ULTra has recently been introduced in the parking area of Heathrow airport in London.

It is an innovative solution in sustainable public transport, providing on-demand driverless travel. The system is based on small, light and energy efficient vehicles moving  on a dedicated guideway network.

ULTra offers an advanced form of PRT (Personal Rapid Transit), ready for application, giving effective, low cost and sustainable transport for cities, airports and other locations. ULTra was developed by Advanced Transport Systems, an innovative company which spun out of the University of Bristol in 1995.

Applying similar systems in mountain centres might prove difficult. In particular, it is questionable that local administrations are willing to cover the costs of these advanced infrastructures. The experts who are meeting at SWOMM 2009 might help to discover the possibilites of introducing advanced solutions such as ULTra in contexts such as towns in mountain regions.

Other articles you might want be interested in!

The Guardian presents Advanced Transport Systems
The Wikipedia article on ULTra

The most remarkable barriers to a wide use of car pooling are psychological, and the possibility to travel with known people could make car pooling more attractive, reports Marco Di Mitri in his blogpost. A possible solution could be travelling with colleagues.

Several platforms are available to ease car pooling (such as roadsharing.com and pendolaritalia.it in Italy, and NuRide in the US), but some of them deserve a special attention.

One of my favorite platform to be used in a working environment is Caringbee . Each user can register, declare her track with starting point, time and arrival and share this information with her colleagues. The platform has been developed according to the web 2.0 principles and can be embedded in a business intranet.

Car pooling seems to be a viable practice also for people who live in the mountains and often commute to larger centres for work, business, public services and leisure. A large number of private cars can remarkably contribute to produce well known externalities of traffic congestion and pollution in urban centres. The experts who are going to meet at SWOMM 2009 will certainly share their impressions concerning the concrete role which car pooling might play in mountain towns.

Other websites you might find interesting:
Car Pooling Italia
Tandem Mobility
Car pooling//Autostrade Italia
Car Pooling Liguria