PRT Emerges as Promising Solution to Urban Congestion Woes
Personal rapid transit (PRT) represents a revolutionary transportation mode that is set to help overcome urban congestion. Developments in PRT technology have been focused on vehicle control systems to meet the demands of varied infrastructure types.
“Global investment in infrastructure is expected to reach $7 trillion over the next three years, and currently, the three key competitive products in the marketplace are ULTra, Vectus and Cyber Cab, which appear ready for installation,” notes the analyst of this research. “The ULTra system is further ahead with marketing a PRT system, as shown by its forthcoming installation in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.” The key application areas for PRT installation are airports, eco towns, urban city developments, shopping malls and tourist attractions. Airports, in particular, are projected to install the most PRT systems over the next five years. Eco towns and urban city developments are likely to install PRT in the next ten years.
In the 1950s, research commenced into alternative transportation modes. The outcome was that a new and innovative transport system using advanced and commercially available automation was needed to address urban transportation problems. In the 1970s, considerable theoretical analysis of PRT revealed how this type of system could operate as a feasible mode of transit. At this time, the proposals for a PRT system were seen as being ‘too advanced’ and were therefore considered too expensive and complicated.
Currently, the growing global emphasis on implementing eco-friendly transport systems have been paralleled by technology advances and increasing technological expertise. As a result, PRT has progressed from being a high-tech specification vision into a practical, cost-effective and flexible transport system.
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