Personal Rapid Transportation: Multipurpose Renovation
By John Sanger
Before the Industrial Age reached its zenith, it exerted one more impact on rural America; loss of transportation options. Fifty years ago there was bus, plane and rail service from regional centers and even many small towns throughout the country, today almost all of that has disappeared. Only the automobile remains and it is subject to the vagaries of weather and other interruptions. For a rural based teleworker that needs to have time-dependent, reliable and fast access to their employer, this poses another challenge to the decision to move to a rural community and to help rebuild their demographics. The Smart Region.US concept selects Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) to fill this void.
Originally conceived as a rural system, when we looked for a logical interconnection with the urban transit system on the urban periphery, we realized there was none. We expanded the concept into the metro area using the shopping centers as the main stations and as our point of interconnection. By running a secondary loop to service the areas around the shopping centers we discovered that we could bring service to within a half mile of approximately ninety percent of the homes. Each Service Center in the Smart Region would also have a loop to connect all of their small towns. Under a very collaborative funding process, the economics are estimated to cover its costs without subsidy.
Pioneered by Dr. J. Edward Anderson at the University of Minnesota in the 1970’s, his PRT design has won numerous international design competitions. The concept however, has failed to overcome the dual nemesis of preserving the status quo and fear of innovation. Although there are several characteristics being promoted, generally they are:
Monorail- to avoid intersections and other on-grade conflicts
Non-Stop- stations are bypassed and if accessed, you exit the main line via on/off ramps
Fast- speeds of 100 mph are generally possible and, of course this is constant across the length of your trip as there are no interruptions
Broadband accessible- video conferencing, data accessing and other capabilities can be provided
Computer Controlled- 24 hour operations
On-Demand- vehicles would be pre-positioned at most PRT stations so that a passenger would be able to immediately embark
Flexible- freight and passenger traffic is supported. More options are being pursued but weight and economics are powerful constraints. Specialized pods are possible but require greater analysis
Weather-impervious- the raised track is designed to shed snow, ice and rain so travel times should be a constant
Solar-Powered- based upon the track configurations, solar panels could be mounted on or below the track to provide power to both the vehicles and stations without the esthetic impacts of solar farms
Fiber chase- Broadband could be embedded within the track structure greatly reducing traditional costs of deployment
Subsidies may not be required if market rates are applied and depending upon other implementation considerations
As part of the transition to a Smart Region environment, the Workforce Virtualization Program is designed to encourage a significant deployment of employees to support the embedded Continuity of Operations program. As the findings of 9/11 indicated, the first thing an employer should do is to distribute their assets; people are the most important. Employers would embrace rural-basing of continuity-assigned staff as determined by the WVP’s deployment policies.
As the Smart Region.US concept is deployed and Service Areas begin to establish their vision, more and more applications for the PRT appear:
Grandma-to-the-city trips- rather than today’s model of bringing grandma to the city for a birthday or other event requiring two trips each way, an integrated urban-rural model of the PRT system could bring her to within a quarter mile of many urban homes
Tours- groups of urban retirees can visit festivals and events (the MN Smart Region has over 5000 of them), staying at the hotels, dining at the restaurants etc.
Emergency freight delivery- as the economic integration expands, this becomes ever more important
Consultants- same day, on-site delivery of training and other services reduces costs
By multi-purposing the PRT system, overall costs can be reduced and additional revenue streams can be developed. As a community owned system, participation is driven by a perceived value and that must transfer to an investment. The stations/neighborhood telecenters should be built by the local community in cooperation with their regional center. Solar panels located strategically along the line can power the system, the telecenter network and potentially provide a revenue stream. With a column supporting the track every two hundred feet, the transportation agencies should provide access to their right-of-way acknowledging that clearances must be accommodated. Given the reduced cost of the “pods” corporate sponsors can donate them rather than paying for advertising. Additionally, adopting a fee structure that is based upon traditional auto service and bonding commitments from the benefiting communities distributes the infrastructure costs. And, being a community owned system, the PRT system can engage in cost-benefit analysis to ensure that it is a community investment that responds to the community vision of integrating the urban and rural economies.