Perhaps the Automated Transportation System outlined in this INTRODUCTION sounds interesting and you want to know more…

However, you are bothered by a nagging concern about how such a system can be implemented in our cities, particularly in our subdivisions and individual homes…

Fortunately, the evolution of road transportation from horses to automobiles—and the transitions from barns to garages—gives us an answer ot that question. It teaches us that people, houses and cities adapt to the prevailing form of transportation.

see animation

In the early 1900s very few people traveled far from where they were born. Those who did travel far did so infrequently and used steam-powered trains. In cities detached houses were built on narrow lots (25 ft. wide was common). Behind the house was a stable for horses and maybe a buggy. The stable was accessed by an alley. The alley served many purposes. There was no indoor plumbing, central furnaces were wood or coal, and waste was placed in an ASH PIT and burned. Horses and single-axle wagons provided transportation for individual travelers, and wagons were used for family and freight. The stable with straw and horse manure, the ash pit with garbage, and furnace ash in the alley assured lots of rats, roaches, and mice in the stable.

Cars came on the scene around 1920 but were a novelty. Electricity and electric motors developed faster. Electric powered trolleys or streetcars proliferated. Every city had them including small towns. This was the first mass transit and was inexpensive. It was no big deal walking a few blocks to a trolley. Now people in cities were not so dependent on having a horse and buggy. Horses were messy and hitching them up was a chore.

By the end of the 1920s and in the early 1930s the automobile was getting more reliable. Most houses had no driveways so the cars were parked at the curb in front of the house. Automobiles shared the road with horses and the streetcars for only a few years and then horses began to disappear from cities. Cars occupied stables that were big enough and could be cleaned up enough. Most garages did not have a concrete floor or electricity.

Up to this point history has taught us that transportation alternatives can share the same right-of-way but not necessarily the same infrastructure; and that alternative infrastructure can share the same right-of-way with alternative transportation methods. The streetcar or trolley shared right-of-way with cars and buses, but had its own infrastructure. Horses and cars shared a common infrastructure and right-of-way.

see animation

During World War II few cars were produced, but vehicle technology advanced remarkably. By the end of the war only a few horses remained in commercial applications. Streetcars were losing money and going out of business because cars offered more flexibility. The postwar era saw indoor plumbing, trash pick-up, conversion to central gas furnaces, and elimination of horses in residential areas. As millions of new homes were built the ALLEY was deleted from new residential developments. At first the ordinary new house had a one-car wide driveway. Soon a detached carport appeared. This soon evolved into a detached garage. As the ranch-style home emerged around 1950 the circular drive emerged. Early detached garages had outward opening doors. With the invention of the overhead garage door and addition of concrete floors the stable image faded and a civilized building devoted to storing a car emerged. Smaller homes (cookie cutter boxes) were built without garages but had a wider driveway and a detached carport. Larger homes evolved with a two-car garage connected to the house by a breezeway. The garage was still associated with the image of rats, field mice, and roaches. The breezeway provided a psychologically acceptable buffer. By the 1960s garages were attached directly to many homes and the breezeway was gone. In the 1970s the garage became an integral part of the home with tri-level designs becoming popular. The alley was long gone and forgotten. In the early 1980’s the carport disappeared. Builders realized a carport cost almost the same as a garage, but a garage added far more value as a place to park the car and store the lawnmower, bicycles, tools and such out of sight. The lesson to be learned is that residential subdivisions and cities as well, adapt to the prevailing form of transportation. Urban planners have been trying to bring back the alley. The Automated Transport System could be readily adapted into an alley system of subdivision layout. The Automated Transport System provides benefits for developers as well as for the residents. Automated Transport could be a great new tool for urban planners. The automated system is readily adaptable to the multi-family development. One possible outcome for multi-family housing would be elimination of the parking lot look, to be replaced with attractive landscaping since vehicles do not need to be kept close to each apartment and can be stored very compactly in an enclosed automated garage.

Thank you for joining us on this journey!

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Thank you,

The ATS staff

ATS sounds cool and interesting!
But could it really be implemented?


Evolution of road transportation shows us
that people, houses and cities adapt to
the prevailing form of transportation.

early long distance travel was on trains

local travel was by horse and buggy...

or stagecoaches for familes

horses and cars shared the same roads

electric trolleys — the first mass transit system

Shotgun houses with stables and access alleys evolved into houses with curbside parking, followed by homes with carports, circular drives, detached garages, and finally enclosed garages, and the alley disappeared. In the Automated Transportation System, the alley could see a comeback.

concept for an automated transport garage

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