PRT is ready - are you?
BAA Heathrow
PRT technology is established and being implemented at Heathrow Airport in the U.K. and Masdar City in the U.A.E. Both projects are slated for public use
in 2010 and for expansion to dozens/hundreds of stations and hundreds/thousands of vehicles (transportation pods or T-Pods). PRT projects have
been plagued with problems for 40 years and have historically suffered from poorly managed public participation, misunderstood core concepts, ballooning
T-Pod size & weight and unrealistic expectations. While PRT is easy for the public to use, it is not easy for the owner to understand or implement.
Success depends on changing the way we manage PRT projects. Here are seven key things prospective owners should know before they implement personal rapid transit:
1. Public concerns/participation (How to build community support and social acceptability from the beginning)
2. Costs vs. benefits (Capital costs, operating costs, quantifiable benefits and intangible benefits)
3. Capacity (Station capacity, guideway capacity and network capacity)
4. Weather impacts/mitigation (Sun, wind, snow, ice and rain - mitigation and procedures)
5. Scalability (Assurance that the initial system will scale up to the ultimate system - simulation modeling/verification)
6. Funding/financing (Sources of outside funds and methods of financing)
7. Vendor capabilities (Managerial, financial, technical, production, installation, operating and maintenance )
"The effect of the Morgantown project on Congress was to cause them to lose interest in the PRT concept, holding back
development for 15 years."
J. Edward Anderson, Ph.D., P. E.