After many attempts over the years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on studies, research and development, there are no true PRT systems in operation anywhere in the world. The pod project at Heathrow is supposed to be PRT, but it lacks the essential features of a true PRT system - multiple offline, elevated stations, lightweight pods and a slim, one-way guideway.
There really isn't much difference between the ULTra pod project at Heathrow and a nearly identical project in 1997 at Schiphol Airport. So what's the big deal?
Here's a 2002 video of automated pods in action:
Read about recent Personal Rapid Transit flops and fiascos HERE.
Nevermind that Heathrow pod ride is so bouncy and shaky, you will get seasick watching this video:
There's another video of a bumpy pod ride on this blog.
Nope, Josh Marshall says the pods are awesome.
Many years ago, I put something on my website called "THE MEDIA PRT TECHNO-PUFFERY HALL OF SHAME". But I could not keep up with the constant flood of PRT hype. This is what I wrote seven years ago:
The PRT publicity mill grinds out happy stories about PRT and the news media publishes them with little or no fact checking. The media likes to publish "Gee whiz" techno-puffery and for the most part, stories about rocket jet-packs and personal hovercraft don't do a lot of harm. PRT cleverly sneaks under the radar as a "Gee Whiz" story...but, of course there's a serious side to PRT . When PRT is revealed to be something that can cost taxpayers and investors a lot of money, the media just stops reporting ...I suspect out of embarrassment. Nobody wants to admit they were snookered, especially editors and publishers. All those hyped stories about PRT also create a false impression of PRT...and of course this creates a closed loop of information leading to even more cyber-hype and media techno-puffery.
Olson, who has been heading a PRT public relations campaign in Minnesota to drum up support, says public skepticism about new technologies is a big hurdle, as are established government relationships with existing transit manufacturers. "You have 40-plus years of relationship between our legislators and bureaucracies, and a flow of money between them," he says. "We're basically recreating the battle between horse-and-buggy manufacturers and the creators of the automobile."
Mark Olson was voted out of office after he was arrested and convicted of spousal abuse and is now a lobbyist for a PRT vendor with a $100 million project for Coon Rapids.
Your article about Personal Rapid Transit was lacking in both context and perspective. The data on rail passenger-mile efficiency are not "skewed" by the success of the New York City subway or by scheduling that takes into account ridership patterns.
Further, the quote from Rep. Mark Olson does not even mention the battle in Minnesota over the highly politicized new (electric) light-rail line in Minneapolis. PRT has long been offered as an alternative to light rail in the Twin Cities by out-state Republicans who are against rail and in favor of more highways. This may be because PRT is currently in use exactly nowhere, and Minnesota Republicans expect and hope the status quo will continue in that respect.
Finally, your writer was evidently unable to find anyone who disagrees with the businesspeople/cheerleaders quoted in this piece. It's hard to believe that nobody has a question about PRT. Transit is a vitally important issue, but one-sided articles serve only to hinder informed discussion.
Maybe TPM will follow-up their PRT puff-piece with some of the well-researched muckraking TPM does best.
Read about recent Personal Rapid Transit flops and fiascos HERE.
Building Communities Exhibition: Visuals and Models of the New Urban Community
Aug 15 2011 11:00 am
This annual week-long, public event will be held August 15 - 19 in the Crystal Court of the IDS Center, in Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Building Community Exhibition offers a sneak peek at the future of our urban communities. There will be scale models, renderings, computer animations and multi-media displays of planned, ongoing, and recently completed construction projects that are shaping our urban communities. The Advanced Transit Association is teaming up with Citizens for Personal Rapid Transiti (www.cprt.org) for this exhibition. On Thursday, August 18 the Building Communities Exhibition is hosting "Transportation Day." This day features a noontime speaker session, where an ATRA representative will give a presentation along side other predominant transportation policy-makers.
And finally, of course, we can't forget about the most notorious transportation proposal which was actually considered by for our regional transportation initiative (OKI), the Skyloop - a monorail-like personal rapid transit system.
Read about the Sky Loop PRT fiasco HERE. Click on the picture to make it bigger:
Christer Lindstrom, who is presenting the latest podcar conference at Stockholm tells me that the article which 'redefined' PRT characteristics was originally drafted by Steve Raney, who to my knowledge works & represents your interests in the US - therefore this mail addressed to you directly. Christer has 'assumed' that the article has been officially endorsed by ATRA, when it is apparent that it has never been. This is perhaps a shortsighted, illegal and unethical act on the part of Steve to wrongly portray the family of 4 seat systems as the only PRT candidates perhaps to establish some business advantages for Ultra, Vectus & 2getthere in the near future with many city officials - as non-discerning audiences - by way of a deceptive ATRA endorsement, when none of this was required in the first place.
Once touted by supporters as "faster, better cheaper" than conventional transit, The much-hyped ULTra Personal Rapid Transit experimental operation at Heathrow's T5 terminal parking facility is described as a "taxi" service that fails one in twenty passengers according to Airport International's News:
Each pod is capable of accommodating four passengers plus their luggage and, at present, they're used by something like 800 passengers on a daily basis. The speed of these airport robot pods peaks at about 25 miles per hour and, since the fleet became operational, they've shown themselves to be pretty reliable, with a five per cent failure rate.
The article doesn't explain what "failure" means.
Keep in mind, the trial period began April 18, 2011. The ULTra pods have not been tested in extreme winter conditions. J.E. Anderson doubted ULTra 's ability to handle wintery conditions in 2004 (Salon):
Edward Anderson, however, quibbles with Lowson's assessment of superiority, pointing out the ULTra's larger cars would cost more and add weight to the tracks, and that the electric-car system is more vulnerable to inclement weather.
According to the ULTra website, snow removal is accomplished by a "special snow and ice removal vehicle". This is how the special vehicle removes snow and ice:
This vehicle traverses the guideway automatically, applying a de-icing spray
The ULTra site also mentions an "open glass reinforced plastic (GRP) grating" that they hope will allow snow, ice and the de-icing fluid to rain down onto pedestrians, autos and other property below.
And how reliable are the ULTra pod's batteries in Minnesota's sub-freezing temperatures?
Pod promoter Steve Raney posted this email on the Transport Innovators forum to Tom Sorel, Transportation Commissioner for the State of MInnesota:
Hi Tom
We have refined the summary of the 28th Amendment as a basis to end government monopolies over power and transportation infrastructures. We are preparing a citizen suit in which we will name you and the State of Minnesota for blocking privately financed solar-powered mobility networks. It would be much better if Minnesota will allow such networks.
Unless you have some means to guaranteeing access to affordable gasoline, as noted in the summary of the 28th Amendment, the decay of the oil-powered economy seems likely to kill about 8 in 10 Americans over the next 20 years. Geology is slow and relentless. We can preempt the crisis by becoming self-reliant and ending our oil addiction.
Please consider that if people die, the civil aspects of the citizens suit should be expanded to criminal accountability. People are already losing their homes because DOT mandates oil as the lifeblood of our economy.
Thanks
Bill James
Steve Raney comments:
The large CC line maximizes the number of client-side Minnesotans that are antagonized. I am not aware of an example of this bizdev approach
succeeding.
Here's the CC list:
rom: Bill James [mailto:bill.ja...@jitcorp.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 3:11 PM
To: Sorel, Thomas (MnDOT) Cc: Feit, Dennis (DOT); Ariene McCarthy (Met Council); Arseneau, Bernie (DOT); David Pesch (Olmsted County); Eric Sorensen (Winona); Ferrol Robinson (UMn); Gina Baas (UMn); Paulson, Greg (DOT); Meyer,
Jean M (DOT); Jeff Ellerbusch (Olmsted County); John Levin (Met Council); Karl Keel (Bloomington); Buckeye, Kenneth (DOT); Gutknecht, Kevin (DOT); Hernandez, Kristine J (DOT); Laurie McGinnis (UMn); Marisol Simon (DOT); Schweyen, Michael (DOT); Michael Sheehan (Olmsted); Schadauer, Michael (DOT); Thakur, Mukhtar (DOT); Succio, Nelrae (DOT); Representative Tina Liebling; Senator Gen Olson; Stephanie Malinoff (UMn); Henkel, Tim (DOT); Tony Knauer (Rochester); Venkat.Pindiprolu - FTA;
Bill James is the JPODS guy. Listen to Bill James talk about JPODS :
I'm guessing there's going to be an uptick in the amount of PRT promotion and publicity in the run-up to the next session of the Minnesota Legislature. Look for one or more PRT pork projects to be included in the bonding bill. Here's a Minneapolis pod event planned for this month:
Start: Aug 15 2011 11:00 am
This annual week-long, public event will be held August 15 - 19 in the Crystal Court of the IDS Center, in Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Building Community Exhibition offers a sneak peek at the future of our urban communities. There will be scale models, renderings, computer animations and multi-media displays of planned, ongoing, and recently completed construction projects that are shaping our urban communities. The Advanced Transit Association is teaming up with Citizens for Personal Rapid Transiti (www.cprt.org) for this exhibition. On Thursday, August 18 the Building Communities Exhibition is hosting "Transportation Day." This day features a noontime speaker session, where an ATRA representative will give a presentation along side other predominant transportation policy-makers.
Will PRT lobbyist Mark Olson, CPRT member Dean Zimmermann be there to answer questions?
