PRT is also being promoted and studied by Sweden’s Institute for Sustainable Transportation, a group that sees PRT as a part of an integrated mass transportation system, extending the reach of traditional trains and subways into areas that are not densely populated enough to support other systems. Systems like this are being actively tested and implemented in small scale by company’s like Korea’s Vectus.

American public transportation faces huge problems because almost all of our resources are invested in parking, cars, and roads while far too little is invested in walking, cycling, and the entire range of transportation options that include high speed rail, regional rail, local rail, trams, buses, shared vehicles, et cetera.

If the pot of money were the right size, PRT would be one of the answers that would make sense in some areas. Instead, we see vicious debates between advocates for various modes, while we fail to invest adequately in any of them.

But as with many things, innovation in transit will not come from the US, because our political system is so badly corrupted.