Paper 4: Future Developments in Personal Transit

Abstract

Personal rapid transit systems are now under development in the U.S.A. that promise to revolutionize public transport. These systems, comprising small capsules to transport family-sized groups of passengers, would operate on special guideways under full automatic control. Although it is foreseen that the initial installations of these types of systems in the next three to five years will be small in scale, typically a few miles of guideway, the potential exists for area-wide urban systems that will gradually take over many of the transport functions of the automobile and conventional urban transport.

In this paper the existing forms of land transport are reviewed to provide perspective for a discussion of advanced forms. The opportunities for advanced systems are seen in applications where existing modes are particularly deficient; for example, in high-density activity centres. It is shown that improvements in urban transport may be made by using more advanced technologies, or by a fundamental revision in the system concept, or both. The personal rapid transit concept is seen as a basic system innovation that offers a major departure from the mass transit concepts of the past. It is shown that it can be implemented either with conventional technology or may use advanced technology to reduce costs and improve performance. Three representative types of systems are described to illustrate hardware approaches by different industrial groups. The discussion emphasizes the possibilities of advanced technologies, an approach that appears to provide a better implementation of these systems and extend their potential. Possible long-range future developments in this new mode of land transport are reviewed.