Report on Testing and Evaluation of the Transit Expressway

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Report on Testing and Evaluation of the Transit Expressway

The Transit Expressway is not a monorail. The all electric vehicle resembles a bus and runs on four pairs of driven pneumatic tires. Each roadway has tracks which are 22 inch wide ribbons of concrete. A steel 'I' beam called the 'guide beam' is mounted between these and is used by the guide wheels on the vehicle to steer each axle and to firmly position and lock the vehicle on the roadway. The system is based on the use of compact, minimum weight automated vehicles operating singly or in trains. The concept provides computer controlled constant service round-the-clock, with a train passing a given point as frequently as every 120 seconds. The South Park Project was operated for shake down, and engineering and operating feasibility evaluation test purposes between August 4, 1965 and June 7, 1966. The system logged 21,316 vehicle miles during this period. The economic feasibility of Transit Expressway was tested by a dynamic simulation model of a commercial system. The hypothetical system covered ten double track route miles and ten stations between a central business district and an outlying residential section in a medium population density area. Capital costs and a method of financing the system were developed. Operations were costed, revenues at a fixed fare determined, and cash flows analyzed over a twenty-six year operating period.