April 26th, 2009

The Podcar: A Cross between a Taxi and a Personal Bus

Posted by GreenOptions.com

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Written byAmiel Blajchman, courtesy of Gas2.0

Masdar City, located within Abu Dhabi, is introducing personal rapid transit “podcars”.  Basically, a cross between the convenience of grabbing a cab and a public bus; the podcars will be a component of Masdar City’s public transportation system.

As part of Masdar City’s car-free design; these podcars will be part of a network of electric taxis without drivers (!). The first of these podcars (also known as personal rapid transit - PRT) are set to debut this year.

According to Luca Guala, a planner at the consulting firm Systematica that designed the PRT network, it will:

Initially, the system will be very simple, with only a couple of stations. During this period, the system will function kind of like an elevator – you press a button and go to the third floor. Think of it as a horizontal lift. Later on it will be more sophisticated, and passengers will be able to get within 100 meters of any destination.

Since it is a prototype system, PRT is currently expensive to build. But, doesn’t it just scream “vision of the future”?

Image: Flyway Gotgatan via Flickr’s Media Commons

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