Fundamentals of personal rapid transit

Abstract

Personal Rapid Transit is a public transit system of small (3 to 6 passengers) vehicles traveling automatically on exclusive guideways separated from steeet and pedestrian traffic. The traveler and his companions are assigned to private vehicles, not shared with strangers, to take them on a nonstop no-transfer trip from their origin stations to their destination station anywhere in a large urban area. The quality of service is comparable to that of conventional public transit modes. The capital cost would be much less than that for urban rail and the operating costs far below those for bus. There are many unsolved problems such as safely achieving adequate line capacities with small vehicles, vehicle traffic management on large networks, reliability, guideway aesthetics, and system cost. Solution to these and related problems were worked out in a program of study and research (1968-1976) was conducted at The Aerospace Corporation. Problem areas are addressed and alternative solutions are compared.

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