Conrad deFiebre, Minnesota 2020 fellow, writes about the Going Places, the transportation exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. The exhibit displays what he describes as a “weird imbalance,” especially in its depictions of light rail and personal rapid transit. Quotes calling light rail “an exercise in chest-thumping” are posted along with displays promoting PRT (“Ride the Future!”). DeFiebre writes:
The exhibit has been up since 2004, the year Minnesota’s first light-rail line opened for business. Since then, the Hiawatha line has shattered projections for both ridership and economic development again and again. PRT?…Nearly a half-century after automated systems of small, individual vehicles on elevated guideway loops were first dreamed up as transit solutions, podcars haven’t penetrated municipal transit anywhere in the world.
The exhibit is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Link to full story at Minnesota 2020.
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