I am in the technology business. And sometimes when a technology is not accepted or is not used, someone says, "yeah, BetaMax vs VHS", like it was just a matter of marketing. But PRT is not that type of technology. It is more like the blimp, a transportation technology that was a bag of gas that just did not work for the purpose it was used.
What is PRT? A forty year old concept for a system of autonomous vehicles that can go to multiple destinations on demand, on a track or guideway. Techo-cultists are fascinated by it, a Jetsonesque technology that has its own german joke word "gadgetbahn". Like most cults it has a core of true believers and the more sinister quacks and scammers that prey upon them. Right wing nutcases back the PRT technology movement, they know it will never be built and PRT proposals can block or dismantle real public transit infrastructure and systems. Occasionally you will see left wing fantasy loonies who want to transform the world into a Futurama cartoon back PRT schemes. All the PRT backers say "if only", if only there were politicians to back a real big system it would work, if only there were funding, if only....
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