An aerial maglev podcar proposal that's been kicking around since grunge was hot may finally be built in Tel Aviv. Just don't expect to go for a ride anytime soon.

SkyTran, a personal rapid transit system that features two-person pods hanging from elevated maglev tracks, was first proposed in 1990 by inventor Douglas Malewicki. The idea was kicked from company to company before ending up in the hands of attorney and entrepreneur Jerry Sanders. During the heady, early days of federal stimulus dollars, transit systems from St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (.pdf) to Missoula, Montana proposed SkyTran installations, but not one made it past the, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if..." stage.

But now Tel Aviv is interested. Several outlets are reporting a SkyTran installation is imminent in the city, a congested place that could benefit from transit pods that float above crowded streets.

"We are hoping that this innovative project will be up and running as soon as possible, but we do not have a specific date," said city spokesman Mira Marcus said. "The SkyTran is still in the planning process."

According to Sanders, his team hopes to break ground in 2014, but it's awaiting financing and government permits. Sanders says he has the "full support" of Israel's finance and transportation ministries, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office of Alternative Fuels, the U.S. Commerce Department, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. If true, that would help expedite the permitting process and make it easier to raise funds. Sanders says Tel Aviv is ideal because it's "one big traffic jam" and full of "technology-loving trend-setters."

That may be, but aside from a prototype used only to develop control software at NASA's Ames Research Center, SkyTran is completely unproven. It's hard enough to get a new bus line added to a city, let alone building an entire transit system based on a radical concept. That may explain the numerous reports of SkyTran "coming soon" to cities ranging from Tempe to Kuala Lumpur, even though not one has been built.

For a cautionary tale, we turn to Mountain View, California, another city where SkyTran was once proposed. Three years ago, the city council adopted a policy specifically supporting PRT. This year, the city encouraged the Federal Transit Agency to fund a competitive grant program that would yield proof of concept for an automated transit network (ATN). Sanders says that SkyTran is making "substantial progress" in Mountain View. Still, no concrete plans are in the works.

"No engineering or financial feasibility studies for a PRT/ATN system in Mountain View have been conducted or evaluated to date," said Linda Forsberg, the city's transportation and business manager. She said the city "will look at and evaluate a wide range of options/solutions, including potentially some form of PRT," the short-term focus for Mountain View is expanding existing public transit options including commuter buses and ridesharing, in addition to supporting cycling and walking. Any plans for PRT systems like SkyTran are far, far off in the future.

Tel Aviv is far more crowded than Mountain View, which may make SkyTran an attractive solution to a more pressing problem. Still, until funding is secured and permits are signed, the public transit network of the future remains just that.

Update, August 17, 2013: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Douglas Malewicki was associated with the Schweeb concept. Malewicki was never associated with Schweeb.

Images: SkyTran