Will Americans ever adopt an innovative form of public transportation system ? That ’s confutable . If you ’ve ever listened to Chuck Berry , the Beach Boys or Bruce Springsteen sing about roaring down thehighway , then you know that Americans love their machine – and the sense of personal freedom that come from having one ’s own set of wheels .
Indeed , U.S. Department of Energy data shows that Americans own nearly 842 cars per 1,000 mass , a high symmetry than any other land on the planet – manner more than the 593 car per 1,000 Western Europeans , and the 36 gondola per 1,000 Chinese [ source : U.S. Department of Energy ] . Each American drives , on fair , just about the equivalent of four coast - to - coast road trips across the U.S. in a life-time , and spend nearly an time of day a day behind the bike [ reference : U.S.Department of Transportation ] . Of the 1.1 billion fiddling trips they make each Clarence Day – to and from work , shopping , dropping the kids off at piano lessons or optical maser tag – they make 87 percent of them in their own personal vehicles [ source : Bureau of Transportation Statistics ] . So , yeah – " Baby , we were born to run . "
The trouble is that this skinny - obsessional love of the automobile has plenty of downsides – pollution , thecost of fuel , traffic jams , pilot - benders and crashes . Using public transportation could remedy a great deal of those problems ; unfortunately , many Americans seem to have an aversion to motorcoach and trains . But what if they had a form of public transit that really was a lot like riding in a elevator car ?
That ’s the likely promise ofPersonal Rapid Transit ( PRT ) systems . PRTs use small podlike galvanic rail vehicle – think case-by-case edition of the monorails at Disneyland – that are designed to provide the toilet facility of automobiles , without the drawbacks . The construct is n’t really new . Since 1979 , a PRT organisation in Morgantown , W.Va . , has been acquit as many as 16,000 people a day back and forth between downtown and the West Virginia University campus [ generator : Demerjian ] . Heathrow Airport outside London now has a PRT system to transport people travel from its parking arena to the terminal . But an even more elaborate system is envisioned by the Italian design firm , Pininfarina , and a Korean urban mobility company , Vectus . They ’ve drawn up plans for one that would operate inside a urban center like a automatic taxi system , with riders electronically summoning vehicles to take them wherever they require to go [ root : Weiss ] .
As energy prices and environmental woes rise and roads become more congested , transportation planners are looking more and more at PRTs . They ’re hoping people will comprehend these five reasons why a PRT would n’t be that much different from riding in your own car .
5: Both Allow You to Travel in Privacy and Comfort
Over the years , transportation planners have looked at a lot of unlike variations on the basic PRT conception of autonomous vehicles go on a runway system between locations . But perhaps the good state - of - the - art model of the applied science is at Heathrow Airport outside London , which in 2011 reveal a pod car system built by Ultra , a British troupe . The scheme consist of 21 assault and battery - power , driverless , zero - emission vehicles , each subject of carrying four rider and luggage along a 2.3 - mile ( 3.7 - kilometer ) route between the airport garage complex and Heathrow ’s main terminus in five minutes ' time [ informant : Ultra ] .
For rider , riding in an Ultra pod beats rushing to ease off down a shuttle bus and then having to squeeze into a compartment already occlude full of ugly strangers . Instead , they simply touch a computer screenland at any of the multiple place along the route to summon one of the pods , which are dispatched by a central computer and distributed to station concord to passenger requirement . And the fuel pod is design to accommodate about the same telephone number of multitude who typically would ride in a standard sedan , so there ’s no overcrowding . Plus , passenger can take who they depend upon with [ informant : Ultra ] .
The cod are actually built for the most part from off - the - shelf automotive industry component , and include feature often found in car , such as front - wheel campaign , rack - and - pinion steering , doubled - wishbonesuspensionon the front and rear , and wheels equipped with tubeless tire radiate tire . If you ’re not familiar in gearhead jargon , just rest assured that riding in a fuel pod feels about as smooth as depend on in a car . And since you may sit facing your fellow passengers , it ’s in reality more comfortable to have a conversation , and there ’s more exemption of movement in case you require to stretch your branch [ author : Ultra ] .
4: Both Enable You to Reach Places Safely and Quickly
The Ultra PRT system of rules at Heathrow moves at a swiftness of around 25 miles an hr ( 40 kilometers per hour ) , which is only slightly slow than the maximumspeed limitsallowed on the streets of major cities such as New York and Chicago . And when it come to getting around in a congested urban area , a PRT system might even get you there faster . PRTs would move along their own railways , isolated from other fomite traffic , so passenger would n’t have to interest about getting catch in dealings jams . And once a rider summoned a PRT vehicle and arrive in , that pod automatically would flux into the railway system and closely fall out the seedcase in front of it . Since all the vehicles on the organisation would be tied into the same computer connection , you would n’t have to worry about another number one wood cutting you off or induce a fender bender , and you would n’t have to be occupy about traffic light .
" It ’s like an automated taxicab that campaign on its own roadway and does n’t have to block up , " Peter Muller , Chief Executive of PRT Consulting , a Colorado - ground caller that put to work with cities and way to meditate personal rapid transit feasibleness , told CNN in 2011.That ’s one reason some cities are looking to build PRTs in presently - foul areas ; San Jose , Calif. , for model , is search at establish a PRT arrangement to connect the city with a local airport and a proposed train station . But Muller say CNN that his company also has been developingblueprintsfor next railcar - free cities where residents would rely entirely upon pods [ seed : Almasy ] .
3: Both Could Be Filled With Wireless Communications Gadgetry
The Ultra PRT system sport pot of electronic bell and whistles . A crash avoidance system equipped with sensors is program to spot other vehicles . A wireless communication frame-up allows passengers to communicate both via voice and data with the central station . And categorical - control panel video screens and audio talker play music and video clip and display information for travelers . There ’s also the option of installing a " smart card " system that allows passenger to store their musical preferences on their personal cards , so that when they get into a seedcase , it ’ll mechanically fire up a specific melody [ germ : Ultra ] .
But PRTs would be a small ahead of the curved shape of today ’s car when it comes to wireless electronic gadgetry , since unlike the latter , they would bedriverlessrobotic vehicles , part of a fleet go by a central data processor connection . car maker actually have been look into developing similar networked systems and robotlike autopilots for cars that would work on even roads . One late study by the German automaker Opel reason out that even connecting 5 percent of cars to such a system would potentially save up century of millions of dollars in fuel costs , because it would enable traffic to flow more expeditiously [ source : engagement ] . But there are undoubtedly a lot of kinks that have to be work out before we let loose robot auto on the streets , where they ’ll have to contend with reckless human driver akin to the speed - have it off " little old lady from Pasadena " who was immortalized in the 1960s Beach Boys song . pod on a track system of rules , in line , can rely on remote mastery with less potential for mishaps .
2: Both Can Be “Green”
We expend an ungodly fortune on gas – more than $ 4,400 per household in the United States in 2011 [ germ : Rooney ] . Then there ’s the cost ofmaintenance , insurance policy and parking , strike we can find space in crowded mall parking lots and urban garages . And do n’t even get us started about the environmental impact . According to a 2006 account by Environmental Defense , U.S. railcar and promiscuous trucks emit the eq of 314 million measured tons of carbon dioxide p.a. . That ’s the amount of carbon you ’d find in a ember train – one that was 50,000 miles ( 80,467 kilometers ) long . Americans account for 5 percent of the universe ’s population , but account for nearly half of the world’sautomotive carbon discharge , which are a powerful contributing factor in climate change [ reference : DeCicco and Fung ] .
If you ’re concerned about protect the planet and fighting climate alteration , you probably already are driving a hybrid gasoline - electric vehicle such as a Toyota Prius , or – if you ’re really a hardcore unripe zealot – a fully galvanising fomite such as the Nissan Leaf . But PRT systems , whose vehicles are controlled by a central information processing system to engage at optimal efficiency , are even well-off on the Earth . The Ultra PRT scheme at Heathrow , for exercise , reportedly produces 70 pct few atomic number 6 emissions than cars would and uses about one - one-fifth the energy required to prompt a full - sized shuttle passenger vehicle [ seed : Daly ] .
1: Both Can Be Pretty Stylish and Cool-looking
When you suppose public transit , you in all likelihood think clunky - depend vehicles like flex busbar and old - fashioned streetcar . But Global ’s pod system at Heathrow , with its bullet - headed , gleaming metallic fomite , affects a streamlined futurist feel that would n’t be out of situation in a cinematic sci - fi thriller [ informant : Good ] . The Pinaforma - Vectus PRT concept is even more avant garde , with seedpod in a truncated submarine figure and base - to - roof looking glass doors [ author : Weiss ] .
Both subsist and propose designs for PRTs , in fact , seem at least a little like bigger versions of the Mini Cooper and theSmart car– or well yet , the " city " or " urban " concept cars developed by automakers , which have similarly blunted , streamlined shapes . One peculiarly PRT - alike vehicle is GM ’s EN - Vconcept car , a podlike two - seater whose twinned Segway - style bicycle are powered by an electric motor running on Li - phospate batteries . Unveiled at the Shaghai World Expo in May 2010 , the EN - V has a lot in common with PRT system technologically , as well . Like a PRT , an EN - quintuplet can take in automaton mode , with a central computer electronic web controlling its move . It also would be equipped with detector to communicate with other vehicles and traffic signals , and a wireless Internet connection that would allow rider to hold in video conferences while on the move . The EN - V would be capable of much more complicated tactic than a PRT , since it would n’t be on a rails system – including the ability to make 360 - point turns on its matching wheels . However , like PRTs , the EN - V would involve an elaborate base to run [ source : Scott ] .
Lots More Information
I ’ve owned a number of cars over the years , from a purple 1972 AMC Hornet that my dad bribe for me for $ 400 when I was a college soph , to a 1988 Volkswagen Golf that had the most uncomfortable seats I ’ve ever had the bad luck to sit around in and an consternation scheme that sometimes mysteriously go off when I was tug down the highway . Today , my mob has a Toyota Prius , which my married woman mostly utilize to drive to work . As a self - employed person who form at home base , I find that I really do n’t want a car that much . When I do need to go somewhere , Washington , D.C. has an excellent public transit system .
