PRT (personal rapid transit) is an electric, 200-mpg-equivalent, elevated transit system with many four-person vehicles. Working as circulator transit for office parks, airports, universities, entertainment centers, and other major activity centers, PRT is faster than a car. In these applications, PRT makes carpooling, light rail, commuter rail, bus, and bike more effective, by solving the “last mile problem.”
Highlights:
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BBC: World’s first PRT passenger: “Something from a James Bond movie. A serious bit of kit. It’s so Star Trek. Incredibly quiet, smooth. Not quite normal. Brilliant fun.”
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Minnesota: “We need to explore innovative strategies that are efficient and cost-effective and can improve motorists’ commutes. We owe it to the citizens of our state to keep on the leading edge of technology and present these options to them.”
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San Jose: “San Jose, as the Capital of Silicon Valley, is stepping into a leadership role to help further the development of innovative transit technologies that have the potential to reshape how we move in the future and organize our cities in a more sustainable and livable way.”
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Times of London: “One of 20 proven ways to save the earth.”
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UK Sustainable Development Commission: “The ultimate in changing travel behavior.”
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Architecture: PRT fosters invention and innovation. PRT’s svelte, elevated form enables low-impact threading through a 420-year-old city where other modes cannot pass. SketchUp 3D PRT models available to anyone with talent/creativity.
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First youtube look at 2gethere PRT running at Masdar Ecocity
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17 vehicles at London Heathrow ULTra PRT
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Vectus PRT’s Suncheon (S. Korea) MOU.
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Harvard Biz School case study: “PRT creates huge value: reducing automobile congestion, and getting passengers to their desired destinations more quickly and more reliably.”
DETAILS:
- BBC’s very popular Inside Out program covered the ULTra London Heathrow system, with reporter Josie d’Arby serving
Assuming that one of these ‘grade-free roller coaster rides’ ever gets built, is your organization going to demand that they install air bags on both ends of every vehicle? (I assume they will be bi-directional.)
Chuck
Safety certification for PRT follows the “zero fatalities” mindset applied to airport automated people movers that follow the America Society of Civil Engineers APM Safety Standards.
Some safety explanation for the ULTra system that starts at London Heathrow Airport this summer :
- Safety narrative/certification
Worldwide, there are 144 automated fixed guideway transit systems operating. These carry more than 4.6 million passengers per day (source: Planners Guide to Automated People Movers, 2006/7), operating with 100 times fewer accidents per passenger mile compared to both a) non-grade separated transit such as Commuter Rail and LRT and b) private automobile travel.
Interestingly, legacy transportation systems such as “automobiles traveling on roads” and non-grade-separated rail transit could NOT achieve safety certification under the spirit of the current automated transit safety law. Under this spirit, fatalities are not allowed. In contrast, there were 500 fatal collisions between non-grade-separated trains and pedestrians in the US in 2006 and there were 37,261 US highway fatalities in 2008.
ULTra is compatible with federal and state PRT safety standards as well as national fire escape code. There will be approximately 361 different “safety cases” for any PRT implementation, covering: earthquake, truck crashes into column, falling debris, fire, bad people, extreme weather, vehicle fails on guideway, slipping on stairs, etc.
Safety in all aspects of the design, construction and operation of PRT is ULTra PRT’s (the company’s) first priority. So far as practicable we have designed out risks so as to minimize human error. The wide range of experience held within the team at ULTra PRT, combined with the expertise of members of the independent Safety Verification Team (SVT), means that a culture of positive but direct challenge to the detail of the proposal is embedded within the project team.
The process by which UK ULTra safety approvals were obtained
Hmm…didn’t I see this sales pitch on another forum?
Enough people have “personal rapid transit” with motors in the 500-hp range, too. When the base-model Chevrolet Camaro has a V6 with 300 net horses, you know we’re at the peak. The traditional rails still work, and I have no problem using 'em when they’re there…