In the early 70’s they wanted to build a transit system here in Pittsburgh called Skybus. It was an early prototype rubber-wheeled vehicle that ran on an elevated track, and was driven completely by an onboard computer (no driver).
It was a HUGELY controversial political issue, and was eventually killed-off by the Mayor of Pittsburgh. No one came right out and said it, but the fact that it was driverless, and would have put union workers out of a job, was a HUGE factor.
Ironically the transit system today is doing broke due to pension costs. Would not be the case if they had built this thing.
“In the early 70’s they wanted to build a transit system here in Pittsburgh called Skybus.”
Didn’t they let that thing hang over Corrigan Drive in South Park for years? I remember seeing that as a very young kid (it was long abandoned by then). I think they finally dismantled it in the early 80s.
Wasn’t it built for a county fair in the early 70s?
I don’t know if Skybus was the answer overall ... however, they failed miserably transitioning over to busses instead of building out the rail system. The rail from Library to downtown is great, but they should have worked to expand that to other points in the region.
Busses are terrible ... I remember when PAT went on strike in the early 1990s ... I had absolutely no problems getting into the city during rush hour since no busses were clogging up Route 51 :-). Once they settled, it was a miserable commute once again.
Thank God for the endless supply of money from the taxpayers. That pension fund will never go broke, and will only run short of money on paper.
Everyone will get their full pension, and on time.