Personal rapid transit

Personal rapid transit (PRT), also referred to as podcars, is a public transport mode featuring small automated vehicles operating on a network of specially built guideways. PRT is a type of automated guideway transit (AGT), a class of system which also includes larger vehicles all the way to small subway systems.

PRT vehicles are sized for individual or small group travel, typically carrying no more than 3 to 6 passengers per vehicle. Guideways are arranged in a network topology, with all stations located on sidings, and with frequent merge/diverge points. This allows for nonstop, point-to-point travel, bypassing all intermediate stations. The point-to-point service has been compared to a taxi or a horizontal lift (elevator).

Numerous PRT systems have been proposed but most have not been implemented.

As of November 2016, only a handful of PRT systems are operational: Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit (the oldest and most extensive), in Morgantown, West Virginia, has been in continuous operation since 1975. West Virginia University's system serves a number of popular destinations throughout the city. Since 2010 a 10-vehicle 2getthere system has operated at Masdar City, UAE, and since 2011 a 21-vehicle Ultra PRT system has run at London Heathrow Airport. A 40-vehicle Vectus system with in-line stations officially opened in Suncheon,South Korea, in April 2014 after a year of testing.

The Duke University Medical Center Patient Rapid Transit system was decommissioned in 2009 and expansion of the Masdar system was cancelled just after the pilot scheme opened.

Most mass transit systems move people in groups over scheduled routes. This has inherent inefficiencies. For passengers, time is wasted by waiting for the next vehicle to arrive, indirect routes to their destination, stopping for passengers with other destinations, and often confusing or inconsistent schedules. Slowing and accelerating large weights can undermine public transport's benefit to the environment while slowing other traffic.

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