PRT = Personal Rapid Transit (also known as Podcars)
What is PRT? Simply put – it’s better transportation for the masses! It’s better because it’s more efficient, environmentally friendly, and safer than existing modes of mass transportation.
The Trouble with Existing Mass Transit
When we think of mass transportation, we think of busses, trains, and light rail, which are what we call “line haul systems”. When using one of these systems, you wait at a stop until a “container” picks you up. Then, once you are in the moving “container”, you stop at every station picking up and dropping off other passenger. This takes considerable amount of time! Also, if your final destination is not on the same line, then you need to transfer to a different line – which takes even more time. In the United States, you can get to more places faster than you can with line haul systems. This is why we prefer to drive automobiles. Mass transportation has these general issues:
- Only efficient when the “containers” are filled almost completely.
- People prefer to take direct routes over a route involving a transfer.
- People prefer convenience and time savings over a monetary savings (In United States).
The Trouble with Automobiles
There are many arguments of why automobiles are so bad: pollution creators, pedestrian safety, traffic fatalities, cost of road maintenance, dependency on foreign oil, cost of ownership, etc. Every single argument against the automobile is drowned out by the fact that they are so convenient. Convenience is the reason why automobiles are the preferred transportation source. This convenience is also the reason why real transportation solutions are not being investigated.
Enter the PRT Solution
If we are truly going to get people to switch from using private automobiles to mass transportation, then we must provide a mass transportation system that is as convenient as an automobile, and is as efficient as a line haul system at full capacity. This is the primary criteria which started the PRT idea.
Efficient and Convenient
When you go to a PRT station, there is a vehicle waiting for you. Since it seats about 3-4 passengers, it looks more like an automobile than a bus. You program the vehicle with the destination station, enter the vehicle, hit the “go” button, and travel nonstop to your destination. Unlike a line-haul system, you get to bypass all the stations that you do not need. Unlike a vehicle, you do not need to stop at any red lights, stop signs, or dangerous intersections. In fact, you don’t need a driver’s license, and you don’t have to navigate a route. Imagine being able to go from your origin to your destination without having to stop! Downtown routes that would take 20 minutes via automobile or bicycle, would take 3 to 5 minutes with a PRT system. There is no need to find a parking space at your final destination either. When you leave the PRT vehicle at the destination station, it is made available for the next person.
How is the Criteria Met?
Lower Construction Costs & Space Savings
A Civil Engineering professor once said to me, “It’s best to put steel in the air and concrete in the ground.” In most designs, PRT is elevated above the street level. Since PRT vehicles resemble automobiles (3-4 passengers), the vehicles are smaller. Since they do have not gasoline engines, there is a considerable weight savings as well. These factors make the guideway structure lighter – very similar to a roller coaster track.
Efficiency
Depending on the size of the station, there can be up to 12 vehicles waiting for passengers. Not only is there a vehicle ready for you use, no energy is used until a vehicle is needed to transport a passenger. Therefore, a PRT system is only uses energy when transporting passengers. Because it is automated, it is available for use 24 hours a day. Line-haul systems cannot provide this kind of convenience unless empty seats are being circulated.