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JOE GRATA, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Like the "Energizer Bunny," West
Virginia University's PRT is an icon that keeps on going. And going. PRT
stands for Personal Rapid Transit, a one-of-a-kind, computer-run,
electric people mover system whose 73 gold-and-blue transit cars have
been whisking riders around hilly Morgantown and the school complex
since 1975.
"There are 130 automated systems worldwide, but only one like this,"
said Lawrence Fabian of Boston, director of the Advanced Transit
Association, which deals with futuristic transit programs. "Its
characteristics are unique," including on-demand service that takes
riders where they want to go, like pressing the buttons on an elevator
except that it's a horizontal trip with five stations instead of five
floors.
The PRT is so "personal" that fairly often there's only one passenger
aboard an 8,600-pound car, moving at speeds up to 30 mph from Point A to
Point C without stopping at Point B.
The former Urban Mass Transportation Administration, an arm of the U.S.
Department of Transportation, funded development and construction of the
PRT in the 1970s, wanting to test the technology in an environment of
changing weather and challenging topography.
Often maligned in its infancy as a goofy, unworkable idea and then
plagued by technical and operating maladies in childhood, the people
mover overcame the stigmas and problems long ago.
The PRT has racked up 20 million miles and carried 60 million riders
over three decades. The safety record is impressive. No one has ever
been badly hurt on the vehicles, electrified guideway or stations.
A transportation magazine, "The New Electric Railway Journal," has
ranked the system above Disney World's Monorail for overall performance.
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07149/789706-147.stm
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JOE GRATA, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Like the "Energizer Bunny," West
Virginia University's PRT is an icon that keeps on going. And going. PRT
stands for Personal Rapid Transit, a one-of-a-kind, computer-run,
electric people mover system whose 73 gold-and-blue transit cars have
been whisking riders around hilly Morgantown and the school complex
since 1975.
"There are 130 automated systems worldwide, but only one like this,"
said Lawrence Fabian of Boston, director of the Advanced Transit
Association, which deals with futuristic transit programs. "Its
characteristics are unique," including on-demand service that takes
riders where they want to go, like pressing the buttons on an elevator
except that it's a horizontal trip with five stations instead of five
floors.
The PRT is so "personal" that fairly often there's only one passenger
aboard an 8,600-pound car, moving at speeds up to 30 mph from Point A to
Point C without stopping at Point B.
The former Urban Mass Transportation Administration, an arm of the U.S.
Department of Transportation, funded development and construction of the
PRT in the 1970s, wanting to test the technology in an environment of
changing weather and challenging topography.
Often maligned in its infancy as a goofy, unworkable idea and then
plagued by technical and operating maladies in childhood, the people
mover overcame the stigmas and problems long ago.
The PRT has racked up 20 million miles and carried 60 million riders
over three decades. The safety record is impressive. No one has ever
been badly hurt on the vehicles, electrified guideway or stations.
A transportation magazine, "The New Electric Railway Journal," has
ranked the system above Disney World's Monorail for overall performance.
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07149/789706-147.stm
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