Examples

Over the years alot of different cities and areas have planned PRT networks. There are numerous investigations and reports published. Beamwayshas also drawn and simulated networks in several cities on its own account. Some of these PRT networks are presented on this page.

All of these drawings and simulations are done using the in-house tool BeamEd. A free of charge version of BeamEd is available for download here.

Click the images to the right to get larger versions. Note the circles around each stop. The radius of these circles is 300 m (1000 ft) which is usually considered a reasonable walk-in distance.

Linköping

Beamways AB is situated in Linköping, Sweden and thus the Linköping network is drawn based on considerably more knowledge of the local conditions than the other networks on this page. The network covers the central parts of town and the somewhat more periheral suburb of Tallboda in the north east. The area in the central south which according to the map is uninhabited is a newly appointed area of new housing named "Djurgården". This area will be fully populated within the coming 20 years.

A more complete description of the Linköping network is available here.

Facts

Inhabitants in the network area: 100 000
Area covered by network: 40 km²
Total network length: 90 km double track
Number of stops: 118
Number of vehicles: 2000
Mean trip length: 5,1 km
Number of trips in the rush hour: 10 000
Mean waiting time: 10 s

Daventry

Daventry is a small town to the north west of London, UK. Daventry has shown an interest in building a PRT network and has conducted studies which suggest single-direction networks. Beamways has drawn and simulated a double direction Beamways network which gives a better area coverage with fewer stops and shorter total network length than the one suggested by the study.

Daventry today has 23 000 inhabitants, but is expected to grow to up to 40 000 mainly by exploiting new areas in the east, as can be seen on the network map. To avoid the present road network getting congested by the large expansion Daventry is now thinking of building a PRT network.

In the long run a PRT link to the commuter train station in the next town is envisioned. This is an additional run on the countryside, about 5 km in length.

Facts

Inhabitants in the network area: 40 000
Area covered by network: 13 km²
Total network length: 19 km double track and 13 km single track
Number of stops: 42
Number of vehicles: 600
Mean trip length: 3,4 km
Number of trips in the rush hour: 4 000
Mean waiting time: 14 s

Ithaca, NY

Ithaca is a small town close to the center of the state of New York. The town has about 30 000 inhabitants but also 20 000 students, mostly at Cornell University. Ithaca hosts the second Podcar conference in September 2008.

Facts

Inhabitants in the network area: 50 000
Area covered by network: about 20 km²
Total network length: 38 km double track
Number of stops: 59
Number of vehicles: 750
Mean trip length: 3,9 km
Number of trips in the rush hour: 5 000
Mean waiting time: 5 s