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Link to Q&A on Get Onboard PRT |
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Written by Will
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Tuesday, 22 January 2008 06:40 |
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Link to Q&A on Get Onboard PRT
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 06:42 |
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Is PRT "reinventing" the automobile? |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 10 February 2007 04:47 |
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No! PRT is a public transit system. It cannot replace the automobile, but its service characteristics are such that it can be expected to attract many more people than conventional transit systems, and it can do so using a tiny fraction of the land required for the automobile. While roughly half the population either cannot or should not be driving automobiles, PRT is accessible to everyone. It will be the environmentalist's dream because of its markedly improved energy efficiency, lack of air pollution, and land savings. Normally the guideways should be spaced not less than a quarter to a half mile apart. They do not replace streets.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 10 February 2007 09:20 |
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Can small cabs move the large numbers of people who would use general mass transit? |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:11 |
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Today, automobiles averaging 1.2 people per vehicle carry more than 97 percent of the urban passenger-miles in the United States. Uninterrupted flow is the key to capacity, not vehicle size. As an example, 60-passenger buses coming two minutes apart, a very high flow rate for an American bus system, provide the same number of capacity units per hour as 3-passenger PRT vehicles coming every six seconds. One PRT line can serve more than six times this capacity, more passengers per hour than come into downtown Boston during the morning rush period via a three-lane expressway. The line capacity is high because of automatic control, an in-vehicle switch, and electromagnetic propulsion and braking. Automatic control is safer and more reliable than human drivers, permitting vehicles to be separated by small distances. In-vehicle switches work faster and more reliably than moving-track switches, again permitting vehicles to be closely spaced on the guideway. Linear electromagnetic braking is reliable in wet and icy weather that forces systems using rotary motors and wheel braking to spread vehicles far apart because of skidding concerns in emergency stops.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:19 |
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Won't stations get bogged down with all the small vehicles? |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:23 |
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Station throughput is determined by the number of station berths, which can be set to meet the demand of any particular station. In general, station throughput is high relative to conventional mass transit because:  | | Taxi 2000 station inside a building. | - Only vehicles that actually need to stop at a station will enter the station. All other vehicles pass by, thus reducing station traffic relative to conventional systems where all vehicles stop in each station regardless of where passengers are going.
- PRT stations are closely spaced, often within a quarter mile of each other. This is convenient to patrons, who walk only short distances, and results in smaller, less crowded stations.
- The loading time for each vehicle is relatively short, usually completed in a few seconds. As people become accustomed to PRT systems, they will enter and exit vehicles as quickly as cars, increasing station throughput and minimizing trip time.
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Won't the problems of reliability make the operation of a large fleet of small cabs undependable |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 10 February 2007 05:26 |
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Actually, because a PRT system will have a large number of small vehicles, rather than a relatively small number of large vehicles, the chance of an individual becoming involved in a failure will reduce in proportion to vehicle size if the reliability of each vehicle is the same. But, because of the use of checked redundancy and advanced failure-management strategies possible within the confines of a PRT system, and the benign environment within the guideway, the reliability of it will be substantially higher than a conventional transit system. It has been shown that the requirements for dependability in a PRT system are independent of system size.
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