{"id":251,"date":"2020-09-04T12:27:08","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T19:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/?page_id=251"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:59:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:59:05","slug":"technology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The technology used in the Milpitas PRT project was developed over decades by scores of people working to create a system that satisfies a list of performance criteria. While the design is detailed in the<a href=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/Business_Plan_2019.pdf\">ITNS Business Plan<\/a>, most people are satisfied learning about the high-level aspects of PRT capacity, cost and hardware.<\/p>\n<p>Find a clear overview of public transit metrics and trends of service provided\/consumed in the United States at<a href=\"https:\/\/www.transit.dot.gov\/ntd\/national-transit-summaries-and-trends-ntst\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Transit Summaries and Trends<\/a>(NTST).<\/p>\n<h2>Self-Conflicted Public Transit<\/h2>\n<p>Considered how self-conflicted conventional public transit is. It keeps getting in its own way.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adding stations to increase access adds stops, which slows down service\u2022 Increasing capacity with larger vehicles requires bigger, more expensive infrastructure<\/li>\n<li>Bigger infrastructure is best laid out along large corridors<\/li>\n<li>Passengers must first get to the corridor, then await and ride the next vehicle, then get to their ultimate destination\u2022 Adding a new line adds a transfer. Passengers hate waiting during transfers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Automated transit networks (ATN) avoid these conflicts in the following ways.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Move all stations onto sidings, so through traffic bypasses them at speed.<\/li>\n<li>Use many small vehicles traveling close together (like cars, not widely-spaced buses). Smaller vehicles require smaller infrastructure that costs less and fits into more places<\/li>\n<li>Use smaller infrastructure: small, interconnected one-way loops spread throughout the community \u2013 not just along corridors.<\/li>\n<li>Reduce stops: Small vehicles on small loops travel from origin to destination with little or no intermediate stopping. Small loops minimize out-of-the-way travel.<\/li>\n<li>Create a network of interconnected loops. They can be infinitely expanded with no need for transfers.<\/ul>\n<p>ATN does not suffer from self-conflicts and can thus provide quick, reliable service throughout the community with good capacity and low cost.<\/p>\n<h2>Capacity<\/h2>\n<p>Due to experiences with mass transit systems, some people question the ability of PRT&#8217;s small vehicles to move significant numbers of people. They overlook our dominant transportation option, the automobile, that uses small vehicles to transport most of us most of the time. So, a better question is: Can PRT deliver satisfactory service using a few guideways spaced roughly 1\/2 mile apart?<a href=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/technology\/capacity\/\">Click here<\/a>to see how a single guideway can transport as many people as multiple lanes of freeway.<\/p>\n<h2>Cost<\/h2>\n<p>Mass transit systems have also conditioned people to expect high price tags for building and operating public transit infrastructure. People familiar with the cost of building at-grade Light Rail Transit (LRT) and BART ($60M\/mile and $230M\/mile respectively) would naturally question the $30M\/mile cost of elevated PRT guideways. Likewise, the goal of providing free service is also questioned.<a href=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/technology\/cost\/\">Click here<\/a>to learn why PRT is relatively inexpensive to build and operate.<\/p>\n<h2>Hardware<\/h2>\n<p>Engineers and gadgeteers are likely more interested in the hardware aspects of the PRT system proposed for Milpitas.<a href=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/technology\/hardware\/\">Click here<\/a>to get those details.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c\u2026 changing your mind is one of the best ways of finding out whether or not you still have one.\u201d \u2015  Taylor Mali<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/stations-and-guideway.png\" alt=\"stations-and-guideway\" data-maxdpr=\"1.7\"><\/p>\n<h2>Videos that Introduce PRT Concepts<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/iY4O_n4gFzQ\" target=\"_blank\">3-minute YouTube video introduction to PRT system<\/a> (or <a href=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/Microsoft-campus.wmv\" target=\"_blank\">a version that&#8217;s not on YouTube<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UPT7Emc_0-E\" target=\"_blank\">2-minute review of ATN Systems 1975 to 2023<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121028072514\/http:\/\/personalrapidtransit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Deeper introduction to PRT technology<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zn5N_UYe5kU\" target=\"_blank\">5-minute look at the existing Heathrow Airport (ULTra) PRT system<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.modutram.com\/eng\/\" target=\"_blank\">3-minute overview of Autotren (Modutram) PRT system being developed in Mexico<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VljtS7Po2Io\" target=\"_blank\">15-minute video of Santa Cruz PRT plans and existing systems worldwide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fEgboXXflwo\" target=\"_blank\">17-minute video of 1970&#8217;s PRT-like system at Morgantown, West Virginia<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rtrB82YObXw\" target=\"_blank\">Bubbles &amp; Beams &#8211; 4-minute vision of a possible future traffic system, that makes it easy for anyone to travel.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xCEGfxXuT5g\" target=\"_blank\">Glydways &#8211; Always Moving (30 seconds)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U5HY4O0Jo7w\" target=\"_blank\">4-minute tourist experience of the Skycube at Suncheon Bay!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2022\/05\/19\/swyft-cities-is-the-winner-of-the-techcrunch-mobility-2022-pitch-off\/\" target=\"_blank\">10-minute intro to Google spin-off Swyft Cities PRT project.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vIXrskCpBlE&amp;t=2272s\" target=\"_blank\">30-minute Glydways presentation to Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (March 7, 2024)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The technology used in the Milpitas PRT project was developed over decades by scores of people working to create a system that satisfies a list of performance criteria. While the design is detailed in theITNS Business Plan, most people are satisfied learning about the high-level aspects of PRT capacity, cost and hardware. Find a clear <a href=\"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/technology\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Technology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-251","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2991,"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/251\/revisions\/2991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milpitasprt.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}