http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwA6oSdEahs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkuvUIvrAlo

http://blip.tv/file/363129/

The Swedish goverenment, through its forward planning agency, SIKA, has identified this as one of their real opportunities to provide transportation in keeping with their official goal of being oil-free by 2020. As with other urbanized areas in Europe, Sweden has tremendous transit systems in Stockholm and over distance, but in suburban areas, it’s all cars. They see PodCars as an essential element that works in mid-density environments in conjunction with their line-haul systems.

Major consulting firms in the transportation industry have produced studies which show that Podcars have the potential to move significant riders from their cars to a system which is safe, convenient, and reliable. A dozen pilot systems from multiple manufacturers should be up and running by 2010, and we will be able to see exactly how well or poorly these work in practice.

It’s sad that in the US, the idea of PRT has been used by ideologues in opposition to transit, when it is perceived as a complement to other systems in the rest of the world.

Avidor, the founder of this site is looking for “new ways to improve the world through forward-thinking, high-tech, and environmentally conscious design”. Your “no car, pedestrian-only utopia” fits only into the 3rd of the 3 things this site operator is searching for. But since your utopia is backward thinking and “no-tech”, I doubt your flavor of “environmentally conscious design” is the same as hers. I’ll assume that you think she’s wrong for not thinking the same way you do.

What people fear is someone lurking in a station or at a bus stop.

In a demand responsive system, there is no reason to lurk. A loiterer sticks out like a sore thumb — why don’t they buy a ticket? If they’ve bought a ticket, why don’t they just get in a pod and Go already?

Designers have also included “panic buttons” in vehicles that can be pushed in event of any emergency. Usually the pod will be routed to the next station and emergency services are automatically contacted.

There are also security wrries that pods could be used to send explosives. But this can be prevented with engineering. If you watch the Vectus or ULTra videos that show real people riding, you’ll notice there is a Go button inside that must be pressed before the trip can begin.

As for “talking to strangers”, the personal nature of PRT travel is merely a side effect of its primary goals: convenience, availability, and point-to-point non-stop service. It just so happens that these primary goals are most efficiently achieved with individual pods. In other words, you can’t have on-demand point-to-point service in large vehicles, because hardly anyone is ever going to the same place at the same time.

And anyway, aren’t there better places to socialize than standing at a bus stop in the rain? Wouldn’t you rather hop into a pod have it take you (nonstop) to your favorite pub for happy hour? By the time the bus got you there, happy hour would be over. :-)