How Many Chances Do These Personal Rapid Transit Flim-Flammers Get?

Whenever and wherever cities think about getting or improving rail transit, the PRT guys show up...this time it's Wellington, New Zealand.
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Pod people

There was quite a media splash at the weekend from promoters of an "ULTra pod" Personal Rapid Transit ( PRT ) system. They want the council to fund a $1m study towards a 6km elevated central-city loop of 4-seater electric "pods" that are claimed to offer the best aspects of both personal and public transport. They would be cheaper than taxis, more space-efficient than personal cars, and unlike trains or buses, would deliver you straight to your chosen destination without stopping along the way.

I remember being excited about these when I saw a display about them at Sydney's Powerhouse museum about 5 years ago. But since then, I've seen a lot of less appealing information about them. There's even a site called PRT is a Joke that goes so far as to claim that PRT is either a scam or a "stalking horse" for the road lobby:

"PRT proponents can say things that the highway boosters could never say, such as "people don't like to ride with strangers". This anti-transit propaganda divides and conquers the opposition to highway projects."

While I haven't studied the subject in enough detail to examine such extreme claims, the proposal certainly has a whiff of Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, and Brockway about it, and there are some real issues with PRT. For example, the promoters claim a capacity eight times that of buses and four times light rail. But this seems to be based upon the unrealistic assumptions that the pods would always be full and that they could run three seconds apart at 40km/h. If you're promoting this on the basis of not having to ride with strangers, then imagine how much more uncomfortable it would be to be stuck in a tiny pod with them than in a bus! So 2 people per pod seems like a more reasonable average. Also, running pods that close together wouldn't allow for safe stopping distances: a more sceptical analysis suggests that 15 seconds is a more realistic headway. Thus, their capacities seem to be inflated by a factor of about ten, and any advantage over more proven modes disappears....

Read more here

Another account of ULTra's flop in Wellington, NZ: "The idea of having a $50 million monorail built in Wellington has been suggested by businessmen Richard Hoag and Mark Hattersley. The overall reaction from the Regional and City Councils was, well, lukewarm at best."



Learn more about the PRT scam at the PRT is a Joke web site.