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Interest in personal rapid transit (PRT) is growing rapidly, and a wide variety of entities are now looking at purchasing, supporting and/or facilitating PRT applications of vastly differing sizes and complexities. Many of these entities are relatively new to the concept of PRT and, although enamored by it, may lack the skills to adequately protect themselves and/or their communities from the risks that may be involved. PRT is very easy for the user to understand, but it incorporates a number of technical aspects not easy for the owner to understand. Even those well versed in conventional transit will usually require many years of study and involvement before they comprehend all of the nuances associated with PRT.
There are now a number of PRT suppliers with paying clients and commercially available systems. Other entrepreneurs are developing new systems - each with the stated potential to provide even better service for less cost. Few system developers have the capital to both develop and commercialize their systems independently, and many are seeking projects suitable to allow the development process to be folded into a commercial application. This type of arrangement can bring benefits to all parties, but the risks must be thoroughly understood.
This document is intended to provide an overview of the activities involved in a typical PRT project. However, not all of these activities are necessarily required for each project. This document is not intended to be exhaustive, just to outline the types of things that need to be done to help ensure successful PRT projects.
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