DO-RE-MI: Implications of the Different Scales of APM Markets

The need of urban communities and their citizens for mobility and interconnections generates demands for Automated People Movers (APMs) at three distinctly different levels or scales. The first of these is large-scale urban public transit infrastructure for towns, large cities and metropolitan areas. These projects are at the heart of an inherently political process which, in the United States, is centered within Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). The second level or scale of APM project generation is for local circulation within urban districts, campuses, and centers of various kinds — in the realm of public-private partnerships. The third is within single properties as an element within more individualistic architectural plans. The different scales and dynamics of these three levels of projects are substantial and significant, and are explained in this paper. These differences have real impacts on those seeking to advance and implement APM projects. Their implications for public policy and commercial strategies to facilitate the realization of benefits that APMs can deliver are explored.