I knew it was a matter of time before this would happen. I'm ready!
Here is how APTA defines it:
http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/APTA-ridership-report-definitions.pdf
Quote:
AG ‐ Automated Guideway Transit (also called personal rapid transit, group rapid transit, or people mover) is an electric railway (single or multi‐car trains) of guided transit vehicles operating without an onboard crew. Service may be on a fixed schedule or in response to a passenger activated call button.
Jacksonville, Miami, and Vancouver's Skytrain!
CC ‐ Cable Car is a railway with individually controlled transit vehicles attached while moving to a moving cable located below the street surface and powered by engines or motors at a central location not on board the vehicle.
San Francisco only
CR ‐ Commuter Rail is a mode of transit service (also called metropolitan rail, regional rail, or suburban rail) characterized by an electric or diesel propelled railway for urban passenger train service consisting of local short distance travel operating between a central city and adjacent suburbs. Service must be operated on a regular basis by or under contract with a transit operator for the purpose of transporting passengers within urbanized areas, or between urbanized areas and outlying areas. Such rail service, using either locomotive hauled or self‐propelled railroad passenger cars, is generally characterized by multi‐trip tickets, specific station to station fares, railroad employment practices and usually only one or two stations in the central business district. Intercity rail service is excluded, except for that portion of such service that is operated by or under contract with a public transit agency for predominantly commuter services. Most service is provided on routes of current or former freight railroads.
GO Transit, AMT, and GVTA are the Canadian examples in APTA's report.
HR ‐ Heavy Rail is a mode of transit service (also called metro, subway, rapid transit, or rapid rail) operating on an electric railway with the capacity for a heavy volume of traffic. It is characterized by high speed and rapid acceleration passenger rail cars operating singly or in multi‐car trains on fixed rails; separate rights‐of‐way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded; sophisticated signaling, and high platform loading.
Toronto's Subway, Montreal's Metro, LA, SF, Miami, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, NJ, NYC, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Puerto Rico.
IP ‐ Inclined Plane is a railway operating over exclusive right‐of‐way on steep grades (slopes) with powerless vehicles propelled by moving cables attached to the vehicles and powered by engines or motors at a central location not on board the vehicle. The special tramway type of vehicles has passenger seats that remain horizontal while the undercarriage (truck) is angled parallel to the slope.
Pittsburg, Chattanooga, Johnstown.
LR ‐ Light Rail is a mode of transit service (also called streetcar, tramway, or trolley) operating passenger rail cars singly (or in short, usually two‐car or three‐car, trains) on fixed rails in right‐of‐way that is often separated from other traffic for part or much of the way. Light rail vehicles are typically driven electrically with power being drawn from an overhead electric line via a trolley or a pantograph; driven by an operator on board the vehicle; and may have either high platform loading or low level boarding using steps.
ex: Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto (streetcar), many US examples.
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It seems likely that APTA will classify the REM as "Automated Guideway Transit".
Obviously, the semantics and definitions can only go so far. Jacksonvilles "Automated Guideway" is nothing compared to Vancouver's Skytrain. Toronto's streetcars, while popular and serving to the urban identity of Toronto's core, cannot compete with the speed and accessibility of Calgary's C-train. Different technologies are different to different cities.
Perhaps what's more important are metrics like passenger-kilometres (or passenger miles), ridership, headways, capital costs, etc., because these tell us how well a system is providing access, connecting citizens to opportunities and each other, unlocking land values, reducing congestion, and providing happiness (whatever that is) to citizens and visitors. Isn't that the point of rapid transit anyway? Speaking of "rapid", this is another tricky term to define. Typically, if we build our systems assuming people will walk up to a certain distance (say, 800m), then logically we often say we get the most value spacing stations at 1.5-1.6 km. It is these station spacings with a separated ROW that limits travel speed - not technology!
Want a system that is truly "rapid", space stations far enough apart to achieve those 80-100 km/h top speeds. Of course, this highly limits accessibility and you are going to build more track to serve fewer people.
What about ridership limitations? Is it true that "heavy rail" (i.e. Metro or Subway) can carry more people than LRT? The limiting factors, again, are nothing inherent to the technology, but rather the ease of loading/unloading, station length, car configuration, etc.
The kind of rolling stock makes a difference, but mainly because of the limitations regarding what each can handle with regards to grade changes. LRVs can handle unlimited 6-7% grades, which makes them versatile in hilly locations and in locations where it is useful to switch from below-grade to grade to above-grade. This can be very useful when we are trying to achieve a flat station immediately before a steep climb, and might save us millions of dollars of digging or give us more choices. Toronto's Subway has a 1,495 mm gauge; Montreal's Metro, Vancouver's Skytrain, and Calgary's C-train has 1,435 mm gauge; so there is really no difference in ultimate capacity so long as stations can be extended, cars connected and reconfigured, and equivalent headways achieved. Again, it is the other features such as automation, grade separation, weather, and station length that limits headways and capacity; not necessarily the rolling stock technology.
When it comes to rolling stock, it's not the weight that counts (HRT, LRT), it's how you use it.
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