PRT Consulting, Inc.
 Efficient Transit Solutions                                                          October 2011
 
Dear Colleagues, Peter Muller  

  

The most significant news this month was the lack of competing bids for the Amritsar personal rapid transit (PRT) project in India. Under the Swiss Challenge format, ULTra-Fairwood had the opportunity to match any competing bids to its unsolicited proposal. This fact alone was probably a significant deterrent to potential competitors. Construction should commence shortly. 

 

I would like to draw your attention to recent work by Joerg Schweizer that finds a significant mode shift to public transit when the level of service is similar to that of 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.

  

Best regards, 

Peter J. Muller, P.E. 

President 

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Recent News Updates 

 

MiyamotoH_WaikikiPRT_20Oct2011_8HQ.wmv   

"Waikiki Personal Rapid Transit", submitted as an entry in the 2011 Breakthrough Innovation Challenge, sponsored by the Pacific Asia Center for Entrepreneurship, Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii at Manoa. 

  

 

 

Podcars on trackLondon Heathrow Gets Driverless Pod Cars to Transport Passengers Around Terminals. These pods are going to give a run for their money to cars and buses as they consume 70 percent less energy per passenger than a car and 50 percent less than a bus. 

 
 

 

  

Peter Price videoThe evolution of driverless pods. Automatic pods transporting passengers using Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 in west London have been officially launched. Peter Price looks at how, with both space and time at a premium in the UK's capital, efficient automation could be the future of transportation. 
 
  

WVUWest Virginia University shows off campus sustainability programs. As part of the annual Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference, the campus tour featured WVU's Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, the university's all-electric driverless transit system that connects the school's three campuses with downtown Morgantown. 
  

  

Delhi_GurgaonPod taxis a step closer. Moving a step towards providing high-tech public transport to city residents, the authorities have completed the survey for introducing Pod Taxis in Gurgaon. According to the survey, there will be 3150 Pod Taxis for the entire city. The route will be 105-km long with 143 stations and eight multi-level parking lots. 

 

 

AmritsarAmritsar PRT goes to ULTra-Fairwood. After ULTra-Fairwood submitted an unsolicited proposal to build a PRT system to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board & Municipal Corporation Amritsar opened the project up to competing bids under a Swiss Challenge arrangement whereby ULTra-Fairwood had first right-of-refusal to matching competing bids. The bidding period has closed without any competing bids being received.

 

 

MnDotRationale for Funding a Feasibility Study for an Automated Rapid Transit Application in the Twin Cities. This report discusses the potential benefits and perceived impediments to implementing an automated rapid transit (ART) system in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. The report also briefly reviews the status of ART applications, also referred to as personal rapid transit (PRT), in the United States and abroad. 
    

 

 

ULTra videoAutomated podcars personalize public transportation. Imagine a day when waiting 10, 20, or 30 minutes - sometimes longer - for a bus or C-Train was a thing of the past. Instead, you have the option of calling up a small, unmanned podcar that arrives in less than 60 seconds, ready to ferry you off to your destination. 
 

 

 

Airport Consultants Council (ACC) Webinar: How PRT Could Change Your Airport Plans, Nov. 3, 2011. The emphasis will be on how PRT differs from conventional transit systems and automated people movers. Opportunities for new airport planning paradigms, enabled by PRT, will be introduced.   

 

       

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