Talking Trams, Trains and Traffic in Southeast PA

The battery-powered trackless tram, or ART, in operation in Zhuzhou, China, showing the trackless autonomous guidance system, highlighted in last night's presentation by Australian innovation professor Peter Newman.

One way to look at how we do transportation wrong in this country is a simple measurement of space.

Peter Newman, a professor of sustainability at Australia's Curtin University who is in the U.S. for a
visit to the University of Pennsylvania and accepted an invitation to speak in Pottstown Thursday, did it with one slide.

Photos by Evan Brandt
Peter Newman shows how many cars, buses, or "trackless trams"

it takes to transport the same number of people.

He was there at the invitation of state Rep. Joe Cireski, D-146th Dist., who is trying to make good on a campaign promise to search for alternatives to traffic headaches on Route 422.

His research led him to Newman, who, when Ciresi contacted him, informed him he was coming to Pennsylvania and agreed to speak at a forum Ciresi arranged at the Pottstown campus of Montgomery County Community college Thursday.

Put two people in car, which is a lot to assume among American commuters, and put them with their fellow morning travelers on Route 422 and they will take up a certain amount of space on the roadway, Newman said.

Now multiply that and count 100 cars. That's 200 people and whole lot of roadway filled up. That same number of people could fit on two or three buses or just one "trackless tram."

Newman said trains, because of their fixed routes, attract

development and investment. But they are also expensive to build.

Fewer vehicles, fewer traffic jams.

Simple, right?

For years, we've believed the solution to increasing traffic on our roadways is a return to commuter rail. Newman, who got involved in the issue when he fought to save the train in his hometown of Freemantle, shared that believe and the effort he joined saved the train.

So Newman spent decades advocating for light rail, commuter rail and other similar transportation alternatives to the automobile because of the efficiency, and the other advantages it brings.

Old time trams began as a way to get people to new real estate.

It's ability to move easily and carry the equivalent of eight lanes of traffic makes rail a space saver, energy saver and times saver, he said.

Rail also attracts development, particularly near its stations. In fact, he said, the original train and trolley lines were primarily real estate investment attractions.

"Good public transit services unlocks the value of the land," Newman explained.

State Rep. Joe Ciresi talks about the need to break the 

transportation gridlock that is hampering redevelopment 

in the greater Pottstown area.

The problem with rail, it is expensive.

Very expensive, as those of us who watched with sagging expectations as the cost estimates for the proposed Schuylkill Valley Metro system rose out of reach know only too well.

So maybe it's time to start looking elsewhere, Ciresi said.

"There is not a person here who disagrees that putting a train back on tracks would be a great solution," he said pointing toward one of the two sets of freight rail tracks that run through Pottstown and were once the provenance of the competing Reading and Pennsylvania railroads.

"But we can't wait any longer," he said.

So if traffic is terrible and trains are too expensive, what do you do? 

How about something that runs on existing roads, but has the advantages of rail by having fixed stations and a fixed route that has the flexibility to be changed with the need arises?

Entrepreneur Richard Branson just purchased the newly built

Brightline light rail line in Florida and wants to build more.

And how about we make it electric, to reduce greenhouses gases, and maybe even make it solar-powered, to reduce them even more?

And what it was significantly cheaper than traditional light rail and, some might say best of all, is initiated by private capital that partners with local governments to tie redevelopment to a new and efficient transit system?

If you said that sounds like a "trackless tram," then you might be a professor from Austrailia, because that's what Newman described that is being pioneered now in China, India and, if he has his way, down under in Australia as well.

Having the entire enterprise spearheaded by entrepreneurs cuts through government bureaucracy and inertia, and entrepreneurs no less famous that Richard Branson are seeing the value, said Newman.

He said Branson just bought the recently completed Brightline rail line in Florida, and he wants to build more rail lines because there is money to be made in the real estate development that accompanies it.

"This won't work unless you guys are behind it," Newman told

the roughly 75 people who came to hear him speak Thursday.

He said public support is what brought light rail to Portland, Ore.

and started a worldwide return to automotive alternatives.

The systems work on roads, have a carrying capacity in the hundreds and three cars and a station only costs about $3 million, said Newman. He said the projects can be bid so that the equipment is built locally to bring jobs to the area.

And existing businesses need to bring workers to the area, said Cassandra Morabito, director of human resources for the Topos Mondial Corp., which designs, engineers and manufactures bakery equipment of all types here in Pottstown.

"We need workers," Morabito said after the presentation. "We have trained workers who can't get to Pottstown. We need skilled tradespeople, electricians, welders, mechanics."

Added Morabito, "we have an aging workforce and no influx of young people. We need to get a younger generation to the jobs we have," she said, noting that the company employs about 30 people.

Ciresi said he is looking for solutions. "It may be this, it may be something else. If 1,000 people use this, that's 1,000 cars off Route 422. I would hope for 5,000. Why don't we let this region be the place where it gets tested?" he said.

Borough Council President Dan Weand, who attended the talk with fellow councilwoman Trenita Lindsay, said the two felt sure they could convince the rest of council to support making Pottstown the place where the trackless tram is test driven.

"The main thing to do is give it a try and take it step, by step," Newman said.

Here are my Tweets from the talk.

Trackless Trams, Trains and Automobiles