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44-584: The PHX Sky Train is an electric people mover at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona . The initial segment opened to the public on April 8, 2013. The first extension to Terminal 3 opened on December 8, 2014, and the second extension to the Rental Car Center opened on December 20, 2022. The 24/7 service operates free of charge, with trains running every 3–5 minutes. The PHX Sky Train replaced shuttle buses for transit within

88-600: A metro (e.g. Rennes , Lausanne , Brescia , etc.) are now doing so. On September 30, 2006, the Peachliner in Komaki , Aichi Prefecture , Japan, became that nation's first people mover to cease operations. Many large international airports around the world feature people mover systems to transport passengers between terminals or within a terminal itself. Some people mover systems at airports connect with other public transportation systems to allow passengers to travel into

132-469: A rigorous testing period. It was opened to the public on May 21, 2005, and is completely automated. Skylink trains run every two minutes and travel at speeds up to 35–37 mph (56–60 km/h) . In 2015, after a decade of service, Skylink had transported over 141 million people and traveled over 32.4 million fleet miles (52.1 million kilometres). The Skylink system operates airside at DFW, mostly serving passengers connecting between flights, and

176-415: A system known as Cabinentaxi during the 1970s. Cabinentaxi featured small cars with from four to eight seats that were called to pick up passengers on-demand and drove directly to their destination. The stations were "offline", allowing the cabs to stop by moving off the main lines while other cars continued to their destinations. The system was designed so the cars could be adapted to run on top or bottom of

220-531: A total of 64 Innovia APM 200 vehicles, coupled together into two car trains. Each Skylink vehicle can accommodate up to 69 passengers and their carry-on luggage. The Innovia APM 200 technology is also used at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 as well as the PHX Sky Train . The audio announcements on SkyLink are provided by local voice-over artist Doc Morgan. The concrete and steel guideway for Skylink, elevated at an average of 50 feet (15 m),

264-420: A total of 97 million miles (156 million kilometres) over the lifetime of its fleet. As DFW became a large connecting hub for flights, Airtrans was noted for being slow with its top speed of 17 mph (27 km/h) and following a uni-directional counter-clockwise loop located inside security for Terminals A, B, and C and outside security to other areas, was inefficient in moving passengers. The system

308-513: A working title for a new attraction, the PeopleMover . According to Imagineer Bob Gurr , "the name got stuck," and it was no longer a working title. Starting in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, people movers were the topic of intense development around the world. Worried about the growing congestion and pollution in downtown areas due to the spread of cars, many countries started studying mass transit systems that would lower capital costs to

352-455: Is "automated guideway transit", which encompasses any automated system regardless of size. Some complex APMs deploy fleets of small vehicles over a track network with off-line stations, and supply near non-stop service to passengers. These taxi-like systems are more usually referred to as personal rapid transit (PRT). Larger systems, with vehicles with 20 to 40 passengers, are sometimes referred to as "group rapid transit" (GRT), although this term

396-477: Is inaccessible to those who have not cleared security. Skylink operates trains 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The system is double-tracked and both tracks are operational between 5 am and midnight. Between midnight and 5 am, one track may be taken out of operation to allow for maintenance. The system has crossovers between the Terminal D stations and the Terminal E stations. There are also pocket tracks in

440-517: Is longer). Skylink was developed as a replacement for the Airtrans (part of which was later operated as American Airlines' TrAAin System), the airport's original people mover system that connected airport facilities and parking lots. It served the airport for 31 years from 1974 to 2005 and transported a quarter of a billion passengers between DFW's then four terminals and employee facilities, logging

484-419: Is not particularly common. Other complex APMs have similar characteristics to rapid transit systems, and there is no clear cut distinction between a complex APM of this type and an automated mass transit system. Another term " light metro " is also applied to describe the system worldwide. One of the first automated systems for human transportation was the screw-driven 'Never-Stop-Railway', constructed for

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528-765: Is tall enough to allow for Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 aircraft to pass under. Phase 1 consists of a 1.7 miles (2.7 km) segment constructed between December 2008 and April 2013. It links Terminal 4, the East Economy Parking lot, and the 44th Street/Washington station of the Valley Metro Rail . The guideway runs in a new underpass (below the Union Pacific railroad), past the jet-fuel tank farm, and alongside 44th Street. At an estimated cost of $ 1.58 billion, Phase 1 opened on April 8, 2013. Phase 1a, which opened December 8, 2014, extended

572-648: Is the third Innovia APM 200 installation following the DFW Skylink and Heathrow Terminal 5 Transit . Different views of the PHX Sky Train and terminal. People mover The term was originally applied to three different systems, developed roughly at the same time. One was Skybus , an automated mass transit system prototyped by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation beginning in 1964. The second, alternately called

616-514: The British Empire Exhibition at Wembley , London in 1924. This railway consisted of 88 unmanned carriages, on a continuous double track along the northern and eastern sides of the exhibition, with reversing loops at either end. The carriages ran on two parallel concrete beams and were guided by pulleys running on the inner side of these concrete beams, and were propelled by gripping a revolving screw thread running between

660-526: The Erie Railroad to the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes . This unit was 227 feet (69 m) long with a rise of 22 feet (6.7 m) on a 15 degree grade , and only cost $ 75,000. A Carveyor consisted of many small cubicles or cars carrying ten people riding on a flat conveyor belt from point A to point B. The belt rode on a series of motorized rollers. The purpose of the motorized rollers was to facilitate

704-479: The New York City Board of Transportation , had several meetings with a group of architects who were trying to revamp the whole New York City Subway system in the heart of town to connect Pennsylvania Station, Madison Square Garden , Times Square, Grand Central and several new office complexes together. Several of these architects were involved in other programs, and in later years many variations of

748-592: The 44th Street/Washington and East Economy Parking stations. Three months after opening, the PHX Sky Train carried about 70,000 people per week, over 40% higher than the design estimates of about 48,000. The busiest days are Thursday and Friday. The busiest times are 5 am-8 am and noon-3 pm In March 2016, average daily ridership was 15,940. Cumulative ridership hit 1 million in 2013 and hit 10 million in 2015. Rolling stock consists of 18 Innovia APM 200 vehicles. Trains generally operating as six 3-car trainsets, although 2-car trainsets are in use during off-peak times. With

792-650: The Carveyor people movers were developed. In November 1954 the New York City Transit Authority issued an order to Goodyear and Stephens-Adamson to build a complete Carveyor system between Times Square and Grand Central. A brief summary and confirmation can be found in Time magazine on November 15, 1954. under the heading "Subway of the Future". The cost was to be under $ 4 million, but the order

836-560: The Downtown People Mover Program. Four systems were developed, Rohr 's ROMAG , LTV 's AirTrans , Ford 's APT and Otis Elevator 's hovercraft design. A major presentation of the systems was organized as TRANSPO'72 at Dulles International Airport , where the various systems were presented to delegations from numerous cities in the US. Prototype systems and test tracks were built during the 1970s. One notable example

880-541: The Industrial Products Division of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. , if Goodyear had ever considered working on People Movers. He felt that with Goodyear's ability to move materials in large quantities on conveyor belts they should consider moving batches of people. Four years of engineering design, development and testing led to a joint patent being issued for three types of people movers, named Speedwalk, Speedramp, and Carveyor. Goodyear would sell

924-674: The People Mover and Minirail , opened in Montreal at Expo 67. Finally the last, called PeopleMover or WEDway PeopleMover, was an attraction that was originally presented by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and that opened at Disneyland in 1967. Now, however, the term "people mover" is generic, and may use technologies such as monorail , rail tracks or maglev . Propulsion may involve conventional on-board electric motors, linear motors or cable traction . Generally speaking, larger APMs are referred to by other names. The most generic

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968-525: The United States. Driverless metros have become common in Europe and parts of Asia. The economics of automated trains tend to reduce the scale so tied to "mass" transit (the largest operating expense is the driver's salary, which is only affordable if very large numbers of passengers are paying fares), so that small-scale installations are feasible . Thus cities normally thought of as too small to build

1012-413: The airport property. Inter-terminal shuttle bus service was discontinued on January 15, 2015. Rental Car Center shuttle buses ended with the opening of the extension in 2022. The PHX Sky Train features a 100-foot-tall (30 m) bridge over Taxiway R, one of three taxiways that connects the north and south runways. This is the first transit bridge in the world to be built over an active taxiway. The bridge

1056-565: The airport's city. [REDACTED] Media related to People movers at Wikimedia Commons DFW Skylink Skylink is an automated people mover (APM) system operating at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). It is an application of the Innovia APM 200 system and is maintained and operated by Alstom . When it opened in 2005, it was the world's longest airside airport train system ( AirTrain JFK , which operates landside ,

1100-577: The concept and Stephens-Adamson would manufacture and install the components. A Speedwalk consisted of a flat conveyor belt riding on a series of rollers, or a flat slippery surface, moving at 1.5 mph (2.4 km/h) (approximately half the speed of walking). The passengers would walk onto the belt and could stand or walk to the exit point. They were supported by a moving handrail . Customers were expected to include airport terminals , ballparks , train stations , etc. Today, several manufacturers produce similar units called moving walkways . A Speedramp

1144-468: The gradual acceleration and deceleration speeds on the conveyor belt and overcome the tendency of all belts to stretch at start up and during shutdown. At point "A" passengers would enter a Speedwalk running parallel to the belts and cars of the Carveyor. The cars would be moving at the same speed as the Speedwalk; the passengers would enter the cars and be seated, while the motorized rollers would increase

1188-741: The immaturity of the technology and other factors, led the Port Authority to abandon the project and pursue alternatives. By the start of the 1980s most politicians had lost interest in the concept and the project was repeatedly de-funded in the early 1980s. Only two APMs were developed as a part of the People Mover Program in the U.S., the Metromover in Miami , and the Detroit People Mover . The Jacksonville Skyway

1232-576: The internal baggage-handling systems at Terminal 4. Delivery of the baggage was via secured shuttle-trucks that ran approximately every eight minutes. 44th Street also has a passenger drop-off area, cell phone lot , bike racks, and bike lockers. It is also served by routes 1, 32, and 44 of the Valley Metro Bus system. FlixBus boards from the north side of the Sky Train station. Select airlines also offer kiosks to print boarding passes at

1276-455: The new terminal and new ground transportation center are unfunded and included in the airport's 20-year Comprehensive Asset Management Plan. At 44th Street station , domestic passengers could check baggage for flights operated by American Airlines , Southwest Airlines , and United Airlines , though this ended in November 2017. Once checked, the baggage was delivered in locked containers to

1320-434: The opening of Phase 2, Bombardier will deliver 24 additional vehicles. The system is designed to carry 3,300 passengers per hour per direction. The average speed of the trains was forecasted to be 23 miles per hour (37 km/h), with trainsets capable of reaching 38 miles per hour (61 km/h), making the journey time from the 44th Street to Terminal 4 five minutes, plus an additional two minutes to reach Terminal 3. This

1364-572: The point where any city could afford to deploy them. Most of these systems used elevated guideways, which were much less expensive to deploy than tunnels. However, elevating the track causes problems with noise, so traditional steel-wheel-on-rail solutions were rare as they squealed when rounding bends in the rails. Rubber tired solutions were common, but some systems used hovercraft techniques or various magnetic levitation systems. Two major government funded APM projects are notable. In Germany, Mannesmann Demag and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm developed

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1408-410: The sections of the guideway that cross International Parkway . The longest trip between farthest stations is 9 minutes with an average 5 minute journey. This allows most passengers to make a connection from any one flight to another in around seven minutes, not including walking time to and from the stations. The train supports a minimum airline connection time of 30 minutes. The Skylink system uses

1452-432: The speed of the cars up to the traveling speed (which would be preset depending on the distance to be covered). At point B Passengers could disembark and by means of a series of flat slower belts (Speedwalks) go to other Carveyors to other destinations or out to the street. The cars at point B would continue on rollers around a semicircle and then reverse the process carrying passengers back to point A. The initial installation

1496-428: The track (but not easily converted from one to the other), allowing dual-track movements from a single elevated guideway only slightly wider than the cars. A test track was completed in 1975 and ran until development was completed in 1979, but no deployments followed and the companies abandoned the system shortly thereafter. In the U.S., a 1966 federal bill provided funding that led to the development of APM systems under

1540-550: The tracks in a pit; by adjusting the pitch of this thread at different points, the carriages could be sped up, or slowed down to a walking pace at stations, to allow passengers to join and leave. The railway ran reliably for the two years of the exhibition, and was then dismantled. In late 1949, Mike Kendall, chief engineer and Chairman of the Board of Stephens-Adamson Manufacturing Company, an Illinois-based manufacturer of conveyor belts and systems , asked Al Neilson, an engineer in

1584-535: The train from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3. A 0.25-mile (0.40 km) covered walkway connected the Terminal 3 station with Terminal 2 until Terminal 2 closed in February 2020. Phase 2 opened on December 20, 2022, and extended the Sky Train west from Terminal 3 to the Rental Car Center. Funding was approved in October 2016 and the extension is projected to cost $ 700 million. Phase 2 construction completed in mid 2022 and

1628-548: Was Pittsburgh 's Skybus, which was proposed by the Port Authority of Allegheny County to replace its streetcar system, which, having large stretches of private right of way, was not suited for bus conversion. A short demonstration line was set up in South Park and large tracts of land were secured for its facilities. However, opposition arose to the notion that it would replace the streetcar system. This, combined with

1672-629: Was built in the late 1980s. Although many systems were generally considered failures, several APM systems developed by other groups have been much more successful. Lighter systems with shorter tracks are widely deployed at airports; the world's first airport people movers, the Tampa International Airport People Movers , were installed in 1971 at Tampa International Airport in the United States . APMs have now become common at large airports and hospitals in

1716-568: Was constructed above the terminals on 375 columns in a 4.81-mile-long (7.74 km) bi-directional loop. The inner track travels clockwise and the outer track travels counter-clockwise. Each of the five terminals contains two stations which are accessed on the secure (air) side. Unlike the previous Airtrans APM system, Skylink only connects terminals and does not travel to the airport's parking lots or rental car facility. The stations contain four sets of doors on each platform for entrance and exiting of passengers. Two more stations can be constructed for

1760-526: Was decommissioned soon after Skylink opened as a modern replacement and the old guideways were left in place throughout the airport. Skylink guideway construction began in the fall of 1999 and took place with limited interruption of aircraft traffic. Contractors worked during overnight hours for 3 years – when airline gates were unused – arriving on site, completing work and removing equipment each morning before returning gates to an airline. The system made its public debut on June 25, 2004, where it then began

1804-569: Was never fulfilled due to political difficulties. Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania , Disneyland in California, and Walt Disney World in Florida are among many locations that have used variations of the Carveyor concept. The term 'people mover' was used by Walt Disney , when he and his Imagineers were working on the new 1967 Tomorrowland at Disneyland . The name was used as

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1848-644: Was to be the 42nd Street Shuttle in New York City between Times Square and Grand Central station. The first mention of the Carveyor in a hardback book was in There's Adventure in Civil Engineering by Neil P. Ruzic (1958), one of a series of books published by Popular Mechanics in the 1950s in their "Career" series. In the book the Carveyor was already installed and operational in downtown Los Angeles. Colonel Sydney H. Bingham, Chairman of

1892-596: Was under testing until its final opening in December. Phase 2 will be fully funded by airline and rental car passenger fees. The 2.5 miles (4.0 km) extension will pass in two cuts underneath future taxiways and Interstate 10 . Phase 2 includes provisions for infill stations to be constructed for a future "West Terminal" (on the site of the West Economy Parking lots) as well as a new ground transportation center to be built just east of 24th Street. Both

1936-594: Was very similar to a Speedwalk but it was used to change elevations; up or down a floor level. This could have been accomplished by an escalator, but the Speedramp would allow wheeled luggage, small handcarts etc. to ride the belt at an operating cost predicted to be much lower than escalators or elevators . The first successful installation of a Speedramp was in the spring of 1954 at the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Station in Jersey City, New Jersey , to connect

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