SAMPLE MORGANTOWN'S GOLD MINE!

The Personal Rapid Transit in Morgantown, WV is the only automated transit system with high-order taxi-like service. It has also accumulated a remarkable safety record.

A seminar on PRT Operation & Maintenance Issues was organized by ATRA (the Advanced Transit Association). The seminar was co-sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). It took place October 7-8 in Morgantown, located a beautiful one-hour drive south of Pittsburgh, and home of the West Virginia University that owns and operates the PRT.

A CD of the presentations is available - see below.

According to WVU's PRT director Robert Hendershot, who has worked on the system for the almost three decades of its service, there has not been a single fatality. Even more impressive there has never been a single serious injury. There hasn't even been a legal claim of injury, nor payment of compensation to anyone claiming an injury. There were two minor incidents during the early days of its service. In one instance, an emergency stop caused someone to bump his hip. In another door-related incident, a man's hand was caught and sustained a superficial abrasion. There have been a few falls on stairs in stations (Morgantown has fairly harsh winters).

Although called "PRT", the Morgantown system uses a fleet of some 70 vehicles, each accommodating 21 (29 in crush conditions) passengers. By definition, it is thus Group Rapid Transit since travelers are grouped into parties with people they don't necessarily know. The university and student housing market depend on the PRT's vital services in a region of just over 50,000 residents with a newly established MPO. To date, the PRT has carried 62.7 million passengers mostly students and WVU staff, but visitors and the general public as well. This represents about 110m passengers-miles.

William L. Alden was the inventor of staRRcar, which was selected by West Virginia University and evolved into the Morgantown PRT.

CD of Presentations

• ALDEN-PERSPECTIVES: Memories of the origins and implementation of the Morgantown PRT from the Seminar's namesake, William L. Alden, founder of StaRRcar that was chosen by West Virginia University. Alden also gives thoughts to the future.
• AZIMUTH-VEHICLE CONTROLS: A programmer's look at the design, current status, and needed enhancements to the VCCS the Vehicle Communications & Control System, as designed by Boeing in the 1970s, by Joshua Day.
• CHAMP-AIRPORTS: A practioner's thoughts on proper O&M management practices and requirements, as told by John Champ who consults on O&M matters, mostly in airport. He sees PRT as the natural next step in APM developments.
• CLARENCE-O&M: Two somewhat cryptic presentations that overlap, dealing with the nitty gritty of operating and maintaining the Morgantown PRT and its downtimes, by Clarence of WVU.
• EQUIPMENT PICTURES: A series of pictures of components of the Morgantown PRT.
• FABIAN-CONTEXT: A brief history of the Morgantown PRT in its larger socio-political context, with an overview of today's APM implementations and suppliers by Lawrence J. Fabian of Trans.21.
• VEH&GUIDEWAY ELEMENTS: Information and pictures on the tires and other widgets that go into the PRT vehicles and the guideway heating system and the surface, columns and foundations, by Paul D. Harman of WVU.
• HENDERSHOT-OVERVIEW: Background information, performance statistics, and management philosophies of the Morgantown PRT, by Robert Hendershot of WVU.
• LEE-KOREA PROGRAM: Information on a 5-year, funded R&D program of the Korea Railroad Research Institute that includes both next generation urban transit and PRT, by Jun-Ho Lee of KRRI.
• YOUNG-KANSAS PROGRAM: Information on the Kansas DOT's ITS research program including PRT planning and architectural studies and current control research efforts, by Stanley E. Young of KDOT.

Web sites about Morgantown PRT

Images from the conference