthsnotinline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1en_0silITU/UKUqZk3TW4I/AAAAAAAAAiM/WffthOc-GP8/s320/berthsnotinline.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>Sawtoothed:</b> Berths angled, not inline. Station is offline.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Next, a PRT station at West Virginia University: </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v3mWzY_Kev4/UKUqWqeCe5I/AAAAAAAAAiE/gMeYb7KNu-s/s1600/berthsinline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v3mWzY_Kev4/UKUqWqeCe5I/AAAAAAAAAiE/gMeYb7KNu-s/s1600/berthsinline.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Berths nose-to-tail, or <b>inline. Station is still offline.</b></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You choose: <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> doesn't understand what an inline berth is, or knows what it is but has decided to deliberately confuse it<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/11/berther.html#foot" name="star">*</a> with inline stations.</span><br />
<br />
<hr />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=19868672" name="update1"></a>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Update 1 </b></span></span>(11/16): Martin Pemberton, Vectus director of Sales & Marketing, has confirmed to NewsCenter that the <b>Suncheon stations are indeed offline </b>--</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Maybe some confusion in terminology. By 'in-line' we mean one behind the other. The stations are 'off-line' from the main track, ie. in siding as you call them.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The clock to see how long it takes <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> to retract his post starts... <i>now.</i> </span><br />
<br />
<script>
/*
Count up from any date script-
By JavaScript Kit (www.javascriptkit.com)
Over 200+ free scripts here!
*/
var montharray=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec")
function countup(yr,m,d){
var today=new Date()
var todayy=today.getYear()
if (todayy < 1000)
todayy+=1900
var todaym=today.getMonth()
var todayd=today.getDate()
var todaystring=montharray[todaym]+" "+todayd+", "+todayy
var paststring=montharray[m-1]+" "+d+", "+yr
var difference=(Math.round((Date.parse(todaystring)-Date.parse(paststring))/(24*60*60*1000))*1)
difference+=" days"
document.write("RETRACTION CLOCK: "+difference+" so far.")
}
//enter the count up date using the format year/month/day
countup(2012,11,16)
</script>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://javascriptkit.com/">JavaScript
Kit</a></span></div>
<hr />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By the way, while the official definition of PRT calls for offline <i>stations</i>, a demonstration system with only <b>two </b>stations (like Vectus at Suncheon) wouldn't need stations to be on sidings. A trip from Station One that bypassed Station Two would end up -- where? I invite <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken </span> to try to fill in the blank.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Basically, there is no need at Suncheon to bypass a station. Doubt could be cast on Vectus should they ever offer inline stations in a larger, multi-station system. But we know they are capable of offline stations. An offline station was a feature of the Vectus test facility in Sweden, which received government safety clearance.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Syl5p7GDpAk/UKUubx-mm1I/AAAAAAAAAic/DDjT5JHRBQ0/s1600/vectus_prt_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Syl5p7GDpAk/UKUubx-mm1I/AAAAAAAAAic/DDjT5JHRBQ0/s320/vectus_prt_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Uppsala, Sweden. Vectus pod enters offline guideway.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Also:</i> <a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/nxtlevel/prt/vectusnews.html#vup1012">We cover this Vectus Update at the NewsCenter</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/11/berther.html#star" name="foot">^</a> * i.e., lie</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">P.S. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken </span> </span>also has <a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/11/no-chance-for-personal-rapid-transit.html">a second post today</a>, in which he declares:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<blockquote style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(183, 195, 208); display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 80%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"elections have consequences... the <b>[Nov. 6, 2012]</b> election slams the door on any chance of public funding for PRT projects"</span></blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For proof he cites a quote <b>from 2011</b> by <b>one</b> Minnesota legislator who is skeptical of PRT, who is the new chair of the senate transportation committee. And the quote contains no vow about door-slamming, it's all an </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor </span>prediction; we know <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2007/06/mr-accuracys-greatest-hits.html">how accurate he is</a> about predictions.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In short, elections <i>would </i>have consequences for PRT in Minnesota -- had PRT been an issue in any Minnesota election contest, which it was not (sorry </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span></span></span>, you mentioning it doesn't count).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At any rate, no future public funding for PRT projects in Minnesota represents <i>no change from the past. </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span></span></span></span></span> is celebrating <i>no change.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #f5f5f6;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">PRTher, rhymes with Bir</span>ther</b></span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-24931046746490911402012-08-30T14:04:00.000-07:002013-03-05T13:37:27.520-08:00Terrifying Misrepresentation!!!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Today <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken Avidor </span>the Laffable Luddite is back, and he's in fine Jell-O-like form.
</span><br />
<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 80%;">
<b>"VIDEO: Heathrow T5 Personal Rapid Transit Pod Customer Service: " Truly Shameless"</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pod promoters always downplay the possibility of failures for PRT. The fact is failure can happen with any mechanical system. What is especially terrifying for a passenger is to experience a failure without any human available to explain what is going on.
</span></span>…<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/08/video-heathrow-t5-personal-rapid.html">Source</a></span>
</blockquote>
<b>"Video"! "Shameless"! "Failure can happen"! "Especially terrifying"!</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ken</span> then shows you the video. Of a man terrifyingly<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/08/terrifying-misrepresentation.html#foot" name="star">*</a> stuck <i>at the Terminal 5 pod <b>STATION</b>,</i> trying to speak with Customer Service but not getting satisfaction, <i>which "PRT is a Joke IS A JOKE" is certain must never happen in any other everyday situation in the whole wide world already.</i></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mTflwSO8mjQ/UD_TtwhpRKI/AAAAAAAAAhg/_PAVcH2Qj4E/s1600/terrifying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mTflwSO8mjQ/UD_TtwhpRKI/AAAAAAAAAhg/_PAVcH2Qj4E/s320/terrifying.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>OH THE HUMANITY! </b>Frame from the terrifying video of the terrifying Heathrow Terminal 5 pod station. At any time they might have walked <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=heathrow+terminal+5+food+maps.google.com%2F&hl=en&ll=51.472415,-0.489793&spn=0.003348,0.008336&sll=51.473638,-0.490093&sspn=0.003348,0.008336&t=h&gl=us&hq=heathrow+terminal+5+food+maps.google.com%2F&z=17">next door for a snack</a> (although I hear <a href="https://plus.google.com/105026213611048002088/about?gl=us&hl=en">Gordon Ramsay</a> kitchens can be nightmares) while the problem was being resolved.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Pod promoters" don't really "downplay" failures, either. In fact, they speak and write extensively on how they try to design their system with backup components to reduce the odds of failure. Maybe that makes them sound overconfident, but they certainly don't "downplay."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In addition, it's hard to make sense of <a href="http://rishidshah.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/baa-heathrow-t5-parking-pod-failure-no.html">the source blogger's complaint</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We had to listen to a voice hiding behind the screen, who after a while stopped picking up the help phone also. </blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As though he expected an airport representative to be crouched behind the little kiosk.
We don't even know why the pods appeared to be not in operation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But the blogger does make it clear that: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow;">Its <i>[sic]</i> not bad that it failed, </span>because these things do fail, what was worse was that they refused to send anybody down for the <span style="background-color: yellow;">20 minutes</span> it was out of order. </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The complaint was about Customer Service (the human factor), NOT the Ultra PRT technology. And at 20 minutes in duration, a decidedly minor complaint.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Verdict:</b><br /> </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mFvL8IBq7DQ/UD_TtSmH-9I/AAAAAAAAAhY/XeBo8j9wEE8/s1600/overblown.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mFvL8IBq7DQ/UD_TtSmH-9I/AAAAAAAAAhY/XeBo8j9wEE8/s320/overblown.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: large;">Update 1:</span></span> </b>Robert Llewellyn's <i>Fully Charged </i>-- "<a href="http://youtu.be/4Ujd4wutddE?t=9m37s">About 90%" of Heathrow Pod users have pushed the :) button</a>.
</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/08/terrifying-misrepresentation.html#star" name="foot">^</a> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">*<span style="font-size: x-small;">So terrified he had the presence of mind to record the video</span> </span><br />
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">gPRT</span></a>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-84646025508016455602012-07-21T12:54:00.000-07:002012-07-21T12:55:56.574-07:00Epoch, In Your Face-level defeat for the Laffable Luddite<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
UK Tram -- <b>a British industry group that promotes light rail and trams</b> -- has issued <a href="http://www.uktram.co.uk/Pages/GuidanceNotes.aspx" target="_blank">how-to guidance on promoting Personal Rapid Transit projects</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> will now have to claim <a href="http://www.uktram.co.uk/">UK Tram</a> are "gadgetbahners," have been "hoodwinked," and are "just like" Michele Bachmann.</div>
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Keep an eye on <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s "PRT Moondoggie" blog for the out of context quotes he's bound to pull from UK Tram's PDFs!</div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a> </div>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-32588396366486824992012-07-05T18:32:00.001-07:002013-03-05T13:35:15.498-08:00Hazy<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
An effort on PRT by the Indian state of Kerala has been underway this year (<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/article3012552.ece" target="_blank">1</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/article3200079.ece" target="_blank">2</a>, <a href="http://www.yentha.com/news/view/1/pod-car-by-this-year-k-m-mani" target="_blank">3</a>), and today a brief article in Yentha.com gives both a status update as well as reflection of the uncertainty surrounding the project. Clip:</div>
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<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 80%;">
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Trivandrum: </b>Infrastructure Kerala Ltd (INKEL) had brought up the idea of pod-cars
around the same time when monorail was being pushed as a Mass Rapid
Transit System for the city. As of now, monorails do not appear likely
as the government is waiting for E Sreedharan's report on the
feasibility of Trivandrum to have a metro rail system. And the future of
pod-cars seems hazy as well.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">. . .</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">While INKEL came up with the idea, NATPAC was given the task of conducting a feasibility study regarding the project.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"The feasibility study has been conducted and the report has been submitted to INKEL," informed T Elangovan, Head, Traffic and Transport Department, NATPAC. "Now it is upto <i>[sic] </i>them to submit the project report."
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">He refused to comment on the conclusion of the report and only said: "The study was conducted for the 7 kilometer stretch between Vellayambalam and East Fort; it wasn't a study on how the pod-car project would be implemented but merely if the pod-car project is feasible or not."
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.yentha.com/news/view/1/the-uncertain-future-of-pod-cars">Source</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
In other words, there are monorail and pod feasibility studies for one corridor in the city of <b style="font-weight: normal;">Trivandrum</b>, the latter is done and the former isn't. But the fact the infrastructure agency has yet to release the results of the PRT study gives the unnamed reporter the impression that no news is bad news. That's clearly an opinon.</div>
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And the overall impression is that, really, as yet <i>nothing</i> can be concluded about the report one way or another. </div>
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Unless you're <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> the Laffable Luddite. True to form, he cherrypicks <b>one sentence </b>to tweet about:</div>
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<a href="http://twitter.com/Avidor/status/220903251183276033" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="63" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wZGibSnlLu0/T_Y8KDjs0II/AAAAAAAAAgM/mNYne4UAS4I/s400/hazy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yup, <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/search?q=context">takes it out of context</a> <b>again </b>-- taking the characterization of PRT in a specific bureaucratic process in one city ("hazy as well" <i>as monorail</i>), and broadening it -- 'hazy as well' <i>in all of India!</i> </div>
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And glossing over pod projects in Amritsar (<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-luddite-veto.html">1</a>, <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/01/hes-green-until-hes-not.html">2</a>) and <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Haryana/CM-puts-pod-taxi-project-on-fast-track/Article1-882935.aspx">Gurgaon</a> as "hype."</div>
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What a hazy guy.</div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">gPRT</a>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-87145693556892426112012-05-04T19:28:00.000-07:002012-05-04T19:28:23.970-07:00Three little words<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
In which I report on <a href="http://precipblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/san-jose-atn-not-technically-feasible.html#update1">a City of San Jose memo about its Automated Transit Network study, and correctly predict what words <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> would focus on</a>.</div>
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<i>Related:</i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://precipblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/6-surrenders-of-vukan-r-vuchic.html">The <span style="font-size: large;">6</span> Surrenders Of Vukan R. Vuchic </a></div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a> </div>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-49313108400159320452012-03-31T17:01:00.001-07:002013-03-05T13:38:44.952-08:00Possibly the funniest Laffable Luddite post...<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">...Since the last one! <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span>'s headline <b>BLARES</b> --</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #ffff66; display: block; padding-bottom: 12pt; padding-left: 12pt; padding-right: 12pt; padding-top: 12pt; width: 80%;">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/03/seattle-transportation-examinercom.html">Seattle Transportation Examiner.com Reporter <i>[sic] </i><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">Not Reporting</span> His Opposition to Recent Seattle Personal Rapid Transit Proposal</a>"</span><br />
<br />
<i>Not reporting on it, but quietly whispering his opposition on his personal blog.</i></blockquote>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-px0Fmf8WRsE/T3jnPEQ1XnI/AAAAAAAAAd4/g7fkfjoz2Ak/s1600/avidor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-px0Fmf8WRsE/T3jnPEQ1XnI/AAAAAAAAAd4/g7fkfjoz2Ak/s200/avidor.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
The Laffable Luddite says:</div>
"He's covering monorail!"</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
"He's NOT covering monorail!</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">He then goes on to breathlessly quote <a href="http://precipblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/not-another-agency.html"><span style="font-size: large;">all the stuff I reported</span></a> - a week ago - at PRTJJ's sister blog, "This Week In Precipitation" (TWIP, The Editor's Blog of The PRT NewsCenter™). And what does "quietly whispering" mean? <span style="font-size: small;">How is posting something in a normal size font 'whispering'?</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">For some reason,
<span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken </span> has a bug up his butt about my not reporting it at Examiner.com, as though some massive pipeline of Seattle Transportation News has been filtered to omit mention of the Great PRT Conspiracy. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><i>News Flash -- I don't report <b>anything</b> on Examiner.com anymore, not in over <b>TWO </b>years, which was when I decided Examiner to be pretty much a joke as a citizen journalism umbrella.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span></i>
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/transportation-in-seattle/david-gow" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My material is still there</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">, it's still damn good stuff, but I haven't been adding to it, and I won't be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Examiner doesn't really vet anything anyone writes. Content-wise there is no difference reading an Examiner-branded blog as opposed to something on Blogger or Tumblr -- quality depends on the author, being part of Examiner adds no value. And so in the last couple of years Examiner has become, in my opinion, a home for a lot of right wing nutjobs. Why would I want to be part of that brand?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">I wouldn't, so I don't and I'm not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Why has <span style="font-size: 8px;">Ken Avidor </span>decided to obsess about Examiner? I don't know and really don't care -- although I <i>am</i> amused.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">If you want to know you could ask him -- if he allowed "<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/">PRT Moondoggie</a>" readers to post comments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">* * *</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 8px;">Ken</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"> also writes</span><br />
<blockquote style="background-color: #ffff66; display: block; padding: 12px; width: 80%;">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">David Gow has finally acknowledged the existence of the PRT proposal for his city on his </span><a href="http://www.gettherefast.org/newsindex.html" style="line-height: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Get There Fast website's news page, with this comment:</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">Get There Fast takes no position on this proposal.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">revealing (yet again) that he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. I'm designer and admin for <a href="http://gettherefast.org/">GetThereFast.org</a>, but it's not 'mine.' It is run by a Seattle-area committee as an advocacy/community outreach website about PRT. Therefore MY editorial voice is not present on the page of news links. That GTF takes no position on the CenTran monorail proposal (again, I covered it <a href="http://precipblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/not-another-agency.html">here</a>) is simply a statement of fact, and we want to stay out of what is, essentially, a political campaign.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">As for "finally" acknowledging the existence of the "PRT proposal," I want to extend my apologies to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 8px;">Ken</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">. New posts of news on GTF can lag because it often takes me a while to get to it, since I give <a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">PRT NewsCenter</a> most of my time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Although, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 8px;">Ken</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">, my not having enough time for GTF is really <i>your</i> fault. All your anti-PRT idiocy creates tons of work for me here at "PRT Is a Joke <i>IS A JOKE</i>."</span><br />
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<div style="color: #38761d;">
<a a="" href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/03/possibly-funniest-laffable-luddite-post.html#update1" name="update1"></a>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">Update 1:</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">I suppose I should acknowledge the possibility that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 8px;">Avidor</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;"> thinks he is Valiantly Taking The Fight To The Enemy On His Home Turf. But the way he's gone about it comes across as <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'Don't cover PRT your way, cover it MYYYY way.'</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 8px;">Ken</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: left;">, I'm telling you this as a friend -- <i>get some help for the OCD. </i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #f5f6f6; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Allow comments, Ken! Cluck cluck bawk bawk BAWK! </b></span>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews"><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">gPRT</span></a>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-25487721361727364662012-03-13T22:23:00.000-07:002013-10-09T10:48:49.562-07:00A Certain Demeaner<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> served himself up for us to write about today, with the following tweet. Apparently he just couldn't resist the opportunity to conflate Bachmann's 2003 PRT bill with the current <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/03/03/stcroix-river-bridge-klobuchar-bachmann/">St. Croix River Bridge project</a>.
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zxZaYWHePg4/T2AmGtTi6kI/AAAAAAAAAcw/A5PGphgBnbA/s1600/newseqpromotion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 16pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zxZaYWHePg4/T2AmGtTi6kI/AAAAAAAAAcw/A5PGphgBnbA/s320/newseqpromotion.jpg" width="320" /> <b>+</b></a></div>
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The one thing has nothing to do with the other -- unless you equate the bipartisan support for the bridge in the MN congressional delegation with the <a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AcIvKh4VP8tDZGNyZGNuZHdfODQwZ3hjNmJyZGQ&hl=en">13 Democrats and 5 Resmuglicans</a> who were pro-PRT in the 2003-04 state senate session.
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We'll leave behind the matter of the bridge, since <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s handlers seem to have helped him find the correct side of that issue. But what of this 'promotion' of PRT by Minnesota Public Radio?
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gEihMcg05z4/T2Amqa_tMMI/AAAAAAAAAc4/Mos453BJU64/s1600/mpr_prtpulls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 16pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="305" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gEihMcg05z4/T2Amqa_tMMI/AAAAAAAAAc4/Mos453BJU64/s320/mpr_prtpulls.jpg" width="320" /> <b>+</b></a></div>
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
It was a story in MPR's <i>News & Features </i>section. Got that? Not Opinion or Editorial.
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In <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s eyes, if a news story doesn't agree with his propaganda it must be enemy propaganda. That's how author Dan Olson is turned from a <i>reporter </i>into a <i>promoter.
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<b>You know, this </b>reminds me of the time <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> took issue with an article about a possible PRT project in Dubai:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DEIDGP4kmg/T2Ao4Eikh1I/AAAAAAAAAdA/AWwYZSoOYK0/s1600/naylora.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DEIDGP4kmg/T2Ao4Eikh1I/AAAAAAAAAdA/AWwYZSoOYK0/s400/naylora.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://prtskeptic.tblog.com/post/1969837779">"Personal Rapid Transit" PRT Disinformation Part II and III</a> (Ye Olde PRT Skeptic Blog, 11/5/05)</span>
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"Fun"? There was nothing fun about it. <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> wasn't satirical, there was no irony, he employed no pun or other wordplay. </div>
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<b>Nope, it was just <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> suggesting you Google sexy pictures of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=zoe%20naylor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=uR9gT5Njo5WIAtmSwZMN&biw=788&bih=666&sei=1x9gT86xJoeeiQLUvvGxBA">Zoe Naylor</a> </b>while thinking of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22zoe+naylor%22+site%3Aarabianbusiness.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t">an accomplished business reporter</a> who happens to have the same name.
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Far from fun, it was demeaning. <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> might as well have told journalist Naylor to hold an aspirin between her knees.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> makes MPR sad</b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wWENrbflGiU/T2Asn-WwGAI/AAAAAAAAAdI/fjv7s2GIOWk/s1600/10q_garrison_keillor_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wWENrbflGiU/T2Asn-WwGAI/AAAAAAAAAdI/fjv7s2GIOWk/s320/10q_garrison_keillor_02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></div>
Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-56330194791028041692012-02-25T21:29:00.000-08:002012-02-25T21:33:44.903-08:00Achtung<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/02/prt-promoter-compares-politicians.html">You boys play nice, now</a>.</div>
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<i><b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Archive</b></i> </div>
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<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2010/02/missed-again.html">Missed Again</a> (2/14/2010)</div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></div>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-38416326698468770102012-02-24T18:54:00.001-08:002013-07-01T16:17:20.668-07:00The reason it's called TWITter<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I would call this one really unbelievable if not for having been documenting all this crap for the last *mumble* years.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You know when you're planning a local transit trip, or waiting at a stop or station, and you decide to check Twitter to see why your bus or train is late?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All the big transit agencies have a Twitter presence. <a href="http://twitter.com/nyctsubwayscoop">New York MTA</a> has one. My home town <a href="http://twitter.com/kcmetrobus">King County Metro</a> has one. My favorite <a href="http://twitter.com/trimet">Portland Trimet</a> has one. And even <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span>'s <a href="http://twitter.com/MetroTransitMN/">Metro Transit</a> in the Twin Cities has one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Having these Twitter accounts is part of the public service. It's a new social media way of letting people know where the bus is. It's designed to reduce the number of surprises for transit riders. It makes transit more convenient.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But not if you're </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">. To him it is proof of techno-infeasibility -- if the transit system status being tweeted is that of a PRT system:</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ0VWv4dyIw/T0hJPC6MXJI/AAAAAAAAAcE/dM8EFTmGnTw/s1600/wvutwitter.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ0VWv4dyIw/T0hJPC6MXJI/AAAAAAAAAcE/dM8EFTmGnTw/s1600/wvutwitter.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That's right. West Virginia U is doing what so many transit agencies do, informing its students when and where the PRT system might be up or down. But in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">'s </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">brain</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> it's support for his argument that it's "<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2010/03/prtista-in-chief.html">Time to pull the plug on the WVU PRT</a>." And replace it with - ? He has never said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What a Luddite. </span><br />
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Let's apply the same logic to Metro. Every time the Minneapolis Hiawatha line goes down it means that light rail line is a boondoggle! The <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> Rule says so!</div>
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<script charset="utf-8" src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js">
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<script>
new TWTR.Widget({
version: 2,
type: 'search',
search: 'hiawatha OR "light rail" from:MetroTransitMN',
interval: 30000,
title: 'Metro Hiawatha',
subject: 'K*n says Bad Tweets=Boondoggle!',
width: 250,
height: 300,
theme: {
shell: {
background: '#8ec1da',
color: '#ffffff'
},
tweets: {
background: '#ffffff',
color: '#444444',
links: '#1985b5'
}
},
features: {
scrollbar: false,
loop: true,
live: true,
behavior: 'default'
}
}).render().start();
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:: widget ::<br />
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<b>Also today:</b></div>
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I am reminded of a recent back-and-forth that took place on Twitter between myself and one @JCTRambler, a Follower of @<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> who, in addition to not reading linked material, essentially <b>called me a liar:</b><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTcgDojxcq8/T0hitvTqEsI/AAAAAAAAAcM/_SgOWE7iB-Q/s1600/rambler1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="63" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTcgDojxcq8/T0hitvTqEsI/AAAAAAAAAcM/_SgOWE7iB-Q/s400/rambler1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1sxF7qD5iOc/T0hi1SvaHAI/AAAAAAAAAcU/EfexpITRAMw/s1600/rambler2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="65" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1sxF7qD5iOc/T0hi1SvaHAI/AAAAAAAAAcU/EfexpITRAMw/s400/rambler2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sqRNjqj7G90/T0hi1iRY4-I/AAAAAAAAAcc/VrD-wtCqd0I/s1600/rambler3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="53" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sqRNjqj7G90/T0hi1iRY4-I/AAAAAAAAAcc/VrD-wtCqd0I/s400/rambler3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4vuZpG8Yca0/T0hi18bll_I/AAAAAAAAAck/gAMvvri_eqY/s1600/rambler4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="50" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4vuZpG8Yca0/T0hi18bll_I/AAAAAAAAAck/gAMvvri_eqY/s400/rambler4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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No further response. An apology would have been nice.<br />
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">gPRT</span></a>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-59835030740008878122012-02-05T12:00:00.000-08:002013-07-01T16:23:53.092-07:00Important question marks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday I answered a tweeted question from @JN_Seattle ("John Niles") about Vectus PRT:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sJHVChaNSR8/Ty7vJXGw8xI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/Hd9phr6IOGw/s1600/jnq1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sJHVChaNSR8/Ty7vJXGw8xI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/Hd9phr6IOGw/s320/jnq1.jpg" width="297" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jRq5X05Ero/Ty7vLPJx6qI/AAAAAAAAAbY/XzOgRPQlsO0/s1600/jnq2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jRq5X05Ero/Ty7vLPJx6qI/AAAAAAAAAbY/XzOgRPQlsO0/s320/jnq2.jpg" width="320" /></a>
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Pretty straightforward.</div>
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Yet this a.m. the Laffable Luddite ignores the question marks in Niles's tweet, and jumps to the conclusion:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KpE2ixfyED0/Ty8GSFE53gI/AAAAAAAAAb4/m7vMfG-ui3k/s1600/av_jn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KpE2ixfyED0/Ty8GSFE53gI/AAAAAAAAAb4/m7vMfG-ui3k/s1600/av_jn.jpg" /></a></div>
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Which is a good example of the basis of the Hail Mary (<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/01/business-plan.html"><i>Business Plan</i></a>, Jan. 21, 2012): <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> needs the reader to NOT click the link, read the referenced tweet, and learn that Niles <b><i>is just asking me questions, and reveals nothing about his position on pod transit.</i></b></div>
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The only ways <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> can know Niles's position on pods is -- a) ask him or b) read his mind. We know he hasn't asked him.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xUBQkakvKQY/TL3yn-i1N2I/AAAAAAAAAPw/BxHQHYluC9o/s320/greatCarnidor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xUBQkakvKQY/TL3yn-i1N2I/AAAAAAAAAPw/BxHQHYluC9o/s320/greatCarnidor.jpg" /></a></div>
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The actual purpose of <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s tweet is a <b>Hidden Ball</b> (<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/01/business-plan.html">ibid</a>): he is repeating his phony linkage of PRT with the Discovery Institute (<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2006/04/todays-provocation.html"><i>Today's Provocation</i></a>, Apr. 15, 2006).</div>
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<b>The Deconstruction</b><br />
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1. I don't know John Niles except by reputation. He worked at the Cascadia Center, the Urban Issues think tank housed at Discovery.</div>
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2. Wacky Discovery promotes Intelligent Design; <b>wonky Cascadia promotes high speed rail, commuter & DMU rail, Portland-style streetcars, and plug-in cars.</b></div>
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Where Discovery is <i>The Munsters,</i> Cascadia is Marilyn.*</div>
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3. We can make an educated guess about Niles: he is either conservative or doesn't care a whit about politics. Political contributions by him in <a href="http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/norindsea.shtml">federal</a> or <a href="http://www.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/AdvancedSearch/ContributionsData?contributee=ALL&electionYear=ALL&dateFrom=&dateThru=&amountFrom=&amountThru=&committeeType=IGNORE&election=ALL&city=&state=&zip=&contributor=niles,%20john&employer=&occupation=&description=">Washington</a> state elections are: zero.</div>
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Today Niles is working on an EV-based project at CATES, another Puget Sound-area think tank -- hardly what a drill-now/drill-here Republican would do. And the number of writings on the Web by John Niles on subjects not related to transportation politics is exactly: zero, plus or minus zero.</div>
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4. Niles's position on light rail is well known. He's been openly against it, based on the size of the investment and operating subsidy. This can be researched at his website, <a href="http://www.globaltelematics.com/">Global Telematics</a>. Instead, he is for Bus Rapid Transit.</div>
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On these stands we part company, since I believe the public nature of transit means The People ought to be able to authorize and subsidize anything it wants, if an electoral majority decides it is worthwhile. And readers of <a href="http://precipblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/visionless.html">This Week In Precipitation</a> know my distaste for BRT.</div>
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5. Niles's only connection with PRT is that his site archives papers written in the 1990s by then-State Rep. Dick Nelson (D-Seattle, an engineering PhD) and Berkeley economist Don Shakow, funded in part by the Bullitt and Medina foundations (extremely reputable Seattle foundations). Nelson and Shakow mention PRT along with a host of noncontroversial proposals.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> will say this is enough of a connection. But that 1990s activity did not arise from a vacuum. The concurrent Raytheon PRT program had created expectation of availability of a PRT system to act as a circulator-feeder for light rail. So much so that Sound Transit nee RTA brought PRT under its umbrella, culminating in a $30 million Innovation Fund which, among other things, was to conduct a PRT demonstration. This is the landscape in which the Nelson-Shakow work took place.</div>
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6. It is true that Cascadia, and therefore Discovery, sponsored a 2005 public workshop in which PRT was <i>discussed</i> (no policy statements resulted). But if that makes Niles a 'pod person,' then he is also a commuter rail person and a passenger ferry person, since those were the subjects of other meetings in the series. Hardly disreputable.</div>
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<b>Conclusions</b><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rpYDQt02DXQ/Ty8GI-h52NI/AAAAAAAAAbw/xQEtlvCkVgw/s1600/av_jn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rpYDQt02DXQ/Ty8GI-h52NI/AAAAAAAAAbw/xQEtlvCkVgw/s1600/av_jn2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/02/important-question-marks.html#update1" name="update1"></a>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Update 1:</b></span><br />
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ALSO TODAY:</div>
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Feb. 4: <a href="https://groups.google.com/d/topic/transport-innovators/JQ9-UMf9L68/discussion">Nathan Koren states his opinion</a> (see first Feb. 4 post) that <i>bureaucracies </i>plan and purchase transit systems without much regard for public input.<br />
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Feb. 5: <a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/02/nathan-koren-dismisses-meaningful.html"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> claims</a> <i><b>Koren dismisses </b>the importance of public involvement in decision-making.</i><br />
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">gPRT</span></a><br />
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* <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9pt;">I suppose I have to note that I would not date Marilyn, lest </span><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9pt;"> try to imply something.</span>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-65491764366483403762012-02-01T10:00:00.000-08:002013-03-11T11:54:11.423-07:00Yet Another Luddite Veto<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Where is the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist sticking his nose today? The experimental Modutram personal rapid transit test system in Guadalajara:
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A unique operational feature is that the vehicles will keep moving slowly through stations without completely stopping. This operation has proved successful when tested with handicapped passengers. Passengers alight as soon as the vehicle enters the station while others board just before it leaves the station. If no one boards, or if boarding is incomplete, the vehicle will stop in the station. Stations are arranged so as to keep boarding and alighting passengers separate (even to the point of having separate staircases).
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1344962606">Source
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Why do they do it that way? <b>We don't know,</b> their reasons will come out in due course.
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The point is that <b><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> doesn't know either.</b> He just ridicules it on Twitter:
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SxZAl99bNjg/Tyl3YNtAH1I/AAAAAAAAAbA/38HHDMkwo7c/s1600/31jan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SxZAl99bNjg/Tyl3YNtAH1I/AAAAAAAAAbA/38HHDMkwo7c/s1600/31jan.jpg" /></a></div>
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And despite Modutram being a design that has been <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Felectronicosonline.com%2Fnoticias%2Fnotas.php%3Fid%3DA5577_0_1_0_M&act=url">conceived</a>, <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fimpreso.milenio.com%2Fnode%2F9021062&act=url">designed</a> and <a href="http://www.prtconsulting.com/blog/index.php/2012/01/29/third-personal-rapid-transit-test-track-commences-operation/%20">built</a> by a Mexican university and funded by the government of Mexico, <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> blogs:
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<b>Personal Rapid Transit Pod People<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;"><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"> Invade Mexico</span> </span></b>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More locomotion lunacy from the PRT Consulting blog about a Mexican PRT project called Modutram
</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/01/personal-rapid-transit-pod-people.html" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Source</a></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b>"Invade"? </b>Right, <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> -- those Mexicans couldn't possibly engineer something high-tech all by themselves.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center>
<div style="-moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(183, 195, 208); display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center; width: 80%;">
<span style="font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">"Polish PRT?"</span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/12/792514/-Seattle-Transportation-Expert-Attempts-to-Explain-Bachmanns-Support-for-Pod-Boondoggle" style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</a> <span style="font-size: 9pt;">(@Daily Kos)<br />
read the <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2009/10/shiny-prt.html#polish">PRTJJ coverage</a></span></div>
</div>
</center>
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pfJiSDl55Zo/Tyl4b8tW7GI/AAAAAAAAAbI/zeGPYpyPfyI/s1600/spokker-dumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pfJiSDl55Zo/Tyl4b8tW7GI/AAAAAAAAAbI/zeGPYpyPfyI/s400/spokker-dumb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/02/yet-another-luddite-veto.html#update1" name="update1"></a>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><b>Update 1:</b></span><span style="color: #38761d;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
Don't tell <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> about <i>this other </i>transport technology that also moves slowly in stations without completely stopping!</div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="216" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KtiaEFjWf4g" width="275"></iframe>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></div>
Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-5315059231741129352012-01-21T16:18:00.002-08:002012-03-14T09:33:06.485-07:00Business Plan<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
One of the most useful things to know when playing defense against
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> is that his playbook only has a few pages. He has four basic
moves:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b>The Cherrypick. </b>This is where he only uses facts favorable to his
claims, discarding the rest. Examples: repeating 'Bachmann's PRT
boondoggle' while ignoring <a href="https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AcIvKh4VP8tDZGNyZGNuZHdfODQwZ3hjNmJyZGQ&hl=en">the 13 Democrats who supported PRT</a> in the
Minnesota Senate; blaming a <i>Minnesota </i>High Speed Rail Commissioner's separate support of PRT for cancellation of <i>Ohio and Wisconsin </i>HSR, <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2010/12/dont-blame-us.html#update">ignoring that Governors Kasich and Walker just want President Obama to fail</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Far And Away. </b>He lies about places he thinks would be difficult to
verify. <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2007/10/dump-mark-olson-blog-now-bogus-on-two.html">Blaming a few years of PRT planning</a> for over a decade of
neighborhood decay in England is an example of Far And Away.
Others include: <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/08/fibbers-latest-fibs.html">claiming to be from Alameda</a>; depicting PRT in locations
where no one is proposing putting it (<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2010/01/middle-age-wasteland.html">1</a>, <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/08/missed-it-by-that-much.html">2</a>); making a big deal about Amritsar merchants <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-luddite-veto.html">protesting pod transit with a <i>dharna </i>fast</a>, when dharnas are actually very common in
India.<br />
<br />
<b>Hail Mary. </b>This is when <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> says something prima facie wrong, or a misquote,
and hopes to get away with it. Examples: A PRT system for one city
"<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/05/world-wide-webding-ling.html">would be in the trillions of dollars</a>"; a dropped sentence fragment
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-two-fer.html">turns an anti-oil tweet into a pro-Keystone pipeline tweet</a>.<br />
<br />
The <b>Hidden Ball </b>Trick. He states something as fact, tries to camouflage
it with bluster or under a layer of narrative, and hopes no one
factchecks it.</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>'s mainstay is the Hidden Ball. Remember when he portrayed the PRT
option at Alameda Point as 'environmental regulation-busting', but <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/09/against-it-before-he-was-for-it.html">the 'environmental regulation' turned out to be an anti-density law</a> -- and
therefore anti-Smart Growth? That was the Hidden Ball.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/01/business-plan.html#update1" name="update1"></a>
So was his claim that <i>one </i>guy used PRT to "stop rail transit" in Minneapolis in the 1970s -- but <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2007/06/advocacy-does-not-equal-decisionmaking.html">bureaucratic infighting was the more believable culprit</a>. </div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Or the time <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> tried to link an Ultra board member's company to
responsibility for a multi-fatality train accident, but in reality
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-can-do-this-all-day.html">another company had been found culpable</a>? That was the Hidden Ball too, as was "<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2007/04/see-how-nothing-he-writes-can-be.html">recently a snowstorm shut down the [Morgantown] PRT</a>."</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
What is great -- I count on it -- is that <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> runs these same plays over and over even though they never work.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
One of the earliest examples of Hidden Ball was 7 years ago. Read this
2005, pre-<i>PRT Is A Joke IS A JOKE </i>writeup at the NewsCenter, "<a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/nxtlevel/prt/seecontext.html%20">See How They Distort</a>". In it we took
apart <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s phony claim:</div>
<br />
<blockquote style="background: #ffff66; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<br />
<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 6pt; width: 250px;">
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
<b>Taxi 2000 Document Reveals Safety Concerns Can Make PRT Systems "Unworkable".</b> </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
...The following are excerpts that show that Taxi 2000 itself believes that PRT is a very risky investment.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
"Federal and State safety regulation of automated transit systems can
make PRT systems unworkable. Since there are no examples of our
technology currently in operation, we cannot predict what sort of state
or federal government safety regulation might apply. At this
juncture, the Federal Transit Administration - which would exercise
whatever regulation might apply at this level - has left the matter
up to the states. Management believes the states will look foremost to
the work of a committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers,
which has developed a set of safety standards for "Automated People
Movers" (APM's). We have been following that work and think at this
point it will pose only one problem: eg., "brick wall stopping"
requirements for the control system (borrowed from railroad signaling
practice). The requirement is that if one vehicle stops instantaneously,
the next vehicle must be able to stop before hitting the stopped one.
That requirement would inhibit the sort of minimum vehicle headway
used in our design, but it would not affect operation of the first,
lower density systems. In the context of PRT, "headway" means the
nose-to-nose time spacing between two sequential vehicles. Setting a
minimum allowable headway determines the maximum carrying capacity of
the guideway. We will work to have the headway requirement amended,
since we believe it is inappropriate to PRT technology, but there is no
guarantee we will be successful in that regard. </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
...<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">The above paragraph </span>is not some earth-shaking secret admission of a
fatal flaw. In fact it <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">is </span><b style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">a fairly standard "safe harbor"
statement,</b><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"> something all companies that offer stock are
required to do,</span> to apprise prospective investors of every conceivable
risk, <b>no matter how remote...</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
Every public company has safe harbor statements in their prospectuses,
annual reports and 10-K filings. So if everyone gave full, literal and
equal weight to everything in safe harbors, <b>no one would ever
invest in anything.</b></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
[<a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/nxtlevel/prt/seecontext.html">Source</a>] </div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
It's as if
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> thought no one would think to look up
<b><i>"risk factors" investment</i></b> on the
Internet and see there are <b>over 25 million hits.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b>Return of the Hidden Ball</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
So when
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> posted this yesterday at The PRT Moondoggie blog, I immediately recognized the play:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/01/ten-years-ago-taxi-2000-corporations.html">Ten Years Ago: Taxi 2000 Corporation's Business Plan</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
...Here the "Business Plan" includes the lengthy bios of J. Edward
Anderson, A. Scheffer Lang and Raymond A. MacDonald. Then it gets around
to... <i>the money:</i></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
The Taxi 2000 business plan requires funding of twenty-five million
dollars to be raised in successive rounds over a thirty-six month
period. The funds will be used for completing specifications, building
of the test track facilities, world-class procurement and marketing.<br />
<br />
Exit Strategy<br />
<br />
The opportunity for investor exit should occur between months 54 and 72.
At this juncture, Taxi 2000 should have a strong backlog of booked
sales, as well as a substantial number of highly interested potential
customers. Initial system installations should be complete and
operating, with other systems under construction.<br />
<br />
Two potential opportunities for investor exit will be an IPO or a
strategic acquisition by a large corporate interest. The strategic
acquisition of the investor position would be the more likely scenario
but this would be determined by the climate of the public equity markets
at that time.</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;">Interesting - a business plan with
an "Exit Strategy"?....</span> <i>[ellipsis in original] </i>anyways, according to <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2004/01/12/story3.html?page=all">Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal</a>: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<div style="font-size: 10pt;">
The firm has raised $2 million in a $24 million fund-raising effort to
pay for the testing facility and other corporate needs, according to SEC
filings and city documents.</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
This is a variation of Hidden Ball I call <b>The Smathers, </b>after the
possibly apocryphal story of the politician who smeared Sen. Claude Pepper by
relying on the audience not knowing the meaning of words:</div>
<blockquote style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 255, 102); display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">
shameless extrovert?</span> Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to
practice<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"> nepotism </span>with his sister-in-law, he has a brother who is a
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">known homo sapiens,</span> and he has a sister who was once a <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">thespian </span>in
wicked New York. Worst of all, it is an established fact that Mr.
Pepper, before his marriage, habitually <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">practiced celibacy.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
The story here isn't the Taxi 2000 business plan decennial, <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> is keying on the words <b>"Exit Strategy."</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>'s oldest talking point is that PRT is a scam, a taxpayer ripoff. So even though he is on record as saying</div>
<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
"<a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/nxtlevel/prt/seecontext.html">If those people want to pursue PRT with their own money, that's okay with me</a>"</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
here he is calling attention to<i> "the money,"</i> the search for investors, and to "Exit Strategy," <b>to distort the meaning of "Exit Strategy" in order to make it sound suspect.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
I get
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>'s subtext in full, he means: <i>Taxi 2000 planned to get taxpayer
dollars to build a PRT system, and the original private investors would
cash out and run, leaving the public holding The Bag.</i></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
It's as if
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> thinks anyone couldn't just Google
<b><i>investor exit strategy definition</i></b>
and get <b>over 62 million hits, </b>such as:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #ffff66; display: block; font-size: 9pt; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<a href="http://www.edge-venture.com/advice/exit-strategy/">The Exit Strategy - Strategies for Investor Exit</a><br />
<br />
The majority of Business investors will be looking for a planned exit
strategy worked out at the time of investment. It will be very
beneficial to work out the ideal exit strategy for potential investors
before you seek funding. Investors will need to know when they can
realise a return on investment so this is a crucial area of the pitch to
get right.<br />
<br />
Investors want a maximum return on initial investment and a well thought-out exit strategy provides them with the incentive to invest in your venture.</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
That is to say, investors in startups want to know <b>when </b>they'll realize a return on
investment -- which, like it or not (and I don't really), is the whole
point of venture capitalism as now practiced.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
What we know:<i> Every 'good' startup business plan includes an investor exit strategy.</i><br />
<br />
Therefore when
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> writes <span class="st">“</span><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow;">Interesting - a
business plan with an "Exit Strategy"?</span><span class="st">”</span><span class="st"></span> his interior monologue is screaming,
<b>'Don't bother reading this, because I am an ignoramus. I don't know what I'm talking about. I really just
don't know.'</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a> <span style="color: #f5f6f6;">Wall Street Weak</span></div>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-83635768942793037292012-01-20T12:00:00.000-08:002012-09-14T12:55:47.813-07:00He's green until he's not<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
My fellow environmentalist and bicycling enthusiast <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) is still trying to exercise his <b>Luddite Veto </b>on the Subcontinent (Amritsar, Punjab, India) -- all because the local authorities worked with an Indian consultant to select a transit system that is right for community needs.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Not surprisingly, those needs are like those in cities all over the world, and have been defined:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #ffff66; display: block; font-size: 9pt; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Indian cities are not maximizing the density influence to reduce the emissions. International research shows that the dense areas usually have fewer emissions. In India’s case, many cities which are dense are showing high emissions because of insufficient public transport and high influx of private vehicles.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
...Then again, why do cities like Bhopal and Amritsar have higher per capita emissions than Chandigarh? Why do cities like Hyderabad and Jaipur have high travel activity than a city like Kolkata? The Indian cities analysis shows that having public transport facilities (e.g., Mumbai and Kolkata) and land-use transport integration (e.g., Chandigarh) can not only better transport be provided but also emissions and economic activity can be decoupled. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt;">
(Guttikunda, S., <i><a href="http://www.cgrer.uiowa.edu/people/sguttiku/ue/simair/SIM-32-2010-Delhi-Metro-AP-Benefits.pdf">Estimated Air Pollution and Health Benefits of Metro System in Delhi</a>,</i> 2010)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
This is the <b>lack of transit investments problem.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<a href="http://www.itdp.org/documents/2_and_3_wheelers_in_India.pdf"><i>Two And Three Wheelers in India</i></a> reported Amritsar had 9,903 auto rickshaws, which is 913 per 100,000 population. It's the third-highest in the whole country (iTrans, New Delhi, June 2009). This is <b>the local point-emissions problem.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Amritsar is also a city where streets are dominated by, in addition to auto rickshaws, pedicabs and other types of paratransit. All together they constitute a 94% mode share of all passenger travel in the city (Arora, A., Jawed, F. and Jarnhammar, M., <i><a href="http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/42960541">Green and Pro-Poor? The Case of Informal Transport in India</a>,</i> 2010). This is <b>the congestion problem.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Furthermore, <a href="http://www.topnews.in/golden-temple-surroundings-be-made-pollution-free-215689">the community is acting to ban vehicular traffic</a> from the area of the 18th Century Golden Temple, in order to protect the historic structure's marble and gold walls from exhaust fumes. <b>This is the pollution/emissions and historic preservation problem.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
An electric mass transit system is what the local authorities have decided should be a step in addressing these problems, and they have chosen pod transit. There is too much congestion for expanded bus transit, which would also mean emissions, and there is not enough right of way for rail.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
But <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> doesn't care about letting Amritsar make their own decisions. This is what he says:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
...there are other, less expensive ways to go from the train station to the city's main attraction:</div>
<blockquote style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
An auto-rickshaw from the train station to the temple should cost around Rs 20, while a cycle-rickshaw will run about Rs 30.<br />
<br />
There is a free bus service from the train station to the golden temple run by Golden Temple trust.</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/01/personal-rapid-transit-is-so-not.html">Source</a> </div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> wants Amritsar to maintain its dependence on rickshaws and buses -- he doesn't care if they have congestion and emissions. </b>And in his PRT Moondoggie blog he uses it as an excuse to write -- yet again -- about the Cincinnati "Skyloop," which he continues to think was an actual PRT <i>project</i> rather than a <i>technology screening and study</i> that was part of an official public planning process.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> also takes the opportunity to imply Skyloop (which, again, did not go past the <i>2001 </i>study phase) is to blame for the <i>current </i>lack of progress in Cincinnati installing streetcars. Apparently electric transit is OK for America, not Amritsar.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
It's a new chapter in an old, old story -- <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> (white American) thinks he knows what's better for the (multiethnic) people of Amritsar than their own democratically elected officials and highly educated planners.</div>
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Of course, in the past <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken </span>has <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/5/5/1520/18873/25#c25">confused Dubai with Abu Dhabi</a>, and <a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/nxtlevel/prt/seeflail.html">went looking for the <i>Arab Times </i>in Texas</a>. </div>
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So maybe he thinks Amritsar is in Indiana.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Archives:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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1.
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2009/10/shiny-prt.html#polish">"Polish PRT?"</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2009/10/shiny-prt.html#polish"><img alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xUBQkakvKQY/St-NMUWb4RI/AAAAAAAAADw/7EdcrQ12QbU/s400/spokker-dumb.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
2. <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-luddite-veto.html">Another Luddite Veto</a> (2011)<br />
<br />
3. <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2010/08/short-stout.html">Short & Stout!</a> (2010) </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
4. <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2008/09/against-it-before-he-was-for-it.html">Against it before he was for it</a> (2008)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a> <span style="color: #f5f5f6;"><b>Policy analysis beats art college YET AGAIN!</b></span></div>
Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-14967816507014925532012-01-11T15:12:00.003-08:002013-03-11T11:55:00.561-07:00Fire Bad<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Like OMG there was a big gigantic malfunction today involving the Morgantown PRT! Let's go to the coverage:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: #ffff66; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
<b class="Dateline" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </b>Investigators were working on Saturday to
determine the cause of a transformer fire that caused a power outage at
an El Cajon mall, fire officials said-</blockquote>
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--oh hold on. That's not the story about Morgantown. That's one of the <b>other</b> <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=electrical+fire&oq=electrical+fire&aq=f&aqi=d1d-o1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1950l5141l0l5635l15l14l0l7l7l0l214l1178l0.6.1l7l0">3,690 hits for 'electrical fire' currently being returned by Google News</a>.</div>
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Courtesy of Laffable Luddite <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span>, the Morgantown story is:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: #b7c3d0; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
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<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/01/another-wvu-personal-rapid-transit.html">Another WVU Personal Rapid Transit Electrical Fire</a></div>
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...</div>
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This is what<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-wont-wvu-scrap-morgantown-prt-for.html"> I wrote back in 2010</a> about the so-called WVU PRT:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="border: solid 1px #000000; padding: 12pt;">
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The PRT hucksters will often cite the so-called West Virginia University's Personal Rapid Transit in Morgantown as<a href="http://www.jpods.com/"> a successful example of PRT "technology":</a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
A heavy weight PRT network opened in Morgantown, WV in 1975 and has delivered 110 million injury-free passenger miles.</blockquote>
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But the WVU PRT is neither PRT (it's really an ordinary, automated people-mover similar to what you see in airports) or successful.</div>
</blockquote>
<br /></blockquote>
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While the crackpot-free version goes something like this:</div>
<blockquote style="background: #ffff66; display: block; padding: 12pt; width: 300px;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">WBOY-12 Morgantown Jan. 11, 2012 </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<a href="http://www.wboy.com/story/16498102/2012/01/11/electrical-fire-interrupts-prt-service-at-wvu">Electrical Fire Interrupts PRT Service at WVU</a> </div>
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West Virginia University officials responded to an electrical fire at the PRT, Personal Rapid Transit, substation on the Evansdale WVU campus Wednesday afternoon.</div>
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A mechanical malfunction which resulted in an electrical fire has interrupted service to passengers.</div>
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WVU officials said passengers were in no immediate danger and no injuries have been reported.</div>
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The system is expected to be operational by around 5 p.m. Wednesday. </div>
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<a href="http://www.wboy.com/story/16498102/2012/01/11/electrical-fire-interrupts-prt-service-at-wvu">Etc. etc.</a></div>
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The point, of course, is that electrical fires are common throughout the world and not inherent to Personal Rapid Transit. Today's fire was in the substation, the vehicles and track were not involved.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span> <b>is basically criticizing PRT for relying on electricity.</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QFL2Rm3h_BY/Tw4WXYXkYcI/AAAAAAAAAag/aaR9b8zexlw/s1600/youngfrankenstein_fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QFL2Rm3h_BY/Tw4WXYXkYcI/AAAAAAAAAag/aaR9b8zexlw/s320/youngfrankenstein_fire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/01/fire-bad.html#update1" name="update1"></a>
<b>Update 1:</b></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>'s panic-bashing of the Morgantown PRT is sort of like the time a car crashed into a power pole in a snowstorm, causing a power outage affecting the PRT, and <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken </span> blogged "<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2007/04/see-how-nothing-he-writes-can-be.html">a snowstorm shut down the PRT</a>."<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #38761d;">
<a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2012/01/fire-bad.html#update2" name="update2"></a>
<b>Update 2:</b></div>
<br />
<a href="http://prtboondoggle.blogspot.com/2012/01/fire-caused-chaos-on-wvu-personal-rapid.html"><span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>'s blog headline promises description of "chaos"</a> caused by electrical fire -- then he quotes the <a href="http://www.thedaonline.com/news/electrical-fire-causes-prt-shutdown-1.2740576#.TxNUToF-cWR">Daily Athenaeum article</a> that shows the emergency was handled in a <b>calm, orderly and professional manner.</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: #ffff66; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; padding: 12px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
Students were <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">evacuated, and no one was harmed, </span>according to University officials.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
The PRT service was restored by Wednesday evening.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
Students, faculty and staff were able to use the Mountain Line bus service and WVU shuttles while the PRT was out of service.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
"Normally, when the PRT shuts down for an extended period of time, shuttles are used to transport between stations," Mazzella said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">
Max Carozza, a senior finance student, said he was stuck on the PRT for 30 minutes on the track along Beechurst Avenue.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
"The lights flickered, and it shut off," he said. "It slowly died. <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">The PRT voice told us to hang tight."</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">PRT workers then<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"> located the car and led the seven people on the PRT tracks to the Beechurst PRT station.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">
Devin Novak, a sophomore nursing student, said she waited on the PRT for an hour before she was rescued.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">"They said it took so long because a girl was claustrophobic and they needed an ambulance for her," </span>Novak said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
Novak asid <i>[sic]</i> that before being rescued, another student on the PRT tried to pry the door open herself, but was <span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">quickly told over the car's intercom not to proceed.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #ffe599;">
</span>"You could tell something bad was happening," she said.</span><br />
<br /></blockquote>
At the opening of his post, <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> re-treats us to part of his <b>conspiracy theory </b>about the Morgantown PRT, that evil transit "concept" that relies on electricity:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(183, 195, 208); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; padding: 12pt;">
...the WVU PRT was created to monkey-wrench conventional modes of
transit and will be expected to function as a paragon of "gadgetbahn"
for as long as<span style="background-color: yellow;"> they </span>can keep it going.</blockquote>
The <a href="http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2011/5/23/prt-modernizing-for-the-next-generation-of-students-riders">FTA and Recovery Act are supporting the PRT's modernization program</a>, so by "they" <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span> must mean the Federal Government. Can we quote you, <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span>, that you believe the Obama Administration and USDOT Sec. Ray LaHood are anti-transit?<br />
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<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<i><b>Google News:</b></i> <a href="https://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=%28subway%7Ctrain%29+stuck&oq=%28subway%7Ctrain%29+stuck&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3411l3613l0l3964l2l2l0l0l0l0l187l295l0.2l2l0">Trains get stuck all the time</a>.</div>
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But <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken</span> never attacks them as 'infeasible' or 'dangerous'; #ModeBigot.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Update 3:</span></b></div>
<br />
(3/14/12) - <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-boston-outage-20120314,0,5372921.story">21,000 in Boston lose power due to transformer fire</a>. Hey <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>, maybe this is connected to the Raytheon PRT test center that used to be in Marlborough!<br />
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">gPRT</a>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19868672.post-61834579450568811692011-12-31T22:00:00.000-08:002012-01-20T12:51:44.003-08:00Wahhh<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
What's that sound? No, not Baby New Year approaching -- it's the <b>PRT Is a Joke IS A JOKE </b>archives, ringing with the echoes of the past 12 months of <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Ken Avidor</span>'s hysterical, often paranoid crackpottery.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So take another look at his 2011 babblings as exposed herein, and have another chuckle.</div>
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Let's close the year, however, by putting <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>'s rantings in perspective. The zeitgeist was protest, in which The 99% of many nations began to push back against corporate and military thugs.</div>
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Not only does <span style="font-size: 6pt;">Avidor</span>'s laffable Luddite propaganda pale in comparison, his ongoing claim of a vast PRT-based anti-transit conspiracy is as Opposite as Wall Street's delusion that Poor People somehow tricked the banks and Alan Greenspan into giving them bad mortgages.<br />
<br />
Ken is so extreme that <a href="http://innovative-transit.blogspot.com/2011/12/another-luddite-veto.html#update2">he tried to interest the Occupy movement</a> in joining his Luddite holy war. </div>
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With that said -- have a Happy and Propaganda-Free New Year!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/kdonate.html">Please consider a gift</a> to help <a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">PRT NewsCenter</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and <a href="http://bit.ly/wiseline">Wiseline Institute</a> defray basic web expenses</div>
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<a href="http://bit.ly/prtnews">gPRT</a></div>Mr_Granthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04859429511379137002noreply@blogger.com0