We’ve talked about personal pod transportation before, and it seems like the idea is gaining more traction. The Pod car, or Personal Rapid Transit, is an energy-efficient, economic and fully-automated alternative to the current public transport systems. The pods run on an electric monorail-like track and carry up to ten people in a private and secure alternative to the traditional forms of mass transit. The idea of PRT transport has been around for some time, with PRT systems used in the US since the late 1970’s. Morgantown, West Virginia, Detroit, Michigan; Irving, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; and Miami, Florida currently use Personal Rapid Transit, but current fuel prices and a growing eco-awareness are reigniting the push for the mass-transit alternative.
US advocacy group Connect Ithaca have been urging local officials to adopt PRT transport for some time. The organization explains the benefits of pod transport:
…there are many companies ready to deploy this technology, from solar-powered JPods to jet-like SkyTrans. The capsules in these systems are created with extremely lightweight materials, making them cheaper to build and power…PRT is the fastest of all options, consumes the least energy and is totally automated (resulting in low operating costs).
Organization president Jacob Roberts:
It’s time we design cities for the human, not for the automobile. (The system) creates the perfect blend between the privacy and autonomy of the automobile with the public transportation aspect and, of course, it uses clean energy.
Europe is especially keen on PRT transport, with Sweden planning to use the system in over a dozen cities and be fossil-fuel free by 2020. And we’re still waiting for London to unveil their long-awaited pod transport within Heathrow Airport, which will shuttle visitors between car park and terminal using the ULTra system.
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