PRT – Gadgetbahnen on Steroids.
Every few years, much is made of PRT or Personal Rapid Transit, as being the new way to move people. Except for a few specialized installations, such as Morgantown USA, PRT has proven to be both expensive for what it does and esthetically unappealing.
For a PRT system to actually work, one would need elevated PRT lines every 500 metres or so crisscrossing, grid like, a city, to provide the network that would make PRT attractive to the customer.
In an age where even putting simple tram tracks on a city street may lead to years of public debate, PRT would lead to a public revolution.
Vancouver is the perfect example: After the first elevated SkyTrain was installed Vancouver City Council passed a bylaw outlawing elevated transit systems being built in the city, which helped Vancouver to get the $2.8 billion RAV/Canada line built as a subway in Vancouver.
PRT maybe applicable in specialized locations, but as a comprehensive public transportation system, I rather think not.
The following is the latest in “building a new mousetrap“.
http://www.mist-er.com/files/Polish%20Podcar%20Progress.pdf
