In a world where visions of better urban transportation are scarce, South Carolina's Fred Payne beams out a steady stream of positive images and thoughts. He and the Envision SC Update he is leading for the Greenville County Council use a different vocabulary. They speak of mobility hubs and GreenVillages with high accessibility and connectivity. They argue that this will solve many first/last mile problems, reducing the need to own cars and thus reduces congestion and related problems.

For years, Fred has urged civic officials, major stakeholders and the general public in this direction fully aware of podcar possibilities. He frequently speaks at civic and professional events. On September 16. he moderated a session of Smart Transportation Corridors and Smarter GreenVillages Development at the annual meeting of a county planning officials.

Due to the seeds Fred have planted, podcars are being considered in and around Greenville -- in a trial-oriented development corridor, at the airport, by several large medical and university campuses and at senior complexes.

Previous Letters by The Editor Without the power to restrain individual freedoms, US city and regional planning institutions are weak. This is painfully true in northern California’s Silicon Valley -- a narrow north-south stretch along the southwest shore of San Francisco Bay. SV is hemmed in on the west by the Santa Cruz Mounta... more

Smart Urban Remake About ten years ago, Trans.21 offered a 21st century vision that it is still valid today.         The world needs cities made up of people-friendly districts unthreatened by speeding traffic and not choked by parked cars.  In these compact, walkable districts, nei... more

PCC-X Mark Your Calendar! The 10th Podcar City conference will take place Sept 19-21 in cooperation with the city of Antwerp, Belgium, and their transport consultant, in a large event that will examine a wide range of urban mobility options. What is podcar orientation? ATRA’s Ingmar Andreasson, professor emeritus of... more Las Vegas is a city built on gambling. That includes the developers, especially the casino folks who have created a world-famous  array of mega-resorts up and down the Strip. Several have APM shuttles built in the 1990s. As the 21st century opened, MGM Mirage gambled when it unveiled a $7 b... more Urban policy makers face a new set of questions these days. Frequent requests for drones and robocars are coming at them. This is terra incognito. They have no experience with driverless street delivery of pizza, fuel oil or people. An official classification of levels of vehicle automation was ... more
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Lawrence Fabian LAWRENCE J. FABIAN is an innovative regional land use and transportation planner, writer, thinker and visionary with world-level information on automated people movers-based strategies to better configure urban life. He has presented technical papers and organized several seminars and workshops.

Mr. Fabian is the founder of Trans.21, a technical clearinghouse on world APM developments. He is an active member of the Advanced Transit Association and the U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB). He has also been an officer of the Transportation Division of the American Planning Association (APA).

Mr. Fabian graduated from Dartmouth College summa cum laude in 1967. He holds a Masters in City & Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer settings.

He lives in Boston where he walks its lovely tree-lined streets.
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