Amid bus route cuts and rail strikes, can the answer to our future public transport needs be found in the hi-tech prototypes being trialled around the UK?
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Articles on trackless trams
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Self-driving vehicles that constantly roam the streets looking for passengers could overwhelm cities. But, if kept in check, these vehicles could be useful for improving urban transport.
Installing light rail is costly, as Sydney has found, but it’s the gold standard for public transport along road corridors. What trackless trams can do is rapidly expand such services at low cost.
Autonomous mass transit vehicles like ‘trackless trams’ are a better bet than autonomous cars to give us people-friendly cities that capture the value created by infrastructure for the common good.
The autonomous rail rapid transit (ART) system developed in China might make buses sexy, but the technology alone won’t resolve the issues of road space and right of way in Australia.
For 40 years the author has argued that trains and trams are better than buses. New ‘trackless trams’, which take innovations from high speed rail and put them in a bus, have changed his mind.
Top contributors
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Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University
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Honorary Associate, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney
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Professor of Innovation, The Open University
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Lecturer in Technology and Innovation Management, The Open University
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Professor of Transport Strategy, The Open University
