The automobile was a revolution in transportation.
Safer and more reliable than the horse and buggy, it transformed our way
of life. But our love affair with the automobile is on the
skids....ever increasing congestion, the price of gasoline, and the
environmental problems inherent in burning fossil fuels. We find ourselves
between a rock and a hard place.
Traditional mass transit (the bus,
subways, light rail) simply cannot replace the automobile
as it fails to provide the same door to door service.
Alternative fuels (hydrogen, ethanol, hybrids) are great as political
sound bites, but they ultimately fail to provide a realistic
alternative when judged on their scientific merit. Additionally they
do nothing to reduce
congestion.
What's needed is a system that combines the convenience
of the automobile with the efficiency of mass transit. PRT (Personal
Rapid Transit) is just
such a system...
PRT
In the simplest definition, the PRT puts the automobile
on tracks. The vehicles are small, individualized, fully automated
(no driver), and fully electric. But rather than coexist with the
automobile, the PRT system
replaces it. The
tracks are constructed over the existing roadways, thus greatly reducing
the cost of construction. Traditional rail systems such as light
rail cost as much as $70 million per mile! The PRT would cost only
a fraction of that since the bulk of the system (the roads) already
exists.
The vehicles are publicly owned and maintained - no
private ownership.
You don't keep a vehicle idle in your driveway, but rather summon one
from the system as needed. When
you get to the department store
and exit the vehicle, it automatically moves on to the next pickup
location. When you're finished shopping, you simply summon
another vehicle, although high traffic locations like stores would tend to maintain a line of
ready-to-go vehicles, similar to a taxi line at the
airport. If your visit results
in a large purchase, a piece of furniture for instance, you would summon a
specialized freight vehicle. Alternatively, if you were to
purchase the product from home, the store would deliver the product
directly to your doorstep via an unmanned PRT vehicle.
The PRT would fit nicely into residential neighborhoods
To summarize, the PRT will achieve the following:
1) Replace the automobile in an orderly transition
2) Provide transportation access to non-driving citizens
3) Decrease energy consumption and improve the environment
4) Improve our quality of life (no congestion, no stress)
Note: The prototype images of the PRT borrow their
look from the
Docklands Light Railway System (a single car) in
London, England until more detailed modeling has been
completed.
