Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) / Podcars
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), also called Podcar, is an innovative and sustainable transportation concept, which works emission-free with fully-automated and driverless vehicles on a network of specially-built, elevated guideways.
PRT is on-demand and point-to-point. Passengers travel non-stop on the shortest way from their chosen start to the destination point. Like in a horizontal elevator the vehicle (podcar) arrives when a button is pressed. Intermediate stations, running on seperate tracks parallel to the main track, are intelligently bypassed via switching control systems. PRT can offer faster end-to-end journey times than other forms of transit, depending on running speed and the nature of the network. The matrix or looped layout structure of the network allows for more passenger convenient transit. Intelligently designed PRT can complement conventional mass transit in the form of feeder-networks.
PRT has a small spatial footprint, which means that areas below could be re-greened. Parts of the guideway can also be attached to or integrated into buildings, for example into airports, shopping malls or business complexes.
PRTs were a major area of study in the 1970s as an answer to the first oil crisis to test alternative transportation concepts of the future, which are not relying on oil or gas.
It has further been promoted as the best solution to the widespread urban decay being seen in the US. Urban planners noted that cities with well developed mass transit systems did not suffer these effects to the same degree, and suggested that similar systems would slow the problem in suburbs and small cities, in which light rail was uneconomical to provide. In this period only one fully operational system was built, the Morgantown PRT which was opened in 1975. This suffered significant cost overruns and attracted criticism from users, possibly discouraging other cities to take up what had been a promising technology. (Source: Wikipedia)
However, in the 00s, several proposals were put forward, showing a renewed interest in the concept... In October 2008, construction of the guideway of a pilot project at London Heathrow Airport, UK based on ULTra was completed. With completion of the guideway, fit out of the stations and track could begin, and opening to users is projected for Spring 2010. (Source: Wikipedia)
In Uppsala, Sweden, a 400 m full-scale test track was built by the company Vectus, which has been certified by the Swedish Rail Authority in terms of safety standards.
And, for the envisaged Eco-City of Masdar, Abu Dhabi, UAE, a podcar design by the manufacturer 2getthere was chosen.
