Personalisation of public transport is one of the most popular directions of transport technologies development. The PRT concept (Personal Rapid Transit) actively develops in many scientific-research institutes. Today, the implementation of this system took place in micro-scale in three places in the world: Heathrow Airport in London, in Suncheon Bay National Park in South Korea and in Masdar Special Economic Zone in the UAE. The vehicles allow for efficient travelling around the zones supported by them and are very popular among both locals and tourists.
PRT vehicles have the form of small cabins moving on special trestle bridges located at the height of 5-7 meters above the ground. Each vehicle can take from 3 to 5 passengers. The cabins are equipped with a set of external and internal sensors. The vehicle itself selects an optimal route, avoids collisions and responds to emergency situations. The travel takes place directly and completely automatically. Each PRT cabin is equipped with the electric drive. The advantages of the solution include resolving traffic congestion, increasing road safety and improving comfort of using public transport. PRT successfully eliminates the problem of crowded buses and trams.
The main obstacles on the way to introduce PRT to the Polish cities are related to lack of sufficient amount of data concerning operating of such systems in real conditions. Due to the low prevalence of PRT, it is difficult to estimate such parameters as annual electricity consumption, average trestle bridge usage resulting from their use, and the power efficiency of a single cabin. Representatives of local governments are discouraged mostly by incompletely tested transport systems in their managed areas and their testing in everyday traffic. In addition, residents may have limited confidence in vehicles operated only by using sensors without human involvement. Nevertheless, it should be noted that introduction of the experimental solutions is the only chance for their detailed testing and subsequent implementation.
In order to create a PRT vehicle network, cooperation with leading scientific and research centres in Poland has been established. In consultation with the Department of Transport at the Warsaw University of Technology, Green Cars has been working on the Polish PRT project, implemented within “Eco-mobility” program. Ultimately, the Electromobility Centre is to be one of the commercial manufacturers of ready-made transport cabins.