In the late 1950s the first pedestrian conveyor device was installed in Love Field in Dallas, Texas. Airport planners wanted to eliminate the long walk. A decade passed and a small people mover system was installed at Houston Intercontinental Airport in 1969. The system connected the unit terminals and eventually the airport hotel in a small underground loop and was an attractive passenger convenience. In 1971 Tampa International Airport incorporated four people mover shuttles as a "must ride" feature of the landside-airside hub-and-spoke layout. The instant success was quickly translated into a series of similar installations, all provided by Westinghouse -- the only vendor with a proved technology at that time. In the mid-1980s a fifth shuttle was added. Currently a smaller, non-Westinghouse system to link a new parking garage is being built, and a sixth shuttle is planned. Facts and impressions on the basis of experience with four rounds of procuring and operating people movers are presented.
Abstract