Personal Rapid Transit Passenger Security

The current discussion item is a series of tragic news articles concerning passenger security at transit stations and on transit vehicles:

• Boy's face slashed at Light Rail station from NJ.com, January 8, 2003
• Student attacked in New York subway from CNN.com, January 11, 2003
• Jordanian assaulted from FAZ.net - January 10, 2003
• Edmonton parents of attacked teens want increased transit security. from CBC News - cbc.com, January 3, 2003
• Pair attack man for fake Rolex, court hears from www.thisislocallondon.co.uk - January 14, 2003

Each of these cases help highlight one of the major selling points of PRT technology - Low station wait times and private vehicles reduces opportunities for personal attacks to occur!

The first three news items cover attacks upon transit patrons while they were waiting for the transit vehicle. But with a PRT system, each of these victims would likely have found a PRT vehicle waiting for them at the station, boarded it with little delay and have not been available to their attackers.

The final two crimes were committed, in whole or part, by strangers sharing the large transit vehicle with their victim. The attack on the Canadian teen is particularly chilling, with the victim trapped in a moving transit vehicle with a large number of attackers. A PRT system, with small vehicles used privately or by small groups of friends, would offer no chance for strangers to attack or scout victims while sharing the transit vehicle.