Posts Tagged ‘airport’

Heathrow Personal Rapid Transit System – Unsolicited Tweets/Quotes

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Loving the pod!

It’s a fantastic idea, it really does promote not only a great image of Heathrow adopting cutting edge technology but is also fast and convenient!

Used the Heathrow Pod at Terminal 5 on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I was delighted with it. The staff were helpful and obliging, the Pod call station was very easy to use, the instructions in the Pod itself were very good and clear. The whole process was quick and efficient, it was much easier than taking the bus, and quicker.

Journey starts in my own personal pod at #Heathrow. Makes the airport fun again.

Finally got to use the LHR T5 pods this morning. Truly excellent!

Love T5 & those pods that take you to and from the terminal

Absolutely love the T5 pods.

At LHR t5 – they have personal driverless pods to take you from parking to check in. Fantastic things!

The pod train from business parking to t5 is surely the most exciting form of transport I’ve been on in a long time

The Heathrow Pod – we live in the future! Wider application pls!

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PRT @LHR 2010 – Summary of Personal Rapid Transit Conference at Heathrow Airport – Days Two and Three

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

Wednesday – Thursday 22nd – 23rd September 2010

I attended the morning tour of the PRT system thereby missing the first four Wednesday presentations. I had previously seen and ridden on the entire system. However, I had not seen the T-5 station since it was completed. It is an elegant and well-designed facility that appears to have ample space. Strolling around it, one appreciates some of the difficulties of designing for a system few will initially understand. For example, when passengers read “wait here for an empty berth” will they understand what a berth is and be able to determine where one ends and another begins? During the remainder of the tour and the ride the following morning (the system was closed for track maintenance on Wednesday morning), I paid attention to the opinions of others. Perhaps most telling was the comment of a Bombardier representative who indicated the system was much better than he had expected. I was interested in better evaluating the ride quality which, while not perfect, is definitely better than that in the back seat of a taxi.

Sven Beller, PTV AG, discussed the adaptation of existing tools such as VISUM and VISSIM to simulate PRT systems. Necessary adaptations can be scripted through the Application Programming Interface using other tools such as Excel’s Visual Basic for Applications.

Joerg Schweizer, Universita di Bologna presented work he is doing on a PRT Capacity Manual. The manual is intended to provide performance models that are quick and easy to apply with a focus on station operations.

Jochen Rabe, Associate, Ove Arup & Partners Ltd., said that comprehensive PRT networks covering entire cities may not be realistic. Local authorities must compare the transport service benefits of PRT with the visual impact and potential privacy loss.

Gabriele Giustiniani, Researcher, University of Rome ‘La Spienza’, outlined a CityMobil project with a round trip of 1.61km, 11 stops and 6 cybercars. He found the mode share for the cybercars was 10% more than that for a mini bus with the same schedule.

Steve Perliss, Lea+Elliott moderated a Procurement Workshop which included addresses from Bo Olsson, Senior Strategist, Trafikverket, David Holdcroft, PRT Manager, BAA, Martin Lowson, President, ULTra PRT, Robbert Lohman, Commercial Director, 2getthere and Jorgen Gustafsson, Managing Director, Vectus Ltd. Olsson described a two-step procurement process (first qualifications, then price) and said numerous questions must be answered before committing to a procurement process. Holdcroft described the process used to select ULTra. He said they received 15 responses. Lowson and Lohman implied they approved of the BAA procurement process. Perliss said it is important to give responders time to build teams and to bring them in early to get feedback. Ahuja said this is not possible in India where the tender period is limited to 6-8 weeks. Lowson and Lohmann agreed that the supplier must have control of the structural specifications to ensure ride quality and vehicle interfaces are adequate. Gustafsson said clear roles and responsibilities with simple interfaces and a lean organization able to make quick decisions (especially on the client side) were important. He said the Suncheon project will comprise 11km, 40 vehicles with 3M annual visitors. It will be mainly point-to-point and is being financed by Vectus who will receive an annual stipend. Muller pointed out that the workshop seemed to be moving towards guidance for consultants in preparing tender documents and that guidance for owners in moving from considering to implementing PRT was perhaps also needed. Lowson stated that, in his opinion, the ASCE APM standards are insufficient on the topic of safety and that safety clearance requirements vary greatly from country to country and even within some countries like the U.S.A.

Simon Babes, Director, Colin Buchanan, discussed a potential role for PRT in the Chinese megacity of Shanghai. He presented an analysis of a 20km, 20 station PRT system with 500 vehicles and 67,000 daily trips connecting a business park to a metro station. He anticipated fare revenues plus savings in shuttle bus operating costs could cover PRT operating costs and pay back the capital investment in five to ten years.

Richard Caple, Engineer Project Manager, Daventry District Council, said the major concerns for the Daventry PRT project include: visual intrusion; cost; anti-social behavior; ease of use and the complexity of the network. There is no funding presently available but he expects the system will happen eventually. He briefly outlined a document called Outlines for the Implementation of PRT in Urban Areas.

Peter Muller, President, PRT Consulting (the author), suggested that the true benefits of PRT will only be realized when it is used to develop entirely new cities built with a focus on ideal living conditions along with sustainability. He outlined how his vision for a “perfect” city could be enabled by PRT and recommended that those attempting to retrofit existing cities with PRT might want to keep this vision in mind, as something to strive towards. A poll of the audience revealed that about 75% would like to live in such a city.

Colin Bates, Managing Director, Customer Champions reported on a study of ULTra’s previous leads and key contacts. They found that the key barriers to sales were: risk aversion; desire not to be first (Heathrow will help but is not always applicable); urban developments are impacted by politics; PRT is not understood by decision makers; there is a lack of comparable data and proven benefits.

Malcolm Buchanan, Director, Colin Buchanan, summarized the conference. He asked if roads and cars or rail networks could eventually become PRT networks.

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PRT @LHR 2010 – Summary of Personal Rapid Transit Conference at Heathrow Airport – Day One

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Tuesday 21st September 2010

The Conference was opened by John Holland-Kaye, Commercial Director, BAA Airports, who said that the PRT system is obtaining 100% records for reliability. He was excited by the chance to create a new form of technology that will change the way people travel.

Fraser Brown, Head of Travel Services, Heathrow Airport Ltd – BAA, listed numerous advantages of the PRT system including: predictable; reduction in journey times; more than 70% have no waiting; reductions in emissions, noise and congestion; improved office rents, land values & availability as well as road safety. He is looking forward to a future where the passenger needs no local knowledge – they will not need to know where they have to go, just what they want to do. The system should be able to account for congestions, last-minute changes and delays in flight schedules.

David Holdcroft, PRT Manager, BAA, outlined completed and on-going system testing and passenger trials. He said that they have found out from passenger trials to date that passengers like the system. They also have learned that there are many aspects of the system that can be improved and have been tweaking such things as the audio message volume, door timings and button sequences. The on-going daily trials include passengers with luggage and are being used to monitor trends in the system status. The recent emergency situation rehearsal provided valuable lessons including that it resulted in duplicative responses from multiple jurisdictions. The system will open once BAA is satisfied with the results of daily trials and full integration of the PRT system with all other airport systems that could interact with it in any way. The integration process involves safety integration, new and updated operations protocols and familiarization of all potentially impacted airport staff.

Mark Griffiths, Head of Operations, ULTra PRT, continued the theme David Holdcroft started and told of unexpected passenger behaviors, such as going to an empty station berth to call a vehicle because they mistakenly assumed the one already waiting in a berth must be broken. He said they have a core staff of 24 for the 24/7 operation. Batteries must be recycled after about 3 months. Opportunity charging in stations allows a full battery pack to keep a vehicle running for several hours.

The Masdar PRT system had a two-hour test last week with 10 vehicles and 25 passengers according to Robbert Lohmann, Commercial Director, 2getthere. He said they put doors on one side of the vehicles only because doors tend to be problematic. However, this has required some special station layouts. When asked about rumors that Masdar is considering abandoning the PRT system for electric cars or other solutions, he said that Masdar is still committed to the PRT system but continually reconsidering their options because of the state of the economy.

Dario Menichetti with Mott MacDonald discussed the modeling of the MASDAR PRT system. They used conventional transportation modeling tools as well as a micro-simulation model in order to model the integrated systems and optimize the PRT topology and network performance.

Michel Parent, Team Manager, INRIA, said that cyber cars are fully-automated individual road vehicles that are part of an optimized transportation system but are not necessarily separated from other traffic. He described a cyber-car demonstration that will run for 6 months (January to June, 2011) with three vehicles in La Rochelle, France.

Tony Kerr, Director, Ove Arup & Partners Ltd., reported that they are now under contract and beginning work on the San José PRT project. The initial portion of the project will include investigating a PRT system connecting the airport to light- and commuter-rail stations.

Magnus Hunhammer, CEO, Institute for Sustainable Transportation described how they have used a full- scale portable PRT station to publicize and educate people about PRT. He also showed a PRT visualization.

John Hammersley with ULTra PRT discussed planning efforts and competition for a PRT system in the historic city of Bath. He said the competition led to overwhelmingly positive response and the PRT system could pay for operating costs and provide a return on investment of 7.3% based on a very reasonable fare.

Henk van Zuylen of The University of Technology, Delft described a PRT system connecting the Airport of Rotterdam and The Hague with existing rail and Scienceport Holland. The 21 km system would have 14 stations and 70 vehicles. Capital costs were estimated at €109M and annual O&M costs at €1.7M. He said the real barriers are institutional and political.

Sonal Ahuja, Director International Development, Capita Symonds Ltd., said there are 17 to 18 PRT projects currently being taken seriously in India where there is no recession and people pay for purchases in cash. He described a PRT study in New Delhi where they had to resort to double guideways to accommodate projected demand using 3 second headways and an occupancy factor of 3.0. The study showed a benefit/cost ratio of 4 and an internal rate of return of 18%.

Martin Lowson, President, ULTRa PRT discussed the design of a high capacity PRT station. He said they have found loading and unloading times to be quite consistent with that on other modes. Door cycle times tend to dominate station dwell times. Station designs can minimize the number of bays required by keeping standby vehicles close by in order to immediately replace departing vehicles.

Arturo Dávila, Project Engineer, IADIADA Automotive Technology SA, described a vehicle platooning system called SAfe Road TRains for the Environment (SARTRE) where the lead vehicle is driven and following ones are driverless. The intent is to increase safety and capacity while reducing energy used.

Ingmar Andréasson, Professor, KTH, discussed the ridership effects of PRT mixed with scheduled transit. He found that conventional transit is inadequate and PRT can increase total transit share and induce more travelling. In order to estimate the new transit share including PRT, all we need to know is the transit disutility and how much it is going to change, if the other modes are going to remain unchanged. He found the bus penalty relative to car to be € 2.50 and the PRT penalty to be half that, when the entire trip is by PRT.

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Mn/DOT Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Workshop

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

A PRT Workshop was hosted by Mn/DOT on August 18, 2010 in the Radisson University Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The purpose of the workshop was to share responses to Mn/DOT’s request for PRT information and to allow participants to understand PRT benefits and barriers to its implementation and explore the viability of PRT in Minnesota. This blog attempts to succinctly capture what was said and the essence of the workshop which was attended by approximately 100 people with a wide variety of interests in PRT.

Opening Comments

Tom Sorel, Commissioner of the Mn/DOT, said the DOT has an obligation to the citizens to be on the leading edge of all technologies.

Derrell Turner, Division Administrator, FHWA, said that PRT technology fits in well with U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood’s livability and sustainability initiatives. 

Jeff Hamiel, Executive Director, Metropolitan Airports Commission, said that, while the community is still automobile-based, PRT emulates many aspects of the car. PRT appears to be economical, safe, reliable, sustainable and comfortable.

Arlene McCarthy, Director, Metropolitan Council, said we must consider how PRT complements and integrates with the entire system. Funding is a struggle and she questioned if PRT will be a potential drain on public funds. She also asked if PRT promotes good land use.  The Council does not support public funds going to PRT.

Summary of RFI Responses

Mukhtar Thakur, Director, Office of Multimodal Innovation, Mn/DOT said that all responses have been posted at              http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/prt/PRTPublicRFISubmittals.pdf He said there are issues to be addressed when trying to establish the feasibility of a PRT application, namely: aesthetics, how it fits in the current land form and surrounding land uses, ROW, and how it’s going to be funded, O&M costs, among others. He summarized the 21 responses to the RFI and found the following to be of interest:

PRT system technologies

  • Hanging pods vs. pods that travel along a guideway or track
  • Magnetically levitated pods vs. motor driven pods
  • True PRT systems vs. quasi PRT systems
  • Fare collection

Costs (planning level) ranged from $8M to $21M per mile

Financing ideas

  • Govt, PPP, Private & Community Interest Company

Aesthetics of various systems

Level of PRT experience among vendors & consultants

Speeds 25 mph – 60 mph

Headways 0.5s – 10s

Timeline from NTP to revenue service 15 – 48 months

In Minnesota there may be interest in PRT in Bloomington, Maple Grove, Ford Plant Site, Edina, Richfield and Winona. Nationally studies are under way or completed in San José, New Jersey and Virginia.

RFI Responders Comments & Reactions from Attendees

Carlos Espinoza with the City of Winona announced that they did not receive an FTA grant. The FTA suggested they consider New Starts funding and/or Section 5309 research funding for a pilot project.

Mike Lester with Taxi 2000 recommended that ASCE APM Standards be used to see how different systems comply.

Dennis Sweet with Citizens for PRT recommended three roles for Mn/DOT:

  1. System requirements
  2. Developing capital & operating costs
  3. Collaborating with other states and communities for common standards

Christopher Perkins with Skytran recommended an aviation risk management model would be more applicable and could avoid incompatibility with legacy requirements.

Policy Issue Panel Discussion

Steve Elkins, Council Member, Bloomington City Council indicated that, while Bloomington is interested in PRT, it does not want to be a guinea pig. If a vendor builds a working system as an amusement park ride at the Mall of America/IKEA site, the city will consider providing them ROW.

Senator David Senjem, MN State Legislature, said he does not think PRT has a champion in Minnesota. Every cause needs a champion. The legislative process is not analytical. This is new to the legislature and they will need a lot of education. Start by selling it locally then request the State match local funds. A demonstration project is absolutely vital.

Barb Thorman, Executive Director, Transit for Livable Communities, said her organization has been publicly critical of PRT but it is good that the conversation has turned to a mix of modes, not one vs. the other. Where does PRT fit in the mix?

Representative Frank Hornstein, MN State Legislature, said he is a PRT skeptic and will stick to demonstrated successful systems until PRT is demonstrated to be successful. He agrees that transportation policy has to focus on reduction in dependence on oil.

Keynote Presentation

Curt Johnson, President, Citistates Group said the major impediment to PRT rolling out has been policy and politics. It is important we get the transportation question right – access – not just mobility. PRT can intensify the use of activity-rich zones – reducing unwelcome auto use, reducing air and noise pollution and raising the quality of life. There is a tendency to overestimate technology in the short term and under estimate it in the long team.

Facilitated Group Discussions

The group brainstormed impediments to PRT implementation, anticipated PRT benefits and principles for PRT deployment in Minnesota.

Dean Zimmerman said people love cars because they wait for you, go directly to your destination and keep you out of the weather. PRT satisfies all three and erases the negatives associated with cars.

There was general discussion of what to do next – select a location? No political will – need a public process? Winona could work with a league of MN cities? Join CPRT? Need to define purpose and need.

Summary Comments & Next Steps

Mukhtar Thakur said that nobody is offering funding. A different model is needed than asking the legislature. Cities are trying to move ahead. Where do we go from here? Is there another Mn/DOT Forum? How do we communicate? Mn/DOT will consider all of the input and decide what next.

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Passenger Terminal Expo 2010 – Summary of PRT Presentations

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Heathrow’s PRT system: an update on progress. David Holdcroft, PRT Manager, BAA.

The Heathrow system has 21 vehicles. They currently have 12 to 13 running at a time. PRT has proven to be very space efficient requiring the relocation of a portion of perimeter fence only.

They have had some software and destination panel glitches. They are planning a full emergency exercise in mid May with the full system opening in late spring followed by a 1 year review process.

BAA is branding the system as the Heathrow Pod – a new travel experience – smart, personal and friendly. The new color scheme includes purple on the lower portion of the vehicles.

They have had a lot of interest in 3rd party sponsorship but passengers do not want internal advertising. They anticipate increasing the charge for parking once the system is operational.

They are considering adding automated way-finding where the rider enters their flight number, airline or car-hire company and the systems knows where to take them.

Snow and ice is dealt with by a special vehicle fitted with snow plows and deicing sprayers. This vehicle can continuously circulate around the system in inclement weather. The objective is to not have the system shut down before the roads do.

They have found that people want to share rides with others. This may become an issue that needs to be dealt with once more destinations become available. Having specific berths dedicated to particular routes may be a solution.

Once the system is open to the general public anyone will be able to use it from Terminal 5.

Insurance of the system has been no problem and is just part of the airport’s regular policies.

Personal rapid transit: how is safety assured? Christopher Elliott, Director, Pitchill Consulting, Ltd.

The Heathrow PRT system carried its first “real” passengers (members of the public participating in passenger trials) last week after receiving safety certification to do so. Final sign-off will be required before the system enters revenue service in June. The system is now real and transportation planners have to take it seriously.

The safety requirements for new transportation systems are much higher than those for existing systems. If introduced today, existing systems would never meet modern safety requirements. Modern systems have to be safe and be seen to be safe.

A good safety system leads to reliability. The Heathrow system safety goal is less than 10-3 fatalities per year (less than one fatality every thousand years).

Both leading PRT systems (ULTra & 2getthere) have built safety into their designs and are having it verified through independent certification.

PRT systems in an APM world. Thomas Ludwig, Head of Automated People Mover Services, Logplan.

PRT will be primarily a landside system with conventional automated people movers (APMs) being primarily airside. PRT competes more directly with cars and buses and is more suitable for landside. However, the cost/benefit of PRT could impact APM systems.

Translating lessons learned at Masdar into an airport environment.  Robbert Lohman, Marketing Director, 2getthere.

Benefits of PRT at airports include improved service, cost effectiveness, sustainable and green, makes new connections possible and provides improved accessibility.

All 2getthere vehicles have obstacle detection and will stop for a person on the guideway. Destination selection can be accomplished either outside or inside the vehicle. A blue medical assistance button will redirect the vehicle to the best station and alert responders that it is coming. The technology is now at an advanced stage and having the right people involved is more of a risk than the technology is.

The Masdar safety case is similar to the one for Rivium. Lloyds Register is currently verifying safety.

Masdar stations are not air conditioned and heat gain is a problem. Vehicles connect to a charging plate at berths to allow the air conditioning to keep running. Doors close after 4 to 5 seconds with no one entering or exiting. Dust and corrosion mitigation measures seem to be working.

The first phase at Masdar has 1.5 km of track, 2 passenger stations, 3 freight stations, 8 standard vehicles, 2 VIP vehicles and 3 freight vehicles. The ultimate system is planned for 45 km of track, 2,100 vehicles, 90 passenger stations and 100 freight stations. The current control system configuration can control 100 to 200 vehicles.

The perspective of cities. Suzanne Hoadley Membership Services Coordinator, Polis.

Daventry is still interested in PRT.

Cities considering PRT face the following challenges: legal, certification, risk aversion, visual intrusion, financial and societal.

PRT: the business case and revenue generation. Martin Lowson, Vice Chairman, Advanced Transport Systems, Ltd.

PRT typically reduces commute times by about ten minutes. The literature provides a number of studies indicating what the value of time is. Airport value of time is double that for other applications.

A study of all UK airport car parks found people pay £1.49 extra per stay for every minute they can park closer to the terminal. A good business case can be made for PRT for lots with more than 4,000 spaces that are close in and more than 6,000 spaces further out (10km). 18 hotel data points indicate room rates increase £3 – £6 per minute closer to the airport.

Various studies indicate home values increase 21% on average when they have good light rail access. Commercial properties increase 23% – 120% on average. Property value gain is $65M per km of track.

Master Plan Personal Rapid Transit Analysis for Baltimore/Washington International  Thurgood Marshall Airport. Peter Muller, President, PRT Consulting, Inc.

The purpose of the study was to investigate conceptual feasibility of PRT for: surface transport garages to terminals, secure inter-concourse travel, expansion to surface lots, LRT, Amtrak & the consolidated rent-a-car facility (CONRAC).

The following assumptions were made: speeds 15mph close in and 25 mph further out, minimum headways 2 and 3 seconds respectively, maximum theoretical capacities 3,600 and 2,400 passengers per hour per direction respectively. The system comprised 3.6 miles of dual-lane guideway, 7.7 miles of single-lane guideway, and 37 stations. 517 T-Pods were found to be necessary to provide an adequate level of service to the projected daily ridership of approximately 60,000 passengers.

The capital cost of $387M was compared to the capital cost of an APM ($1,194M) that had previously been studied to provide similar service. In addition to having a significantly lower capital cost, the podcar system had shorter trip times, provided seated travel for all and had the capability to deliver passengers inside the terminal building. It also had the potential to provide a loop serving the secure portion of the terminal/concourses. It was postulated that it could be satisfactorily demonstrated to the TSA that passengers entering the system at a non-secure station would not be able to exit at a secure station.

In addition to having lower capital and operating costs than the planned APM system, the PRT system was found to have operating costs of around 60% of those of the present bus service. It was speculated that it could potentially attract more cars to the long term surface lots and boost concession sales in the concourses.

The master plan, of which this study formed a small part, has not yet been adopted by the airport.

Vectus PRT operational experience applied at airports. Jörgen Gustafssen, Chief Technology Officer, Vectus Ltd.

Vectus safety complies with APM standards and is verified by a subsidiary of Lloyds Register. The system operates under distributed asynchronous control with a dynamic moving block vehicle protection system. They have no obstacle detection and have designed the guideway to be inaccessible.

Vectus uses a high-vehicle-flow station design with in-line bays. It is full duplex (board and de-board in the same location). They have found it important to have a spacious vehicle with good access. Their vehicle can be fitted with six seats. They have found actual boarding times to be less than anticipated. A 4-berth station can accommodate 8 – 12 vehicles per minute.

They are investigating a combined vehicle arrangement with 6 – 10 seats and room for 20-30 standing.

The Suncheon system will have 11km of track and 40 vehicles. It is mainly point-to-point but may have three stations. They hope the letter of intent will be finalized in a few weeks. Operations are scheduled to start in February 2013. It is a private-public-partnership.

Today’s airport innovations – tomorrow’s urban transportation systems. Malcolm Buchanan, Director Transport Planning, Colin Buchanan and Partners.

Airports and historic towns have a lot of similarities including congestion and remote parking issues.

Taxi earnings can be an important indicator of the potential for transit improvements.

Connecting terminals to the airport landside. David Little, Principal, Lea + Elliott Inc.

The accessibility, weight and small turning radius of PRT is an advantage. PRT development is such that it is now available within normal project implementation time frames.

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Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Papers and Presentations at TRB 2010

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

There were four personal rapid transit (PRT) –related papers and/or presentations at the 89th Annual meeting of the transportation Research Board (TRB) this year.

Martin Lowson, President of Advanced Transport Systems Ltd., (the developers of the ULTra PRT system) delivered an interesting presentation titled Preparing for PRT Operations at Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom. He showed a BBC video (not available in the US) where the reporter claimed to be the first member of the public to ride the system. ATS is still confident they can build complete systems for $10M to $15M per one-way mile.

Heathrow PRT Maintenance Facility

Heathrow PRT Maintenance Facility

Professor Lowson said that BAA considered PRT to be the only practical solution to their many surface transportation problems. In addition to financial benefits, PRT offers a higher level of passenger service, environmental benefits and a more efficient use of space. He indicated they are well into phase Phase 3 of the following testing and implementation progress chart. ATS Progress

ATS has developed 429 system documents defining: Operations procedures (162), Safety Management System (75), Internal Management (74), Training modules (118). Professor Lowson showed the following slide depicting their safety verification process.

ATS has been surprised to find that passengers expect to share rides and want to wait for others to join them. The ULTra PRT system at Heathrow is in the final stage of test and commissioning and is on target for full passenger operations in mid 2010.

Steve Raney of Cities 21.org presented a paper titled Efficient Edge Cities of the Future and uniquely written in storey form that begins as follows: “October 5, 2020. Hello, my name is Emma Raney. Compared to typical suburban living, I live a life with lower cost of living; more free time; better work/life balance; stronger, more supportive, and more diverse local community; and one-quarter of the energy consumption. My community (SRP) produces emissions well below Kyoto protocol standards.”

The storey continues to describe life in a community that goes to considerable lengths to promote sustainability. Needless to say, the PRT system (a shuttle bus on steroids) is a key part of the community. However it is very much integrated into numerous other forms of accessibility.

Comprehensive Integrated Mobility

Comprehensive Integrated Mobility

“SRP has a personal rapid transit (PRT) system, and I take that to many destinations… I carpool to church… SRP’s PRT connects to PRT systems in other large Silicon Valley office parks (there are 10 others). Via this connection, I connect to a larger variety of stores… Very rarely, I get a little carried away and I end up with a bunch of large items to schlep home. Large wheeled carts are available at some stores. I wheel the cart and items onto PRT vehicle, take my items home, then I wheel the empty cart onto another PRT vehicle where it is re-deployed… I take commuter rail to see Sharks hockey…When I go to Stanford for an event, I usually PRT with bike (on occasion I combine PRT with a foldable electric scooter). To get to places, I walk significantly more than a typical suburbanite – I generally travel the first and last trip segment on foot.”

Robert Baertsch, Nasa Ames Research Center presented a paper titled Renewable Energy Utilization Advantages of Maglev-Based Personal Rapid Transit. “This paper examines the advantages that Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) exhibits in the utilization of renewable energy from usage, distribution, and generation perspectives. The paper also looks at different types of PRT and how they impact the load on the electrical grid. Recent advances in power electronics and maglev technology allow for the design of a novel MPRT system characterized not only by exceptionally low power requirements, but also by a unique capacity to incorporate energy distribution and storage infrastructure into the greater transportation architecture.

MPRT prototype at NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA

MPRT prototype at NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA

A hypothetical hybrid MPRT design incorporating energy storage and transmission capabilities is presented. Additionally, thorough carbon dioxide and cost analyses are undertaken in order to more fully understand the wide spectrum of benefits of an MPRT solution in comparison to Conventional Vehicle (CV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) approaches. We conclude that an MPRT system not only offers significant advantages over other technologies in efficiently utilizing renewable energy, but, moreover, that the unique potential of this concept to incorporate power transmission, storage, and generation infrastructure makes it ideal for addressing the energy challenges of the near and distant future.”

The system is anticipated to operate at 40 mph in downtown areas and at highway speeds elsewhere. The upper speed limit is 150 mph. Linear induction motors are built into the guideway. An equivalent 325 mpg and capital costs under $10M per one way mile (up to $18M including integrated photovoltaic panels and power distribution) are anticipated.

John Lees_Miller, University of Bristol, United Kingdom presented a paper titled Theoretical Maximum Capacity as a Benchmark for Empty Vehicle Redistribution in Personal Rapid Transit. “A Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system uses compact, computer-guided vehicles running on dedicated guideways to carry individuals or small groups directly between pairs of stations.  Vehicles move on demand when a passenger requests service at his/her origin station. Because the number of trips requested from a station need not equal the number of trips ending there, some vehicles must run empty to balance the flows. The empty vehicle redistribution (EVR) problem is to decide which empty vehicles to move, and when and where to move them; an EVR algorithm makes these decisions in real time, as passengers arrive and request service.

This paper describes a method for finding the theoretical maximum demand (with a given spatial distribution) that a given system could serve with any EVR algorithm, which provides a benchmark against which particular EVR algorithms can be compared.  The maximum passenger demand that a particular EVR algorithm can serve can be determined by simulation and then compared to the benchmark. The method is applied to two simple EVR heuristics on two example systems, and the results suggest that this is a useful method for determining the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of EVR heuristics across a range of networks, passenger demands and fleet sizes.

This paper demonstrates a new method for the evaluation of empty vehicle redistribution (EVR) algorithms, providing an absolute measure of their performance according to a metric based on the capacity region for a given network. The capacity region is defined as the set of OD matrices which are feasible in the sense that their demands can be met without passenger queues growing indefinitely.  It describes the maximum possible demand that a particular system could serve with an ideal EVR algorithm, and hence acts as an absolute benchmark against which different EVR algorithms can be compared.

The ability to compare and evaluate EVR algorithms is important for the successful operation of highly-connected PRT systems…  In normal PRT operation, the minimization of passenger waiting time is usually the priority, and hence one could expect an EVR heuristic which prioritizes this…to be in operation.  At times of high demand, however, when the vehicle fleet is stretched and there are passengers waiting at numerous stations across the network [this]… often moves vehicles too far.  One would instead prefer an algorithm which prioritizes the efficient use of the vehicle fleet…

This analysis also shows how both the network topology and the spatial distribution of the demand can affect EVR performance, even when line congestion is ignored…The proposed method allows for the absolute assessment of EVR algorithms in terms of throughput, subject to the modeling assumptions…There are a number of alternative heuristics already present in the literature … and an analysis of these algorithms using this evaluation tool is a natural next step.”

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Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) as a Tool for Enhancing Airport Parking Revenues

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Airport parking products typically are provided at a range of costs, depending on proximity to the terminal, and features such as valet service and shelter. Studies have shown air travelers are prepared to pay over $1 per day extra for every minute they can park closer to the terminal. In addition, travelers have been found prepared to pay more for parking served by personal rapid transit (PRT). Although not entirely clear, this willingness to pay extra is thought to be influenced by the high level of service provided by PRT, in addition to shorter trip times.

A PRT system provides a higher level of service more efficiently than a shuttle bus because:

  • There is less waiting (less than one minute)
  • Trip time is less because there is no stopping to pick up others or for other traffic
  • Trip time is the same every time
  • Platforms are at floor level – roll-on, roll-off
  • Everyone gets a seat
  • It costs less to operate
  • Curbside congestion and emissions are reduced.

Unlike conventional automated people movers, PRT stations are small and can be located at grade in the interior of parking lots. Numerous stations can be provided to minimize walking distances. Since stations are typically off-line, trips are non-stop and adding stations does not slow service down. Click here to see pictures of the PRT system at Heathrow Airport.

Small station sizes can be beneficial at the terminal end of the trip too. Numerous small stations can reduce walking distances to the airline of choice. In some terminals it may be possible to retrofit PRT stations in the interior of the building. Replacing shuttle buses with PRT service will reduce both emissions and curbside congestion.

PRT service to passenger parking lots could both increase the use of the lots and allow higher rates. The increased revenues, coupled with lower operating costs, could more than offset the initial capital costs of the system. In addition, a PRT system can be easily expanded to also provide inter-terminal transportation and serve other facilities, such as employee parking lots and rental car companies. Each rental car company would still get direct non-stop service, and the need for a consolidated facility could thus be reduced or eliminated.

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