[sustran] PRT proposal for Delhi convinces Chief Minister

[eric britton]

 <http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/> 

 <http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/> World

 <http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/> Streets

 

Somebody wake me up on this please.

 

1.       If we look on the streets of any city in the Global South, we see
PRT, personal rapid transport, all over the place.



2.       In the form of cheap motorized two wheelers with pretty
energy-efficient engines, enough road space to get the trip done,  and free
parking right next to where you want to go.



3.       There is no way that the old mid-20th century PRT folks can even
start to compete with that. 



4.       But if this is the on-street reality, which of course it is, please
show me the city or research program that is showing the way in getting the
most out of this stubborn reality.



5.       Who is making the best things about it better yet?



6.       And who is getting some kind of control of the worst?

 

We need a new policy paradigm for this, let's call it, the people's PRT.  Of
course it's part of the problem, but it is also clear that it is a major
part of the solution, as anyone with even an ounce of experience and common
sense can see.  And policy makers, advisors and proponents of sustainable
cities we will continue to ignore it at our peril.

 

Take the city of Kaohsiung as just one salient example: 1.5 million people,
1.2 million scooters, and something like three quarters of the modal split.
And all this in parallel with an absolutely gorgeous new state of the art
six billion dollar metro that started to go out of business on Day 1 of its
opening and ever since, because it simply cannot compete in terms of trip
time, convenient or price. 

 

Shouldn't we be working on this - along with the on-street reality options
such as BRT, HOV access, parking control, strategic speed control, safe
walking and cycling, and all that we know are parts of the solution --
instead of wasting our time with these long disproven, whack-a-mole PRT
proposals that clearly have no place in our cities 

 

How to get the message across to the policy makers and politicians? 

 

This has been good fun, but Brendan Finn has it right. These PRT enthusiasts
are distracting us at a time when we need all our brains and focus for the
real stuff.  Out they go.

 

Eric Britton

 

 

Some reference points:

.         Sustran list comments -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sustran-discuss/message/6637

.         World Streets article of 26 April- http://wp.me/psKUY-1A9 

.         CityFix article of 27 April-
http://thecityfix.com/can-pod-cars-transform-traffic-in-delhi/

.         Facebook group -
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_217653324914604

.         World Streets Poll -
http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/prt-proposal-for-delhi-convince
s-chief-minister-but-does-it-convince-you-see-poll-results/ 

 

(Note on the poll results: It has in the last 24 hours been contaminated by
no less than 106 visits from a single Comcast Cable site in an identified
city, United States, with the result that  exactly 65 votes have been
recorded in favor of PRT as a solution from the one site. No reason to point
any fingers, beyond just mentioning it here. Now that's interesting.)

 

 

 

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