What are Automated People Movers and where can you find them?

Have you ever wondered what they call that typical trains in airports? The official name is ‘Automated People Mover’, this term is used for fully automated and driverless transit systems. In first instance, an Automated People Mover looks like a regular metro or subway-train, but if you look better you’ll see that these trains have rubber tyres instead of regular train wheels. The advantage of rubber tyres instead of rails is a faster acceleration and shorter braking distance, which is ideal for short rides and also for longer distances at an airport. 

What are Automated People Movers used for?

Automated People Movers are used for those short rides to transfer a relatively large group of about 300 passengers per ride in a small timescale. In this way, passengers can travel faster between terminals, concourses and gates. This will lead to a shorter minimum connecting time and a shorter origin to destination time. The shorter the time passengers need to travel, the better their travel experience will be. For airports, the travel experience of passengers is very important. Airports want to be the preferred transit airport for as many passengers as possible to generate more income.

Where can Automated People Movers be found?

Nowadays, Automated People Movers can be found all over the world in large airports which handle a lot of (transfer)passengers such as Dubai International Airport, Atlanta Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Some of those airports use an APM at the landside and some at the airside of the airport. On the airside, they can be used by passengers to transfer between terminals, concourses or gates. On the landside, the system can be used to transfer between the terminal and the parking, public transportation centre or sometimes directly to the city centre.

When was the first Automated People Mover introduced?

The first Automated People Mover which was implemented at an airport was the Tampa International Airport People Mover in 1971, developed by Adtranz (which is now Bombardier Transportation). Because of the success of this system, two years later in 1973, the second Automated People Mover system opened at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. In the first two decades, the Automated People Mover system was only used in the United States. In the 90s, the first Automated People Movers were introduced in Asia and Europe. In Asia, the first APM opened in 1990 at Singapore Changi Airport and Europe followed one year later when an APM system was introduced at London Stansted Airport.

Automated People Movers manufacturers

There are about a dozen manufacturers which produce Automated People Mover systems, Bombardier and Mitsubishi have the largest market share in this industry. In all airports over the world, there are in total 58 Automated People Movers. Some airports have two or sometimes even three People Movers. In the following list, all Automated People Mover systems can be found.