"Quiet" Automated People Mover Operation in Indonesia: First Decade

After four decades of uninspired automated people mover (APM) evolution in the United States, the urban public has not widely accepted this technology. This attitude mainly reflects the results of technically successful projects that have failed with regard to financial viability, traffic patronage, urban planning, and social merit. A modest firm in Brazil has developed and tested a new technology. In 1988, a private group of Indonesian investors used the Aeromovel technology to retrofit a cultural complex with an APM loop distributor. From 1989 to 1999, this pneumatically propelled loop handled 3.5 million revenue passengers and generated only 250,000 vehicle-km. Aeromovel has shown that private equity can be obtained with capital costs below $20 million per 1.61 km. The effectiveness is derived from the speed of installation, low cost of daily operations and maintenance, and frequent service.