HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 603 Offered January 10, 2007 Prefiled January 3, 2007 Requesting the Secretary of Transportation to study the benefits, costs, and overall viability of personal rapid transit as a public transportation option for Virginia. Report. ---------- Patron-- Oder ---------- Committee Referral Pending ----------

WHEREAS, personal rapid transit is a generally unknown and undeveloped subset of a class of transit systems known as Automated People Movers (APM); and

WHEREAS, typical APM systems generally consist of vehicles having capacities between 12 and 100 people that run along dedicated guideways in a line-haul, fixed-schedule configuration; and

WHEREAS, examples of this type of system can be found in airport people-movers in U.S. cities such as Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Miami; and

WHEREAS, although fairly successful in these applications, APM systems have not been widely accepted as realistic modes of urban transport for many reasons; and

WHEREAS, the definition of what comprises a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system has been ambiguous over the past 30 years, a fact that has helped to prevent serious research from being conducted in this area; however, in an effort to standardize the terminology, the Advanced Transit Association adopted in 1988 a set of guidelines that define a true PRT system; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Secretary of Transportation be requested to study the benefits, costs, and overall viability of personal rapid transit as a public transportation option for Virginia.

In conducting its study, the Secretary of Transportation shall examine the use of APM systems in other jurisdictions and consider applications of APM systems that would benefit public transportation needs in the Commonwealth.

Technical assistance shall be provided to the Secretary of Transportation by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Secretary of Transportation for this study, upon request.

The Secretary of Transportation shall complete his meetings by November 30, 2007, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of his findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2008 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.