PRT System

PRT System

By: Lucas Shubert

This week’s blog is an excerpt from the paper I recently submitted to Transportation Research Forum titled Transportation Conditions and Solutions in Carbondale, IL. It is a case study of the operational PRT system in Masdar City.

Masdar City Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was founded in 2006 as a commercial center with a very specific goal in mind—to develop a sustainable technology and renewable energy research center and use the knowledge it creates in its own infrastructure (Masdar City 2013). In fact, Masdar City translates from Arabic to Source City (Farussi 2011). The harsh desert climate of the region has taught many harsh lessons to its inhabitants over the centuries, one of which being that sustainable living is not a catch phrase, but a reality. It is for this reason that, even though Abu Dhabi controls eight percent of global oil reserves, it “has enough hydrocarbon reserves at current production levels to last 100 years (Masdar City 2013).” Masdar City is being developed in one of the wealthiest nations as well as in the world in an environment that rewards sustainable practices, making it a seemingly ideal technology laboratory and its development over the next decade, until 2025 according to the Khaleej Times, integral to the future of energy-related technology.

            Figure 8 shows a conceptual model for sustainable urban design, one to which Masdar City is attempting to adhere throughout its development and operation (Masdar City 2013). Each of the six inputs below must be intertwined as shown, including transportation planning and management. Perhaps the most important transportation-related fact about Masdar City is its adjacency to the Abu Dhabi International Airport. That, mixed with its focus on being a pedestrian friendly community, can possibly lead to the complete elimination of private vehicles (Masdar City 2013). Designers are following several strategies, including making “walking and self-propelled transport…the most convenient forms of transportation to many destinations within the city (Masdar City 2013).” Strategies as simple as shaded walks and pathways and as complex as electric transit systems will be integrated to this end (Masdar City 2013). The system being developed will function on a series of levels, starting with light rail and mass transit lines that connect the city itself with nearby population centers (Masdar City 2013). For easy travel within the city, studies of personal rapid transit and freight rapid transit that offer the comfort of private transportation with public transit efficiency are being conducted (Masdar City 2013).

            2getthere was selected to supply the PRT system for Masdar’s first phase, in which it connects the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (2getthere 2013). The system features 10 PRT and 2 freight rapid transit (FRT) vehicles operating underground on a 1.2 kilometer track accessing 5 stations (2getthere 2013). The vehicles are powered by lithium-phosphate batteries, with a range of as much as 60 kilometers, that are recharged when the vehicle reaches a station (2getthere 2013). Even though this system currently only serves 500 people per hour per day, eventually the city plans to have 3,000 PRT vehicles making 130,000 trips per day (2getthere 2013). A fleet of that size would not be necessary in Carbondale, but the vehicles and their operation methods could readily function there.

References

Masdar City. 2013. “About Masdar.” Last Modified 2011. Accessed January 15. http://masdarcity.ae/en/86/about-masdar.

2getthere. 2013. “Masdar PRT Application.” Last modified 2012. Accessed January 15. http://www.2getthere.eu/?page_id=10.

Farussi, Federico. 2011. “Smart Cities VS Stupid Men.” GH Network. Retrieved January 15, 2013.

Figure 8. Sustainability model for Masdar City (Masdar City 2013).