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The United States is fast approaching a crisis in urban mobility. The major streets and freeways that provide for the movement of people and goods throughout the major urban areas are becoming so congested that urban life style is deteriorating. This congestion combined with our fuel crisis and clean air requirements are mandating a need for concerted effort to improve urban public transportation. This paper emphasizes the need for a national commitment to public transportation and the need for legislative action to provide the stable long-term funding. It is estimated that a $77 billion commitment could provide the systems and rolling stock for public transit to attract upwards of 38 billion trips by 1990. The three basic modes of ground transportation-rail transit, bus, and automated personal rapid transit-are discussed and their relative role and funding needs advanced.

There is a crisis in ground transportation arising out of the increasing mobility of a growing population, heightened by the increasing mobility and consequent resource depletion of the world at large. Rohr Industries is committed to developing multiple ground technologies to satisfy transportation's varied needs. This paper discusses the company's diversification from aerospace into ground transportation, starting with rapid transit systems and leading to advanced transportation systems. The two most promising advanced transportation developments include an aerotrain, a tracked air cushion vehicle, and the Romag, a magnetically levitated and propelled vehicle. This paper reviews these events and describes in detail the two new developments.

With the nation looking more and more to mass transit to solve its urban transportation problems, the innovative Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems with their “second car” characteristics can be expected to complement bus and rail services, especially in medium-density population areas. After summarizing the role each of these three forms of public transit plays and is projected to play by 1990, the paper describes current specialized PRT applications in the United States and abroad.