Personal Rapid Transit
"The best independent webpage on PRT" —J. Edward Anderson
Why trains alone don't relieve congestion
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
Where conventional "light-rail" and "monorail" trains are restricted to corridors, PRT systems would be laid out in a grid pattern extending in any direction. This is made possible by a straightforward logical progression: Small, lightweight vehicles are cheaper than large, heavy train cars; the lighter weight means the PRT guideway can be lighter and less-intensively engineered than conventional railbeds, elevated rails or monorail beams; lighter, simpler guideway means quicker, cheaper construction (chart).
This means, on a per-mile basis, PRT could be dramatically cheaper to build than trains. Therefore more miles of PRT guideway could be built for an equivalent amount.
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 a hassle? 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 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 Edition, 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. In 2008 construction of the first modern PRT system will be completed at London's Heathrow Airport; it will start carrying members of the public in 2009 after testing is completed. POSCO, the South Korean steel company, is testing a PRT system in Sweden. A second PRT test program is starting in Sweden, 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.
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.
PRT Systems
PRT Quicklinks @Innovative Transportation Technologies (washington.edu)
ULTra,
ATS Ltd. A PRT system approved by the UK gov't, promoted by the EU, and about to debut at
Heathrow Airport.
•
ULTra videos
•
ULTra news & intel
•
EDICT
•
USA site
2getthere (Masdar City project)
Vectus, POSCO Steel, S. Korea. A PRT program
testing in Sweden; has received regulatory approval.
•
Vectus news & intel
•
2003 Flyby/JV paper
Skyweb Express,
Taxi 2000 Corp. An American PRT company based in Minnesota.
•
Skyweb news & intel
Other PRT programs, news & intel
Skycab Sweden
•
Project status, mid-2005
MicroRail (TX),
dual mode with PRT capability
TechVilla "EcoTaxi APGM" Finland
MIST-ER Poland
UniModal aka SkyTran
PRT International (J. Edward Anderson)
Sekaray (Turkey)
City-Coaster Austria
JPods (MN)
Y-Rail
Austria
PRT Projects
Heathrow Airport, London UK
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Masdar Initiative, zero-emission car-free city (YouTube) Abu Dhabi, Foster+Partners
In the wings:
Suncheon, South Korea
Opole, Poland
Boländerna district, Uppsala, Sweden
Airport Area Automated Transit Network, San Jose, CA
Hofors, Sweden
Hacienda Business Park, Pleasanton, CA
Aviapolis Vantaa, Finland
Bawadi hospitality-leisure development, UAE
Dubai International Financial Centre, UAE- 1, 2
Incheon Free Economic Zone
Papers & Exhibits:
The Basics
Why Rail? by Emory Bundy "Since the record of new rail systems in America is abysmal, it is puzzling why they enjoy so much support..."
A New Transportation Paradigm by A. Sheffer Lang
"This is not what I ordered": Why trains don't relieve traffic congestion, Parts I and II. Understanding modes of transportation as
competing consumer products.
Building a Case For a New Transportation System, a Whole Systems approach. Sept. 2001, U.S. EPA Region X
What the heck is PRT? (Realvideo). Starts at 11:45.
Personalizing Public Transportation The Futurist Vol. 24 Nov-Dec 1990
"The Future of High Capacity PRT" by J.E. Anderson (Word)
Local Transport Using Self-Guided Vehicles (Car Free Times #33)
"Vision Quest" by Glenn Pascall The gist: For the LRT-monorail-highway camps, getting their technology of choice is more important than doing anything about the actual traffic-transit problem.
Rail Riders' Dirty Little Secret How many
L.A. train commuters work around the inflexibility of rail.
PRT handles the same volume as a freeway animated GIF
Example PRT Vehicles & Interiors
Billions Served: McDonald's & service delivery
Papers & Exhibits:
Details
Why PRT is Less Expensive-
I Comparison Chart of PRT vs LRT and monorail
II 3 hypothetical
transit systems
III Comparing revenue of the 3 systems
Calculating the capacity of PRT
PRT loops are uni-directional; Why PRT is faster than driving in congestion
A paper on PRT control systems
Analysis & Simulation of Automated Vehicle Stations
Detailed cost estimates for a Taxi 2000 system proposed for Cincinnati. The system would have cost only $8.52 million per mile.
State of Minnesota validates PRT concept, technical feasibility
Exercises: Costing a Seattle system--
I What a Seattle PRT system might cost
II How much PRT
the ETC could buy with $1.23 billion
How PRT low cost & high ridership are derived
Service Effectiveness of PRT vs. Collective-Corridor Transport Journal of Advanced Transportation 37:3
Papers & Exhibits:
Related Issues
You've Got Rail 11-6-02
Social Equity & Transit Modes
. . . Save
Our Valley loses appeal
Transit Oriented Development, Land Use & Transit Modes TOD News Index
PRT as corporate campus shuttle
What is intrusive? Large vs. small
structures
Transit, homeland security & PRT
Dual Mode/RUF: My Misgivings
Seattle Green Line cost notes, Sept. 2003
"Megaprojects and Risk", Bent Flyvbjerg, PhD
Papers & Exhibits:
Myths
& Disinformation
|
"PRT Is
a Joke" Is A Joke! v.2 |
PRTJJ v.1 (2005)
Analyses of PRT that got the facts wrong, and A case in point.
The Gatekeepers: interests that don't want you to know about PRT.
Regarding claims by "LightRailNow.org"—here are the rebuttals:
•
Rebuttal by J. Edward Anderson
•
Rebuttal by Bill Wilde
•
SoundPRT responds
The "See How They Distort" Library
Debunking a persistent critic
Take The PRT Challenge (2008: Still no takers)
Program, Papers & Exhibits:
Surveys of the Field
Innovative Transit Systems: survey of current developments Swedish Agency For Innovation (requires Adobe Acrobat). See page 11 (13 of 56) and page 17 (19 of 56)
Personal Rapid Transit: A Potential New Urban Transport Solution, European Union, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
SeaTac PRT Major Investment Study, 1997. The first MIS ever performed for an application of a PRT technology anywhere in the world.
Alternative
PRT Systems for Kungens Kurva (EDICT
study city Huddinge, Sweden)
•
PRT-
a High-quality, Cost-efficient and Sustainable Public Transport system
for Kungens Kurva 2005, EU-EDICT/Transek
Status and Potential of Personal Rapid Transit (2003), Advanced Transit Assn.
Personal Rapid Transit in Stockholm- Market demand and Economic Appraisal Dept. of Technology & Society, Lund University, Sweden
PRT: a suitable transport system for urban areas in Sweden? (1998). Rarely-scene illustrations & photos starting p. 50
Telektronikk 1.2003 papers on ITS and PRT by Telenor Group R&D division
PRT & Telenor Involvement (Norway telcom company), 2003
Moving Ahead with PRT (EU 5th Framework)
CityMobil (EU 6th Framework)
APGM Feasibility Study (Finland)
"The Future of High Capacity PRT" by J.E. Anderson (2006, Word)
Feasibility Study for Santa Cruz, CA (2007, pdf)
Viability of PRT in Virginia (pdf, 2008)
The J. Edward
Anderson
Collection
(By special
arrangement
with Dr. Anderson)
The following are Zip compressed archives:
Life-Cycle Costs and Reliability Allocation in Automated Transit, 1977 (.rtf)
The Birth of a Breakthrough in Urban Transportation, North Park College, 1994 (.rtf)
Control of PRT Systems, 1998 (.rtf)
Matching Capacity to Demand, 1998 (.doc)
Simulation of the Operation of PRT Systems, 1998 (.rtf)
How Innovation can make Transit Self-Supporting, 2006: (.doc) (.pdf not compressed)
Also available (via partner site):
"The
Future of High Capacity PRT", 2006 (.doc - not compressed)
Transit Systems Theory 1978, 1996, 340 pages
"Comparison of the weight per unit length of a pipe guideway with a truss guideway," 2007. Google Document
The Complete Bibliography
PRT History
Automated Guideway Transit: an assessment of PRT and other systems U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment (Complete; 1975)
Fundamentals of Personal Rapid Transit by Jack Irving (1978, full book)
A 1999 Minneapolis Star Tribune column about Taxi 2000 and makes the case for PRT
The Raytheon Legacy (1990s)
• Korean partner still active?
• 2006: oblique aerial photo
Reinventing The Wheel by Eric Scigliano
Still in a
Class of Its Own Morgantown, WV (1970s-Present)
•
Now that's
capacity Real or WMP video clip
• Morgantown system's 30th
anniversary
Cabinentaxi (Germany, 1970s-80s)
Skyloop A committee advocating Taxi 2000 in
Cincinnati.
• Committee votes down Sky Loop, Cincy Post article
• Cincinnati Skyloop final report on the Central Area Loop Study (requires Acrobat)
• The full
Skyloop rebuttal to PB Farradyne's negative analysis of Taxi 2000 shows just how badly PB
bungled the job. (requires Acrobat)
Get There Fast Seattle-area PRT activists
Airfront.21 (Trans.21)
Seattle PRT discussion group at Yahoo! Groups
CPRT PRT activism in Minneapolis-St. Paul
•Skyweb Express
window stickers on sale
ACPRT Austin, TX. See "Skeptics Corner"
Cities21 Silicon Valley
PRT for the San Francisco Bay Area
Gruppo Modena Strada Amica Modena, IT
PRT New Zealand
Edmontonians for PRT
Connect Ithaca
