Less Land, More Flexibility

With the large number of separate, one-way guideways, right of way costs will be prohibitive

A one-way PRT guideway requires only about a two foot square every 60 feet for supports, and an aerial right of way only about 6 feet wide above a street, sidewalk, or median. Since finding several smaller gaps one in the urban environment is easier than finding a single large one, PRT gives planners more options from which to select alignments with fewer conflicting utilities or other impediments, thus lowering cost. Positive aspects of the small system size include:

• Only the support columns block ground activities. A PRT guideway may be ran down the side of a street without blocking access to streets, driveways and parking areas, or compensating for such blocked access. In most cases, the land use under the right of way will be unaffected. The PRT system only needs an aerial easement, similar to those granted to utility companies.

• Narrow guideways will allow more choices of placement, relative to large vehicle systems. Utility infrastructure on one side of a street may be avoided by placing the guideway on the other side of the street. More streets will be wide enough to accept guideways, increasing the number of routing options from which to choose.

• Flexible support placement. The distance between supporting pillars may be varied if needed to avoid utility conduits, cross-streets, and street entrances.

• Small station footprints. PRT stations can be a small as 30 foot by 15 foot on the upper level and only 30 by 10 feet on the ground. Most PRT stations will be shorter than a single light rail vehicle!

• Variable station size. Stations size will vary to meet the needed passenger flow, allowing each station to be only as large as needed. LRT stations, in contrast, must ALL be as long as the largest number of cars per train.