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| ULTra PRT podcars at London Heathrow Airport are scheduled to begin operations before end of 2009. |
By the fourth quarter of 2009, the ULTra PRT
will probably be operating at London Heathrow Airport transporting air travelers between Heathrow's Terminal 5 and long-term
automobile parking areas. These driverless transport vehicles
are presently undergoing testing. According to Wikipedia.org, success of the ULTra PRT will motivate BAA Limited
to extend the system throughout Heathrow Airport. It is not difficult to imagine that this type of "pod" could be an integrated
ground transport aspect of Southern Nevada's Ivanpah Valley Airport - still only proposed, and not scheduled
to be open for business until at least 2018.
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By Robert L. Candiotti August 28, 2009
ULTra (Ultra Light Transit) PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) are private vehicles that can carry four passengers and
their baggage along concrete guide-ways (fixed tracks). In theory, PRT vehicles will be readily available in response to passengers'
needs. They will be free from the established schedules that buses and trains are required to keep. PRTs are low weight and require smaller infrastructure than light rail. The reduced size of ULTra PRT
systems enable lower construction costs, more diminutive easements, and are less obstructive than other mass transit
systems. According to a release from Airport Technology, dated August
24, 2009, "The new personal transport pods will consume 50% less power than the buses they will replace" and "are
emission free."
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Overnight, when fewer people need to travel on PRTs, the podcars need only wait until passenger
demand arises. In fact, research into the development of the PRT system notes that FRT (Freight Rapid Transit) components
can be included that enable delivery of freight, and removal of waste, during the hours when passenger demand is low. In addition to being built at London Heathrow Airport,
the PRT is also being considered for transportation at Masdar City, proclaimed to become the world's first zero carbon city,
that recently had its groundbreaking in Abu Dhabi. In a long article titled "Introducing
PRT to the Sustainable City," written by Robbert Lohmann and Luca Guala, found on the Internet, the first sentence says,
"The zero carbon, zero emission city of the future will require a high-level-of-service passenger transit system
to accommodate the trips that in cities are typically performed by automobile."
Masdar City, though hardly even begun, is promoted as a radically futuristic city. Writers Lohmann and Guala state, "For
the city of the future, a modern and reliable system of transport is needed to replace the private car. It relies entirely
on the energy produced within the city from renewable and carbon-free sources, be free from congestion and significantly safer
than any transport system based on private cars."
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| 2getthere PRT at 2009 Abu Dhabi Energy Summit |
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Robbert Lohmann is said to be Commercial
Director of a company named 2getthere that is developing, along with two other companies - Zagato and Duvadec - a PRT that
can be used at Masdar City. The 2getthere PRT is described
as being, states the Lohmann/Guala article, "spacious and light. The height of the cabin is such that passengers
will not be able to stand during transit and passengers will be notified to seat their children. Large, heat reflective, glass
surfaces give good all round vision and add to the security feeling of the passengers. The cabin is well illuminated when
driving at night. "It accommodates 4 to 6 passengers
(maximum 4 adults, 2 children). The seating is configured in the form of two benches, placed opposite of each other and located
over the wheels. The benches feature two seats sunken-in each. The space in between the seats
accommodates a child. Seating is comfortable with space clearly exceeding normal public transport standards."
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Ivanpah Valley Airport, presently scheduled
to open around 2018, would be a logical place for an ULTra PRT system.
The "Personal rapid transit" article in Wikipedia.org says solar power can be incorporated into the characteristics
of PRT systems. Ivanpah Valley, like the rest of Southern Nevada, is awash in sunshine. Being built so far into the future,
with improvements in solar energy being practically guaranteed, a solar power-based PRT system at Ivanpah would not be surprising
at all. What would a PRT system be used for at Ivanpah?
For Ivanpah passengers
needing to move between the new international airport and Primm, Nevada, the nearby resort/shopping town, the PRT makes sense. The PRTs are said to most likely travel at speeds of
25 to 45 miles per hour. After a long, international flight to Southern Nevada, it might be quite enjoyable to travelers to
get into a podcar, with big windows, and glide along on the guide-way a few miles to Primm with its gaming,
shopping and hotel rooms.
Also, the PRT could transport people to other parts of the airport, to the train station that would be the stop
to catch a train to nearby Las Vegas, as well as to get to the little town to the north of Ivanpah Airport - Jean, Nevada.
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