What was the CALS?

The Central Area Loop Study [CALS] was a $625,000 Alternatives Analysis of transit modes for a circulator connecting the riverfronts and CBDs of Covington, Newport, and Cincinnati. This study started in August of 2000 and completed on September 25, 2001. The study, managed by our regional Metropolitan Planning Organization [MPO] — the Ohio-Kentuky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments [OKI] — considered several alternative transit modes including:

• Southbank Shuttle bus service
• Light Rail Transit (LRT)/Vintage Electric Trolleys (VT)
• Sky Loop PRT

Several non-PRT Automated Guideway Transit (AGT)-Automated People Mover (APM) and monorail transit systems initially under consideration have been eliminated.

The primary consultant firm hired for the CALS was Parsons Brinckerhoff Ohio, Inc. (Cincinnati Office), with a team of sub-consultants, including the firm JKH Mobility Services (a div. of Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.) to review the Sky Loop PRT system.

For more information and background on the CALS, see:

• Central Area Loop Study & Oversight Committee- An overview description of the CALS at the OKI website. The oversight committee of the CALS [CALSC] is listed, consisting of 42 voting members, of which the Sky Loop was represented by 2 members.

• NOTE: CALS Agendas & Minutes disappeared from the OKI website in May 2001 and have not re-appeared. Central Area Loop Study - Agendas & Meeting Minutes- The agendas and meeting minutes of the CALS Committee [CALSC - the oversight committee] at the OKI website.

CALS Documents & News Chronology

In this section we attempt to present as many of the CALS documents and news items as possible, being the only source on the Internet of CALS developments.

Media news items:

1. February 1, 2000: "News Item: Central Area Loop Study begins looking at a regional downtown connector."

2. August 4, 2000: "Transit loop study funded": an article in the Kentucky Post about completion of funding and resumption of the Central Area Loop Study [CALS].

The CALS Measures of Performance are criteria that were to be used by the CALSC in making their selection of which technology or combination thereof was be the Locally Preferred Strategy [LPS]. There are six categories of criteria:

Cost Factors, Safety Issues, Environmental Considerations, Travel Time and Ridership, Operational Characteristics, Technology Factors.

The Sky Loop Committee prepared several documents addressing the Measures of Performance for its proposed system. Most of these documents are available in Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF format below.

The following were distributed to all members of the CALSC by the Sky Loop Committee in preparation for the meeting held on January 16, 2001:

3. CALS Measures of Performance - Sky Loop [Acrobat PDF; 69kb]: Lists all criteria as described in the CALS Measures of Performance document, and the Sky Loop Committee's response to them.

4. Sky Loop Financial Plan [Separate web page]: "In summary, the Sky Loop Committee believes that the potential for this system is so superior to any other possible technology for the Central Area Loop Circulator, that the CALSC should choose it as the Locally Preferred Alternative, and then await the development of the Taxi 2000 prototype." These financial statements are the only pro-forma statements submitted for any of the modes being considered.

5. Basis for Ridership Estimates [Acrobat PDF; 14kb]: A summary of mode-split studies and their results - 30%+ mode-split to PRT.

6. Sky Loop Power Point presentation [Acrobat PDF; 464kb]: Presented to the CALSC on January 16, 2001, as part of a technology roundtable.

The following documents are also available:

7. CALS Measures of Performance - Sky Loop [Acrobat PDF; 16kb]: Additional perspective.

8. Points On Capacity [Acrobat PDF; 10kb]: Some helpful capacity parameters for the Taxi 2000 PRT system.

Media news item:

9. January 30, 2001: "Transit options for loop debated": an article in the Kentucky Post about the Central Area Loop Study [CALS].

Subsequent to the CALSC meeting held on January 16, 2001, a number of specific questions about the proposed Sky Loop system were submitted by other members of the CALSC. Following are the questions and our responses:

10. Answers to CALSC Questions for PRT/Taxi 2000 [Acrobat PDF; 35kb].

Subsequent to the CALSC meeting held on January 16, 2001, the Sky Loop Committee has submitted the following questions for the Light Rail Transit [LRT] technology consultants and proponents of the CALSC, as detailed in the following two documents:

11. Questions about LRT for the Central Area Loop [Acrobat PDF; 12kb].

12. LRT Safety & Roadway Questions [Acrobat PDF; 10kb].

The following document, containing questions and answers for AGT, Sky Loop, LRT, and VT, has been distributed to all members of the CALSC by study management in preparation for the meeting to be held on February 20, 2001.

13. Central Area Loop Study Technology Presentations: Question Responses [Acrobat PDF; 44kb].

Media news item:

14. February 21, 2001: "Two transit options dropped": an article in the Kentucky Post about the AGT/APM and monorail options being dropped from the Central Area Loop Study [CALS], leaving a combined LRT/VT option, the Sky Loop PRT, and Southbank Shuttle options.

Following is copy of fax memo dated March 19, 2001, from John Schneider, a Downtown Cincinnati Inc. [DCI] representative on the CALSC and LRT/VT advocate, to Chip Tappan, Chair of the SLC, concerning objections to wording on PRT in the CALS Level 2 Screening Analysis dated February 20,2001, and the SLC's response to this memo dated March 29,2001.

15. Evalution Criteria - Taxi 2000 PRT - J. Schneider 3/19/01 [Acrobat PDF; 73kb].

16. Response to John Schneider’s Issues with Level 2 Screening Analysis - C. Tappan 3/29/01 [Acrobat PDF; 33kb].

Following is the SLC's submission to the CALSC dated April 4, 2001, requesting modifications to the CALS Level 2 Screening Analysis dated February 20,2001 for the VT, LRT, and PRT options [no modifications requested to the No-Build/Southbank and TSM options]. The modified Level 2 Screening Analysis document has not subsequently been issued by the consultant team.

17. Modifications Needed to the CALS Level 2 Screening Analysis - C. Tappan 4/6/01 [Acrobat PDF; 46kb].

Following is the Sky Loop Bridge Committee report dated March 25, 2001, that was distributed to CALSC members prior to the April 17 meeting. Concerns utilization of the three bridges by the Sky Loop PRT system without use of vehicular traffic lanes.

18. A STUDY OF THE SKY LOOP (TAXI 2000 PRT DOWNTOWN CIRCULATOR) CROSSING THE OHIO AND THE LICKING RIVERS 3/25/01 [Acrobat PDF; 835kb].

Following is copy of a Downtown Cincinnati Inc. resolution that supports surface transit only and is against any use of elevated transit systems in downtown Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport. This resolution was distributed to CALSC members at the April 17 meeting. Following that is the SLC's response.

19. DCI Resolution Against Elevated Transit [Separate web page]

20. DCI Position on Downtown Transit Initiatives - C. Tappan 4/13/01 [Acrobat PDF; 29kb]:

Results of the tabulation of the first 180 responses to our Sky Loop Questionnaire:

21. Sky Loop Questionnaire Tabulation [Separate web page]

Following are copies of a handout used in a meeting June 4, 2001, with the Cincinnati Fire Department, and notes of the meeting:

22. Safety Review (Taxi 2000 Sky Loop) - Cincinnati Fire Department [Acrobat PDF; 70kb]

23. Meeting Notes - Cincinnati Fire Department - 6/4/01 [Acrobat PDF; 16kb]

Following are copies of items included in a mailing on June 22, 2001, from the SLC to members of the CALSC:

24. Letter to CALSC Members: Upcoming Choice of Locally Preferred Alternative for the CAL [Acrobat PDF; 36kb]

25. Decision and Project Flow: Sky Loop Committee Recommendation [Acrobat PDF; 29kb]

Included in the mailing were copies of pages from:

• "PRT Forecasts For Downtown Minneapolis," [Adobe Acrobat PDF; 550KB]; SRF Consulting Group, Inc.
• "City of SeaTac: Personal Rapid Transit Feasibility Project (MIS) - Executive Summary," 8/1997; For City of SeaTac, WA, by BRW, Inc. Copy available online at ITT website:
  http://faculty.washington.edu/~jbs/itrans/exec.htm
• "PRT Ridership Estimation - Suburban Chicago," 8/1992; For Chicago RTA by Wilbur Smith Associates.

Following is a reproduction [text only, no maps or images] of the Power Point presentation made by Parsons Brinckerhoff to the CALS Committee members at the July 17, 2001 meeting, that summarizes their CALS Draft Final Report handed out at the end of the meeting:

26. POWERPOINT PRESENTATION BY PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF [Acrobat PDF; 25kb]

Special notes regarding the presentation above by Parsons Brinckerhoff and JKH Mobility (Kimley-Horn) and the Draft Final Report [DFR]:

• This presentation and the DFR contain a number of inaccurate engineering, operational and cost determinations about the proposed Sky Loop - Taxi 2000 PRT system. The Sky Loop committee and Taxi 2000 Corporation are currently working on refuting these mischaracterizations of the system in this report and to the members of the CALSC.

• Note that in the PowerPoint presentation the Alternative Capital Costs for the VT option totals $206M and that for the PRT option totals $423M, including Engineering & Management and Contingencies. The Captial Costs reported by the news media were for the option totals before Engineering & Management and Contingencies [See next news item].

• We regret that we have not been able at this point in time to provide the relevant pages of the DFR on this website.

• The demand modeling data has not yet been presented by the consultants.

Media news items:

27. July 18, 2001: "Rapid transit odds slim": an article in the Cincinnati Post about the July 17, 2001, CALSC meeting and the release of the DFR.
28. July 31, 2001: "Downtown | New loop transit; Link Cincinnati, Kentucky": an editorial in The Cincinnati Enquirer about the CALS study.

Following is a copy of questions submitted to OKI and Parsons Brinckerhoff on May 29, 2001 about the demand modeling part of the CALS that they would be performing. The answers from Parsons Brinckerhoff dated June 2, 2001, are in blue type.

29. Questions and Answers for OKI and Parsons Brinckerhoff Demand Modeling [Acrobat PDF; 55kb]

Media news item:

30. August 21, 2001: "Personalized mass transit": an editorial in The Cincinnati Post about the Sky Loop vis-a-vis the CALS.

The final meeting of the CALSC, at which the technology selection was made, was held Tuesday September 25, 2001, at the OKI offices. The Central Area Loop Study Committee (CALSC) of OKI voted to not recommend Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) for adoption as the loop circulator technology for the Central Area. For more on the outcome of the Central Area Loop Study (CALS) go to Central Area Loop Study Ending.

Making a Decision -Our Recommendation Incorporating an approach that maximizes the potential benefits and minimizes the interim risks, the CALSC should choose as follows: Choose the Southbank Shuttle (SS) as the short-term choice for the Locally Preferred Alternative to serve the CAL, with the TSM changes recommended by Parsons Brinckerhoff. Support the Sky Loop as the long term choice for the Locally Preferred Alternative for the CAL, with the following conditions: Taxi 2000 must build and successfully tests its PRT prototype. If it does not, and another PRT company does build such a prototype, then such an alternative system can be considered in its place. The capital cost for the Sky Loop will cost no more than $20 million per mile in 2001 dollars. The operating costs for the Sky Loop, including annual debt service, are covered by fare income. Taxi 2000 is able to prove, during the prototype and testing phase, that it will meet the performance specifications set forth in its design, including all capacity, safety and reliability issues raised in this study. OKI is to establish a successor to the Central Area Loop Study Committee whose task will be to follow the development of Taxi 2000 PRT and other possible PRT systems and to recommend to OKI when prototype development has progressed to the point justifying the initiation of Phase 2 of this study. Initiate Sky Loop Phase 2 - Preliminary Engineering, Detailed Ridership Study and Business Plan Development, if and when the Taxi 2000 prototype is funded and at a stage where the conditions set forth above appear reasonably likely to be met. Initiate Sky Loop Phase 3 - Construction, only when prototype is complete, testing successful, and Phase 2 of the MIS demonstrates the Sky Loop would meet all the conditions set forth above.

Competing Technologies

Following are links to websites related to the competing technologies within the CALS:

• Cincinnati Street Railway, Inc.: The Vintage Electric Trolley alternative.

• Light Rail Transit (LRT): There is no website dedicated to the LRT alternative for the Central Area Loop. However, Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI) is the main proponent of this alternative. The Sky Loop Committee proposes its PRT system as the most effective circulator that will function as a feeder/distributor to the I-71 Corridor Light Rail line under planning by OKI.

• Southbank Shuttle: Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) website.

Additional Resources

Our Resources page has links to more information regarding PRT, covering key subjects such as safety and control, capacity and ridership, and visual impact, as well as links to websites with more information about PRT technology.

Copyright © The Sky Loop Committee of Vision 2015