faQ About Us
faQ Can small PRT pods really be a MASS transit system?
faQ Would people be willing to ride around in a closed, computer-controlled car?
faQ Wouldn't PRT be scary to ride, like a roller coaster?
Forget everything you thought
you knew about mass transit
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT, also called "podcars") is an inexpensive mass transit technology that borrows the best features of the automobile (on-demand, non-stop travel, from anywhere TO anywhere), but glides above traffic like a monorail. A fleet of small automated vehicles, each seating 3-6 people, will travel on overhead guideways linking many small stations scattered throughout an urban area. All points in a designated PRT service area would be close to a PRT station.
By being fast and convenient, PRT stands the best chance of reducing traffic congestion — especially in low to medium density U.S. cities, where buses and train systems tend to leave a lot to be desired.
Cost Advantage
The main difference between PRT and other forms of transit is that trains and buses are what you use if you want scheduled service -- whereas when you want transit on-demand, in the future you may be able to choose PRT. Small vehicles are sufficient for on-demand transit in the same way that small on-demand elevators are adequate in skyscrapers -- elevators would have to be very large if they ran on schedules.
Because small vehicles are lightweight and cheaper, so too is the guideway (rail) they run on. They are also less intensively engineered than conventional railbeds, elevated rails or monorail beams, meaning quicker, cheaper construction (chart). This leads to a cost advantage in which PRT could be dramatically cheaper to build on a per-mile basis. Therefore more miles of PRT guideway could be built, reaching more places.
faQ Why a grid? What's wrong with train routes? What about economic development?
faQ Where will we find room for all the stations? Won't they be expensive?
Think public transit is inconvenient? Here is PRT's Elegant Solution
The guideway network's grid pattern, made possible by PRT's cost advantage, is what makes PRT superior to conventional trains as a mode of mass transit. PRT guideways would be spaced at ½-mile intervals; small stations with 1 or more berths would be located off-line (meaning pods pull off the route to board/unboard passengers, out of the way of other pods) every ½-mile.
This station distribution pattern means you and your destination are never be more than ¼-mile away (an easy walk, only 440 yards/402 meters) from a PRT station. This high degree of accessibility is a PRT advantage that new line-haul rail cannot match.
faQ Doesn't PRT just duplicate the road system?
faQ If PRT is Personal, how much will buying a pod cost me?
faQ How can PRT replace cars if the rail doesn't go to your house?
faQ Sounds like chaos-- won't all those little cars run into each other?
faQ What about big buildings and stadium crowds?
Green Transit
Personal Rapid Transit is inherently more energy-sustainable, or "greener," than automobiles and conventional transit. The key to PRT's lower energy usage is its small size (translating into light weight), non-stop service (eliminating most energy-wasting starting and stopping), and on-demand service (PRT vehicles don't move until needed). The table shows how PRT measures up (other data is from the USDOE "Transportation Energy Databook," 24th Ed., Ch. 2, p.13) →
You go to the nearest station; maybe someone with a car drops you off. But it's no further than a quarter-mile away, so you can easily walk or bike there. You take stairs or elevator to the platform above street level; if the station is in a large building, it's on the second floor. You buy your ticket from an ATM-type machine (or use a smart card), keying in your destination or selecting from an onscreen listing. The system programs the vehicle with your trip information.
Moving to the boarding turnstile, a pod is either waiting (empty pods would wait at stations until needed) or will arrive shortly, summoned when you chose a destination. The door opens, you board, the door closes, and you push a button to signal you're ready to go. And then you're off, non-stop to the chosen destination.
When you arrive and exit the pod, it immediately becomes available to the next rider.
World Wildlife Fund "Skycab" video
| Transport Energy Use | |
| Mode | BTUs per psngr mi |
| PRT1 | 839 |
| Vanpool | 1,362 |
| Motorcycle | 2,274 |
| Commuter rail | 2,714 |
| Rail transit | 3,268 |
| Auto | 3,581 |
| Commercial air | 3,703 |
| Personal truck | 4,057 |
| Bus transit | 4,127 |
| Amtrak | 4,830 |
| 1. Lowson, M.V. "A new approach to sustainable transport systems," 2004. | |
| Kilowatt-hours per psngr mi | |
| PRT | 0.60 |
| Bus | 0.95 |
| Car | 1.65 |
| Light rail | 2.90 |
| Ehlig-Economides & Longbottom, "Dual Mode Vehicle and Infrastructure Analysis," Texas DOT, 2008. | |
faQ Can a person in a wheelchair use PRT?
faQ What if the first vehicle has litter, or smells, or has been vandalized? What about Comfort?
faQ Do I have to share the pod?
faQ Doesn't PRT discourage social or civic interaction?
faQ Isn't it unsafe? Couldn't a criminal jump in with me?
faQ Isn't fixed rail less flexible? Wouldn't improving bus service be better?
Why hasn't a PRT system been built yet?
Until now it's been a question of political leadership. Advocates of highways, light rail and monorail have enormous political capital, and until now have been able to scare political leaders by declaring PRT to be "futuristic," "the Jetsons," "silly," and even "impossible." The Raytheon company came close in the 1990s, licensing the design of Taxi 2000 Corp., and developing a working prototype. But Raytheon changed the design in ways that drove up costs.
But exciting things are brewing. Construction of the first modern PRT system has been completed at London's Heathrow Airport and should soon begin operations. POSCO, the South Korean steel company, has tested a PRT system which has been certified by Sweden/EU, and sophisticated new concepts are being developed in Poland, Finland, and South Korea. Masdar, on track to become the world's first "green city," is planning a city-wide PRT system, and the Swedish government is planning to use PRT to complement its national rail system.
Today's leading PRT designs utilize a combination of commonplace, straightforward engineering, and off-the-shelf components. It is only a matter of time until it will be proven to the satisfaction of U.S. decisionmakers who are intrigued by PRT, but see political risks to being the first to try it.
Reducing car use: The size of the problem
So get on board! Check out PRT, and urge your friends, media, transit officials and elected leaders to do the same.
