“Designing Transit for Maximum Ridership and Minimum Cost”: Personal Rapid Transit

1. “Designing Transit for Maximum Ridership and Minimum Cost”: Personal Rapid Transit J. Edward Anderson, Ph.D., P. E. Chief Technology Officer PRT International, LLC Former Aeronautical Research Scientist, NACA Manager of Space Systems, Honeywell Professor of Mechanical Engineering University of Minnesota & Boston University www.prtnz.com, www.prtinternational.com

2. Guideway weight reduction 20:1 Large manually driven vehicles. Small fully automated vehicles!

4. Fleet Cost = Cost/Vehicle Capacity  People-Carrying Capacity Suppose 15 vehicles each averaging 10 mph provide a given people-carrying capacity. Then 6 vehicles averaging 25 mph provide same capacity.

5. The average speed is highest if there are no intermediate stops, which are not necessary if stops are off-line just like on a freeway. Conclusions: Guideway cost is minimized by minimizing vehicle weight. Vehicle fleet cost is minimized by using off-line stations. This combination makes a major breakthrough!

6. Off-Line Stations are The Key Breakthrough! Off-Line Stations are The Key Breakthrough! • Nonstop trips • High average speed • Minimum fleet size & cost • High throughput • Small vehicles • Small, low-cost guideway Now interesting things happen: • Vehicles run only on demand, not on a schedule. • Service is always available, the wait is short to none. • Close station spacing does not decrease average speed. • Stations can be sized to demand. • You ride with chosen companions or alone. All lead to high ridership and low cost.

10. Control“Overcoming Headway Limitations in PRT Systems,” www.prtinternational.com

11. How do we keep vehicles from crashing? ”PRT Control,” “Longitudinal Control of a Vehicle,” “Failure Modes and Effects Analysis,” www.prtnz.com Computers routinely land airplanes on aircraft carriers. Our computers respond to and correct speed and position two hundred times per second. Today’s position and speed instruments are more accurate than we need. Wayside zone controllers monitor vehicle motion. We know how to control any number of vehicles precisely in networks of any size or configuration.

12. System Reliability & Safety ”Safe Design of PRT System,”“Failure Modes & Effects Analysis,” www.prtnz.com Few moving parts in vehicle. No moving track parts in switch. No critical moving parts in motors. Dual motors, sensors, and power supply. Pairs of dual computers. Fault-tolerant hardware and software. Exclusive guideway. Result: Chance of injury is close to zero!

13. Using the New System

14. Buy a Prepaid Card.Find destination number from Information Kiosk.

15. Accessible to wheelchair

16. Ride nonstop to destination!

17. Off-line stations and small vehicles attract many riders! Available anytime of day or night. No need to understand the system. Short walk in a wider service area. Short or zero wait. A seat for everyone. Ride alone or with chosen companions. An enjoyable, nonstop ride. Text message all you want! No transfers. Short, predictable trip time. Competitive fare.

18. Thousands of smooth rides given at 2003 Minnesota State Fair. No Redundancy. No Failures.

19. Cost Comparisons

20. “Light” Rail A transit mode first introduced in 1886. “Light” rail tranit

22. Land Savings

23. Throughput per direction: 6000 cars/hr Throughput per direction: 6000 cars/hr

26. Throughput per direction: 6000 cars/hr Throughput per direction: 6000 cars/hr 300 ft 300 ft 15 ft 15 ft

27. Enormous Land Savings! • Land required only for posts and stations, only 1/5000th or 0.02% of city land. • Auto system requires • 30% of land in residential areas • 50% to 70% in downtown • Land savings + high ridership permits safe, zero-pollution, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, high-density living to an extent not possible with conventional transportation.

28. A former parking lot!

29. PRT: 1880 BTUs per passenger-mile templetons.com/brad/transit-myth.html

30. Significant Recent PRT Activity Sweden to announce first PRT city @ Pod Car Conf. Korean Railroad Research Institute to develop PRT. Minnesota DOT held a workshop on PRT (Aug 2010). Punjab, India announces PRT to be built. Mexico funds PRT Program in Guadalajara. Ithaca, NY initiates PRT Program with NYSDOT. Posco to build PRT system in Suncheon, Korea. San Jose, CA, has PRT program underway. ULTra PRT soon to go in service at Heathrow Airport. United Arab Emirates: MASDAR, Abu Dhabi.

31. Countries involved in development of PRT: England, Sweden, UAE, Korea, Mexico, India United States Federal Government ? 0! Cities in USA: San Jose & Ithaca Best independent news on PRT is found on http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us/prt/ www.cprt.org

32. Our Status • System under development since 1981. • Next steps: • $5M will produce all procurement specification • $15M more will construct and operate pilot system • $5M more will produce plans for early applications • We have a complete team of engineers and engineering companies ready to go!

33. For more information www.prtinternational.com.Download the video for a more detailed Systems Engineering presentation.