Comments on: Why Masdar’s Personal Rapid Transport Would Have Been Great https://www.greenprophet.com/2011/03/masdar-personal-rapid-transport/ Sustainably Driven. Future Ready. Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:54:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: David https://www.greenprophet.com/2011/03/masdar-personal-rapid-transport/#comment-13855 Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:54:40 +0000 http://www.greenprophet.com/?p=42606#comment-13855 The writer doesn’t mention the undercroft, and erroneously refers to the PRT as elevated.

In fact, Masdar has not given 2getthere official notification of the change, see http://goo.gl/Nkj8d

]]> By: jerzy https://www.greenprophet.com/2011/03/masdar-personal-rapid-transport/#comment-13846 Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:40:56 +0000 http://www.greenprophet.com/?p=42606#comment-13846 No one really knows why the PRT system has been abandoned for sure.
That system is not all that expensive, but the undercroft that was required very likely was. The design called for constructing the entire city on a platform (the undercroft) so that the PRT vehicles could be operated without any interference from conventional traffic or pedestrians. It’s very likely that the cost of this undercroft was the main factor that has caused the Masdar developers to want to consider other solutions. Unfortunately, abandoning the undercroft might well require a complete redesign of the city as the next level up does not have wide streets, ample parking, good connectivity, spaces for charging EV’s, good access to goods movement locations and waste disposal locations. It remains to be seen if this redesign has been ordered and, if so, how what it will cost. Light rail and/or subway will simply serve a few locations in Masdar, mostly for outside
commuters. Internal circulation services will still be required as will services to and from the parking garages located outside of the Masdar wall. It’s a mess to be sure. There is also some concern about how much electricity the PodCars would need in relation to the estimated capacity of the solar and other sources that are planned. It has been said that they, so far, have been found to be insufficient and that outside power will probably be required. If so, the demands of the PodCars for recharing may also be a factor. Finally, people used to various MASS TRANSIT systems often view PodCars as having insufficient capacity in urban settings. This perception is also likely to be a factor that was considered.

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