This page provides breaking news related to automated transit networks (ATN – an umbrella term for PRT and GRT systems, also know as podcars) along with links where available.

A letter to Ultra following our first anniversary

Ultra celebrated its first anniversary last week, with a very positive reponse from the customers who used the service on our birthday. One particular letter really stood out for us, and with kind permission from the author we’ve decided to publish it. Read more…

LA Metro Personal Rapid Transit Report

PRT comparison with other modes for the Metro Green Line to LAX – a report comparing PRT to the other modes being moved forward into the Draft Environmental Statement/Report. Read more…

Futuristic? That’s how the Stuff Heathrow Escape Pod rolls

Not everyone can afford to travel in business class, but even fewer will get to ride Stuff’s sci-fi-inspired, futuristic Escape Pod. Read more…

Masdar passenger growth

The application at Masdar has been operational for over 15 months now, with the passenger number still increasing. February 2012 marked the most passengers using the system to date, even though no special events were organized at Masdar during this period. Read more…

Pods get bigger and better, year on year

What transport system has carried 370,000 new passengers this year? Can boast service reliability better than 99%? Hasn’t suffered from increasing petrol prices? Not been affected by transport disputes or points failures?  Has enthusiastic fans across the globe?  Won several prestigious awards? Has a sister system under construction in Amritsar India? Read more…

A good start for future cooperation on personal rapid transit systems in Taiwan

British official anticipates more Taiwan-U.K. cooperation. Taipei, May 12 (CNA) Taiwan and the United Kingdom have been friends for many years and it is the time to strengthen bilateral ties through cooperation, a visiting British minister said. Read more…

ATN Feasibility Study Status Report

The previous memo on this topic has been replaced. The purpose of the replacement memo is to provide clarification and additional details related to project based on recently provided stakeholder feedback. Read more…

At the May 7th 2012 Hull Town Meeting,

Hull voters will vote ask the Hull Selectmen to conduct surveys and hold public meetings within six months:

(1) To explore companies able to provide transportation that meets high performance standards; and

(2) To determine which designs and routes connecting to the ferry and the train are desired by residents and business owners; and

(3) To return to the next Town Meeting with its recommendation. Read more…

A Vision for Feather Rail: Summary

Many of the problems facing personal transportation today are due to the predominance of cars, which leads to automobile congestion and contributes to global warming…A new mode of transportation is presented with the intent to integrate the best advantages, help the environment, alleviate congestion, and diversify peoples’ choices. Read more…

TransitPulse May/June 2012

US Transit Decline; Join Atra; Innovative Sustainable Transit; Midtown Raleigh; Beeps From California; Old And New Modes; Akademic Interest; Solar Prt For Massachusetts Bay; 2012: Year Of Transition?; Atra In Paris; Toulouse To Gain; Robocar Prospects; Pod-Design Guidelines; Airports + Airfronts. Read more…

WVU’s PRT summer shutdown begins May 7

West Virginia University’s Personal Rapid Transit will be shutting down operations starting May 7. The PRT will resume operations on May 29, one week after the start of the summer semester. This shutdown is essential for not only technical reasons but also to undertake some structural repairs along the guide way. Read more…

Your Personal, Automated Mass Transit Vehicle Is on Its Way

Get out of your car and into your flying train, 
superclean superbus, and most impressive of all, your personal subway. Read more…

For better connectivity to airport, MSRDC mulls podcars

A new idea for better road connectivity to Mumbai airport that involves modifying an internationally accepted dedicated transport system — personal rapid transit system (PRTS) — also known as Podcar, has been mooted. Read more…

The 6th Podcar City Conference

Come join world leaders in the emerging field of transit so advanced that it constitutes a new mode and offers very useful new tools to de-congest our communities and coax them to more sustainable urban life. Read more…

Personal Rapid Transit Lessons From and For Logistics

This is the fifth of Coventry University Integrated Transport and Logistics Grand Challenge 2012 Seminar Series and will be presented by Nathan Koren, Associate Transport Technology and Planning, Capita Symonds. Read more…

This page provides breaking news related to automated transit networks (ATN – an umbrella term for PRT and GRT systems, also know as podcars) along with links where available.

ATN Feasibility Study Status Report

Constructing an ATN system at the Airport is not considered technically feasible at the present time. However, the viability of the project could be accelerated through additional research and development for a more advanced ATN system than is currently available. Also, investment is needed to establish a regulatory environment for ATN systems. Read more…

Silicon Valley Considers Personal Rapid Transit System to Ease Congestion

Can an innovative transit idea keep Silicon Valley — home to tech giants Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn — from choking on congestion? Or is the answer to their problems much simpler? Read more…

New Transport Option For OZ Sydney To Melbourne In 12 Minutes

As Australian politicians squabble over future transport needs from new airports in Sydney to super fast trains along the East Coast, a new technology has emerged that could see people transported between Sydney and Melbourne in less than 15 minutes. Read more…

Public not ready to pay more

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The preliminary survey for the proposed Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system in Thiruvananthapuram city has revealed that the public do not want to spend more for their travel. Read more…

Personal Rapid Transit System Request for Expressions of Interest

MISTER Ltd. Is putting forth this Request for Interest / Expression of Interest in potential investment / partnership opportunities in license, investment and partnership opportunities to build the world’s first true 21st century privately-owned urban transit PRT system. Read more…

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)

solves the long standing dilemma of passenger transportation by combining the advantages of the car and transit. Beamways is the only PRT optimized for low natural resource and energy consumption. With solar collectors on top of the guideway it can be self sufficient with energy. Read more…

Pod power evolution

David Holdcroft describes how personal rapid transit systems, now in use at three airports around the world, can carry passengers, baggage and freight with a low carbon footprint. Read more…

Transportation Jetsons-style

Spark:Mobility Design Awards

…we will explore and discover the rapidly expanding universe of transportation. Our focus will be on developments that are “green,” in the sense that they exemplify a commitment to using natural resources more efficiently. Read more…

Create the Future Design Contest 2012

One of the most valuable pieces of unused, government-owned real estate in southern California is the Pacific Electric Right-of-Way. Read more…

‘Pod Car’ By This Year

Trivandrum: The idea of a Pod Car was mooted by Infrastructure Kerala Limited (INKEL) as an efficient means to relieve Trivandrum city of its traffic constrains. It is calculated that the implementation of this project would make 40% of the car and autorickshaw users to opt for Pod Cars as their alternate means of transport.  Read more …

Princeton Study

The intent of the project is to determine if the existing commuter transit service can be extended to Nassau Street and perhaps beyond.  The respondent shall consider a series of options… Read more…

Are we there yet? The future of transportation.

Neil Hodge gazes into the future of modern transportation and examines the incredible ideas that aren’t far from being implemented on a daily basis. Read more…

Inspiring Transport Projects Rewarded At London Transport Awards Ceremony

One of the most competitive awards on the evening was for most Innovative Transport Project of the year which went to Ultra Global Ltd for the Heathrow Pod, which opened in April 2011. Read more…

Ultra officially certified to ISO9001:2008

Ultra Global has officially been certified to ISO9001:2008 status. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was established in 1947 and is (currently) an association of 163 members, which each represent their own country. Read more…

This page provides breaking news related to automated transit networks (ATN – an umbrella term for PRT and GRT systems) along with links where available.

Rewriting The Rules of High Speed Travel

A licensing organization called ET3 believes that [traveling from New York to London in less than an hour]… isn’t far off. They hold a patent to Evacuated Tube Technology or ETT and say that with their tubes, you will eventually be able to get you from New York to Beijing in 2 hours and from New York to London in less than an hour. Read more…

Raleigh group proposes electric transit on elevated tracks

Freedom Transit Sustainable Transportation launches website featuring a dual mode concept

Freedom Transit is a new green technology providing sustainable transportation systems.  Solar Transportation Technologies is developing an electric based transportation mode for both passengers and freight. Read more…

Ultra Personal Rapid Transit at Heathrow and Beyond
Lecture. In late 2011 Heathrow Airport unveiled the Heathrow pod, the airport’s most innovative transport system and the first new example of transit technology in 100 years. This lecture will give an overview of the new Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, how it operates and Ultra’s experience in introducing the system at Heathrow.  Read more . . .

Pod-cars to link major work centres

The city [Thiruvananthapuram] can soon look forward to automated driverless battery-operated podcars running on elevated guideways linking bus and rail terminals at Thampanoor and East Fort with major work centres. Read more…

Magnovate Technologies launches website featuring maglev PRT

Magline facilitates inter city PRT travel at 300 km/hr and intra city travel at 150km/hr.Travel in privacy and quiet; work on your laptop or other device; or have meeting or personal conversation. Read more…

Feds say WVU good workplace for commuters.

The university’s commuter benefits program includes free access to the Personal Rapid Transit system and Mountain Line transit, bicycle storage facilities and carpool and van pool programs.  Read more . . .

Heathrow sweeps the board at British Parking Awards 2012

The UK’s largest hub airport walked away with The Equita Overall Award – which recognizes the ‘Best of the Best’ in car park management – plus both the Parking & the Environment Award and the Innovation Award for its revolutionary Heathrow Pods. Read more . . .

Google and Mountain View May Pursue “Personal Rapid Transit” To Solve Commute Congestion.

…as Google contemplates its first major “campus,” the City of Mountain View is looking to innovation – the coin of the realm in the Silicon Valley – to help Googlites get to work. Even if it means building a rail system that transports individual commuters around town in little capsules.  Read more . . .

Major funds for city projects in the Budget.

The pet projects of the capital city, including Vizhinjam Container Transhipment Terminal, mono rail and personal rapid transport system projects, have found major allocations in the annual state budget for 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister K.M. Mani on Monday.  Read more . . .

Automated vehicles: the future of urban mobility?

A new kind of automobile— the automated “cybercar”— could be the answer to urban mobility challenges, said Michel Parent at the CTS Winter Luncheon on February 14.  Read more . . .

Section of WVU PRT Track Vandalized in Morgantown.

Service on West Virginia University’s PRT system was limited Friday after a section of the track was vandalized overnight. The track between the Beechurst and Engineering stations was closed all morning as crews worked to repair the track. Read more . . .

New mode of transport a distant dream for Walled City.

JAIPUR: The possibilities of Pink City witnessing a new mode of public transport in the form of Personal Rapid Transit System (PRTS) seem to be dim. Reason — the company that had earlier given a presentation of the project, has now asked the state government to first sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) before it submits a feasibility report on the project. Read more.

March 22: ATN Seminar.

David Holdcroft and David Little will be speakers at the Automated Transit Network seminar. The seminar will be held at the University of Maryland (building and hall to be announced), commencing at 10AM. Advanced Transit Association.

Go to PRT Information/PRT News for archived news prior to March 2012.

Go to PRT Information/PRT News  or click here for archived news (prior to March 2012) related to automated transit networks (ATN – an umbrella term for personal rapid transit (PRT) and group rapid transit (GRT) systems) along with links where available.

Three different companies are taking three very different approaches to PRT capacity issues. These issues arise largely due to the use of small vehicles constrained by having to comply with the brick wall stop (BWS) criterion. This is a requirement automated guideway systems have inherited from the railroad era that states that a following vehicle must be able to stop, without impacting a preceding vehicle, if the preceding vehicle instantaneously turns into a stationary brick wall.

BWS limits presently-available PRT technologies to about 4 second headways (time between vehicles) at speeds between about 25 mph and 40 mph. This in turn results in theoretical capacities of around 1,300 to 5,000 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd) depending on vehicle occupancy. 1,300 pphpd results from an average occupancy of 1.5 (little or no ridesharing) while 5,000 pphpd assumes an average occupancy of 6.0 (extensive ridesharing). Since 1,300 pphpd is far too low for many applications, an average occupancy of six is difficult to achieve with a six passenger vehicle, and some projects require a capacity in excess of 5,000 pphpd, different companies are finding innovative ways to address this issue. Three potential solutions are discussed here.

Ultra-Fairwood needs to meet a demand of 100,000 passengers per day for its Amritsar project. While the peak hour factor is unknown, it is likely to be in the order of 10%. This means 10,000 passengers must be carried in the peak hour. The demand in the peak direction is thus likely to be well above 5,000 pphpd. Ultra-Fairwood is proposing to provide the necessary capacity by doubling up their guideway. Figure 1 shows a rendering of the proposed guideway with two tracks in each direction. While this is a compact solution for carrying large numbers of people down restricted rights of way, it also introduces complexities at stations and guideway intersections as illustrated in Figure 2. On the one hand, it seems to be a fairly expensive solution since it requires additional infrastructure, while on the other, the extra guideways provide additional redundancy.

Figure 1. Amritsar Quadruple Guideway

Figure 2. Amritsar Station

Vectus also anticipates needing additional capacity. They are modifying the design of their six-passenger vehicle to accommodate up to six standees by slightly increasing its height. The theoretical capacity of their system with 12 passenger vehicles at 4 second headways is 10,800 pphpd. The beauty of this solution is that the vehicles were already designed for this load and can operate on their current PRT guideway. Vectus is developing larger vehicle options by coupling two or more of these vehicles together in a way that the coupled vehicles are articulated and have multiple bogeys. The larger vehicles have door spacing matching that of multiple PRT vehicles stopped in a station (see Figure 3). Thus the same station can serve any combination of vehicle sizes. All vehicles can also operate on the current guideway.

Figure 3. Vectus PRT/GRT Station

Figure 4 illustrates the new look for Vectus vehicles.

Figure 4. Rendering of New Vectus PRT and GRT Vehicles

The Vectus solution proposes an interesting integration of PRT and GRT. It permits a GRT solution between station pairs with high demand, combined with a PRT solution for these stations and all others. If the GRT vehicles require larger structural sections, these can be limited to the guideways serving the GRT vehicles only. A significant benefit of this solution is that it quickly addresses the concerns of potential clients about the capacity of small-vehicle systems. Most large airport managers cannot envision a PRT system replacing their automated people mover but would see how this could be accomplished with a PRT/GRT solution.

Probably the most elegant and cost effective approach to increasing capacity is being proposed by Transit Control Solutions (TCS) (enishinaga@gmail.com). This company was formed by a former employee of Cybertran and is developing a very low headway control system that they are planning to make available to interested PRT system suppliers. TCS staff worked on the original Morgantown PRT control system and has extensive experience with certifying automated train controls. Their engineering analysis indicates their design will support the very low headways sought by PRT suppliers and their rigorous approach will achieve safety certification. In addition, they believe their system will reduce the cost of onboard control equipment. If they are correct, they will enable significant capacity increases with reduced need for large vehicles or additional infrastructure.

Modutram recently opened the station portion of their new full-scale test track in Guadalajara, Mexico thus becoming the third PRT supplier to have an operating test track. The system is currently running with one vehicle and successfully demonstrates switching capabilities.

Station and associated test track

The Modutram program is funded by the Mexican Government and is undertaken with university cooperation. The intent is to develop and commercialize a PRT system ideally suited to Mexican applications but capable of also being deployed elsewhere. The focus is on costs and $6M per one-way track-mile is the approximate cost target.

Vehicle approaching station

A variety of vehicles is being planned with the initial vehicle being designed for slow, short trips with standees. A hybrid vehicle is used in order to reduce the number of expensive batteries required. Electric motor and internal combustion engine options can function completely independently of each other. Vehicles have four-wheel steering and closely follow guideway sidewalls which are constructed to a 2mm lateral tolerance. Sidewall following is accomplished by two guide wheels mounted just ahead of and behind each road wheel. Physical following was selected over remote sensing in order to reduce development time. Remote sensing could be added at a later date.

Hybrid vehicle

A unique operational feature is that the vehicles will keep moving slowly through stations without completely stopping. This operation has proved successful when tested with handicapped passengers. Passengers alight as soon as the vehicle enters the station while others board just before it leaves the station. If no one boards, or if boarding is incomplete, the vehicle will stop in the station. Stations are arranged so as to keep boarding and alighting passengers separate (even to the point of having separate staircases).

System characteristics

Elevated track. Note superelevation.

We are posting ULTra Global’s recent press release here due to its significance. This is not an endorsement of ULTra over any other PRT system, only a recognition of the significance of this milestone for PRT in general.

The Punjab Government has awarded a contract for the world’s first urban Passenger Rapid Transport (PRT) system in Amritsar, India to Ultra Fairwood.

At peak capacity the PRT system can carry up to 100,000 passengers a day on a 3.3km elevated guideway in over 200 specialist vehicles between seven stations, making it the world’s largest PRT system to date.

Elevated Guideways

Financed entirely by private funding on a build, own, operate transfer (BOOT) basis, the passenger services will go live in 2014.

Although the cost of the scheme is subject to commercial confidentiality, it demonstrates that a large scale urban PRT system can be delivered on a financially viable, fare-based model and offer very real returns for financial backers.

The Ultra PRT system uses driverless, electric-battery powered, computer driven, zero emission vehicles called “pods” which :

• can each carry 4-6 people in privacy and comfort
• provide an on-demand, non-stop journey to anywhere on the system
• use one third of the energy of a car, and are virtually silent with no emissions
• travel on a segregated guideway that can run over/alongside roads, rail tracks and buildings
• never get held up by congestion, so reduce travel time

Bi-level Station

Amritsar is home to the holiest shrine of Sikhs, the Golden Temple, and is rich in historical, religious and heritage sites. As such it’s a big draw for large numbers of visitors, especially during festivals and religious events, as pilgrims flock to the area. Up to 500,000 people visit the Golden Temple on important religious festival days. The PRT system will ease congestion and reduce the current long travel transit times.

The route will focus on taking passengers from the railway and bus stations to the Golden Temple and will:

• take 35% of daily visitors to the Golden Temple
• save up to 30 minutes on the current journey times
• attract passengers from a wide geographic and demographic profile, from regular commuters to “one off day trip” users.
• run from 04.00 – 24.00 seven days a week
• charge fares competitive with alternative modes such as taxis and autorickshaws.

“The Punjab Government and city of Amritsar are leading the world in the application of a PRT system to provide volume transport in a major city environment. As a result Ultra Fairwood is also in discussions with the authorities in other major Asian cities which suffer from major transportation infrastructure issues – congestion, space constraints, pollution problems, capacity restrictions and passenger service issues. The Ultra PRT system can help to solve these issues.

“In one city by installing a PRT system we could potentially reduce a current journey of up to one hour in peak hours to around seven minutes, in another country we may be able to reduce the number of cars on a major city’s streets by up to 20%. People are at last starting to understand how this innovative technology can play a role in city transport solutions” said Ultra Fairwood’s CFO and Deputy CEO Alan Moore.

A sentiment echoed by Fraser Brown, MD of Ultra Global PRT, “The pod PRT system is an idea whose time has well and truly come. Using British technology and know how, we’ve proved it works at Heathrow and now with Fairwood we’re creating bigger systems, on larger routes, with more stations and pods.

“We’ll be carrying 35% of the visitors in the area and removing 2.2m car trips in Amritsar per annum. It’s the future of environmental green travel.

“Research has shown that by 2020, there could be between 50 to over 600 PRT system installations world wide. A real achievement for a system that came out of research from Bristol University.”

“Ultra Global sees the confidence that the Punjab Government have shown in PRT as further evidence of the growing sentiment amongst architects, transport planners and governments that PRT systems can sustainably and quickly transform an urban transport environment and provide users and other stakeholders with another viable transport mode in which to manage their cities and campuses.” Brown adds.

Ultra Fairwood is a collaboration between Ultra and Fairwood created in 2010 bringing the revolutionary Ultra technology to Asia. Ultra Fairwood conceives, designs, finances, constructs and operates complete PRT solutions, typically on a BOOT basis. The company is working on PRT projects for cities, campus environments and airports.

Representatives of the US Department of Transportation met in Washington DC last week for one and a half days to further advance their Memorandum of Cooperation with their Swedish counterparts on sustainable transportation. The officials from the two governments were joined by members of academia, consultants and suppliers/vendors. After joint meetings, subgroups met to discuss livability, multimodal station area planning, personal rapid transit/group rapid transit/automated transit networks (PRT/GRT/ATN) and railway technologies.

The four subgroups agreed that they all needed to collaborate since there is potentially considerable synergy between their areas of focus.

The PRT/GRT/ATN group agreed on a number of ways the two countries could work together to better understand and consider the potential for these technologies to help solve transportation issues. After the meetings, most members of this group toured the Morgantown PRT system after which Hans Larsen, San Jose Director of Transportation said, ““I (and I believe everyone in the group) thought the Morgantown PRT system tour was exceptional.  The system serves a very important transportation function for the Morgantown community.  It has high ridership and cost effective operations.  And it provides inspiration that automated transit is not a far out idea for the future; it works with 40 year old technology. “

The results of the meetings include the following:

• Agreement between the Cities of San Jose and Uppsala to coordinate and share information about their respective efforts to investigate and potentially implement ATN systems.
• Undertake workshops, surveys and develop a website to find out what people in different cities are looking for in transportation solutions (including their potential desire for ATN and estimates of probable ATN ridership).
• A strategic plan should be developed outlining how ATN could be leveraged to the best advantage of transportation overall in the next 30 to 40 years.
• Pursue more university collaboration.
• Develop an ATN planning guidebook (probably through the Transportation Cooperative Research Program process).
• Explore partnerships with private industry on development and manufacturing of ATN systems
• Help facilitate further research and development of ATN demonstration projects
• Seek a more comprehensive USDOT consideration of ATN as a compliment to existing transportation systems involving FTA (transit), FHWA (highways and parking), FAA (airports), and FRA (high speed rail).
• Convene sessions on ATN at the 2013 meeting of the Transportation Research Board.

Recent work by Joerg Schweizer  finds a significant mode shift to public transit when the level of service is similar to that of personal rapid  transit (PRT). Professor Schweizer conducted stated-preference public surveys in European cities that make no mention of PRT but ask people to choose the transit characteristics that would make them switch from private to public modes. When offered a nearby station, a clean and air-conditioned vehicle, short waiting times, no transfers and a guaranteed seat, (a combination only feasible with personal rapid transit) transit mode share increased dramatically – often by more than double. Note that the surveys assume a widespread system with fares equivalent to present public transit fares. Professor Schweizer also quotes research by Tegner with similar results.

I have recently spent quite a bit of time meeting with and/or discussing PRT with different early-stage suppliers. The common theme seems to be that there is just too much testosterone in this business! Almost every vendor strongly believes that their solution is by far the best and that all others have fatal or near-fatal flaws. Gentlemen (there are no ladies in this group), it is in your own best interests to be a bit more humble and to not discount your competitors, they are generally smarter than you give them credit for.

Oftentimes when a competitor’s weaknesses are pointed out to me, I am aware that they are working on improvements and/or that these same weaknesses are not as serious as made out and/or are in fact strengths in some situations. I hope that all vendors are aware that marketing one’s strengths is more effective than marketing the competition’s weaknesses.

Those vendors who are in the very early stages should note that it has been many years since I have heard any representative of the three  vendors with commercially-available systems make a derogatory statement about any other! In fact these three vendors cooperate well in their efforts related to the Advanced Transit Association.

The table below attempts to summarize the stage of development that the significant vendors are in. I have no intention of mis-characterizing anyone’s efforts. If I have omitted or incorrectly categorized a company or two, please let me know. An open guideway system is one where the vehicles steer themselves (as opposed to a captive bogey system where the guideway steers the vehicles). Engineering design means more than pretty illustrations on a website. By Test Track I mean an active full-scale track demonstrating switching. A commerical project is one for which the vendor is being paid and is under contract (I realize I am giving ULTra-Fairwood the benefit of the doubt on Amritsar).