Transportation Leaders Discuss Unimodal Personal Rapid Transit for NRP

On August 4th the NRP hosted a meeting of local, regional and state transportation officials to discuss the potential for a
personal rapid transit (PRT) system at NASA Research Park. NRP partner Unimodal briefed guests in Building 14 on their
PRT system, SkyTranTM, and demonstrated a to-scale transit pod that seats three people descending from a maglev guideway.
Following the tour Ames Center Director Pete Worden welcomed guests to lunch in the Ames Committee Room to discuss NRP’s unique potential opportunity for a PRT system.

Attendees included Bijan Sartipi, District Director Caltrans; Steve Heminger, Executive Director Metropolitan Transportation
Commission; Dennis Manning, Fresno County Transportation; Dr. Russ Hancock, President and CEO Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network; Jon Kessler, District Director, California Assemblyman; Paul Fong, Doug Schmitt and Jeral Poskey, Google; Peter Skinner, Transportation Director Silicon Valley Leadership Group; and Ellis Berns, City of Mountain View Economic Development.

“It was an outstanding meeting that I believe hwwas generated major interest in the Skytran PRT system,” said Unimodal CEO, Chris Perkins. Expectations are high, as new Caltrans Director Randell Iwasaki is expected to visit Unimodal later this month.

For Unimodal info: http://www.unimodal.com/ or watch CEO Perkins presentation from the Exploration and Sustainability Expo on the researchpark.arc.nasa.gov website.