Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) in Dorchester?

B

bostoneophyte

Active Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
128
Reaction score
0
For an alternative system, possibly debuting in Tel Aviv, see the following:

NASA Pod Transports Are Close to Reality—in Tel Aviv

0312_skytran_630x420.jpg


Transport pods that look like silvery fish could soon be whizzing above the streets of Tel Aviv. The Israeli city is looking to become the world’s first to get a mass-transit system co-developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said during a Monday visit to Bloomberg News.

The SkyTran system, which Huldai said could help relieve the traffic congestion that plagues his Mediterranean city, consists of two-person vehicles that hang from rails above street level. The pods are nearly silent because their overhead connectors are levitated by magnetism. Pods pull over on side tracks to pick up and discharge passengers so they don’t slow those behind them. They can travel at speeds up to 150 miles per hour, but in practice would go considerably slower.

Pods can’t substitute for heavy duty rail lines. The maglev rails offer far less carrying capacity than, say, a New York subway line. But they’re designed to reduce the need for cars and taxis by connecting areas that don’t justify the investment in a conventional train line.

The system was co-developed by engineers from NASA and SkyTran, a privately held company based at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Sanders of SkyTran says he’s in talks to raise the roughly $50 million required to build a line to run a little over four miles. That would connect high-tech Atidim Park with an existing train station at Tel Aviv University and a shopping and restaurant district at the city’s north end. After financing and approvals are granted, Sanders estimates that construction and testing will take about 18 months.

The system will be privately owned and will charge fares that are more expensive than a bus ride but cheaper than a taxi, Sanders says. If the first line is successful, he plans to add some that would intersect with it.

Other cities are interested in SkyTran systems. In Israel, Netanya is close behind Tel Aviv in the approval process, Sanders says, and he is in talks with Stavanger, Norway, as well as two cities in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Click to expand...

Another image:

skytran-urban-prt-rendering.jpg
 
Of all places... Dorchester?! Thoroughly confused. It's as if this is April 1.
 
I have to admire anyone who has the gall to propose an elevated transportation structure through downtown Hingham.

Still, the technology seems just like rail or bus for introverts more than anything else- can this really be cost-effective compared to alternatives?
 
Hmm... well, ok but... hmm.. WHAT?

Let's just assume the UMass application is in Crazy Transit Pitches. The 128 loop idea here is in new-levels-of-insanity transit pitches. What!

On the other hand, bringing this back down only to crazy transit pitches. As a crazy transit pitch, it's an elegant idea for UMass - and anywhere else that a population center or destination is a straight shot from transit at a crummy distance. E.g.: Wood Island to Downtown Chelsea over the existing ROW.
 
I don't personally understand the benefits of PRT over just building a freaking subway.
 
datadyne007 said:
I don't personally understand the benefits of PRT over just building a freaking subway.
Click to expand...

Think of it this way: it's like BRT re-branding for cars. Once the NIMBY's negotiate away that unsightly fixed guideway in favor of a far more flexible rubber-tire solution.

9db97f0373d9c59a274d8beba3f134bd-614x409.jpg
 
This is a city that's done everything in its power to tear down elevated transit modes. These folks think they'll be able to get this past the BRA? And Menino or no, the BRA is still the BRA.
 
The absurd thing about PRT is that the only "problem" it solves is not wanting to be around other people on transit. At best an airport people mover novelty.
 
Gets talked up everywhere; gets actually implemented nowhere.
 
We already have PRT... it's called a fucking highway.

Like, seriously... self-guided cars = PRT! With more flexibility!
 
The idea here is that people would get off the Red Line and use the PRT system to gat around Columbia Point, JFK Library, UMass, and maybe stuff on Morrissey Blvd such as the Globe and Shaw's?
 
wicked said:
This is a city that's done everything in its power to tear down elevated transit modes. These folks think they'll be able to get this past the BRA? And Menino or no, the BRA is still the BRA.
Click to expand...

Menino is on his way out buddy. I hearby predict the next mayor will be okay with surface trolleys and 800ft buildings in back bay and downtown.
 
armpitsOFmight said:
Menino is on his way out buddy. I hearby predict the next mayor will be okay with surface trolleys and 800ft buildings in back bay and downtown.
Click to expand...

Or will the next Mayor be some NIMBY king? I've yet to hear any of the candidates talk much about transit or development. Maybe I'm just missing the discussion, but I haven't seen anything to suggest the next Mayor will be very pro-Development...
 
The candidates are talking about what voters care most about: education, taxes, and jobs.
 
armpitsOFmight said:
The candidates are talking about what voters care most about: education, taxes, and jobs.
Click to expand...

If they truly wanted to create jobs then they would be talking about infrastructure. We could cut unemployment in the entire country down to 5% if we launched a massive infrastructure overhaul.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top