Could Personal Rapid Transit work in the US?

[zkr123]

For those who don't know what I'm talking about Heathrow International Airport has created this PRT system between Terminal 5 and 2 parking lots. Here is a vidoe of it. http://youtu.be/C7OxvLuK83g

[Overmod]

PRT was one of the great 'darlings' of the transportation program during my bright college years.  Foundered on the great rock of who would pay for all the concrete linguini and general-use pods... and cleaning and maintenance of same... for a system built to any meaningful scale.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the future of PRT in the United States lies almost entirely with programming and control enhancements to self-driving automobiles, perhaps provided with some sort of external power supply system.  The facility for 'vehicle-on-request' will either be done with autonomous taxicab equivalents, or via private rental fleets not dissimilar to cab companies... interesting to see what they charge.  (And whether governments make the things mandatory above a certain blood-alcohol level...  ;-})

[Buslist]

zkr123

For those who don't know what I'm talking about Heathrow International Airport has created this PRT system between Terminal 5 and 2 parking lots. Here is a vidoe of it. http://youtu.be/C7OxvLuK83g

 

 

Please visit Morgantown WV.

[railtrail]

They are used in a few applications and not very well. Jacksonville,Detroit,Miami,Indianapolis Medical Center and a few airports. You still need people to run the train system.

[Overmod]

Buslist

 

       zkr123

For those who don't know what I'm talking about Heathrow International Airport has created this PRT system between Terminal 5 and 2 parking lots. Here is a vidoe of it. http://youtu.be/C7OxvLuK83g

Please visit Morgantown WV.

The great example of how this stuff was supposed to work.  Keep in mind that the university's environment isn't amenable to the typical sort of shuttle buses driving around.  There are some analysts who think this system is a significant factor in enticing 20,000 students to campus who would otherwise go to a different school.

On the other hand... 

"A crew of 55 keeps the system operating six days a week, working constantly to repair the aging cars and guideway, scrounging for hard-to-find parts. According to Foreman, the university spends $5 million annually to operate it."

(You could run an awful lot of buses -- very nice buses -- an awful lot of miles annually for that budget...)

Be fun to see what the cost of building a system at that scale would be today.