October 24th is an anniversary that doesn’t get a lot of airplay, but it probably should in a time hungry for alternative and sustainable transportation options. The first phase of the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system at West Virginia University was dedicated on October 24, 1972.
Also known as a pod car system, the PRT in Morgantown now consists of 71 vehicles that resemble small buses or large vans, whichever you like. The cars are designed for 20 passengers, including 12 standing, although at the annual PRT Cram in 2000, ninety-seven passengers more than filled a single car for the record. Holders of West Virginia University ID cards ride free and the general public pay just 50 cents per ride.
The system is designed to operate in circulation, demand, or schedule mode. During low-demand periods, the system operates in circulation mode, where fewer vehicles stop at every station in succession. During peak hours, schedule mode operates the pods based on historic demand along specific routes.
Demand mode is used during off-peak hours; here, the cars are called by riders. After pressing the button to call a car, a timer starts. After a time, a vehicle is dispatched by the system to pick up the passenger if no vehicles have satisfied the request. If the number of passenger requests for the same destination exceeds a predetermined limit, a car is immediately sent by the system – the ultimate in personal rapid transit.
Growth of the University in the 1960s first caused the need for a second campus center about two miles away, then busing between the campus, which exacerbated congestion as all roads went through the center of the city. At the same time, interest was developing in the area of PRTs, the United States Department of Transportation (which only became operational in 1967) was being pressured by Senator Robert Byrd, and none other than President Nixon was strongly in support of developing the concept. Many were sure PRT systems would be a tool against congestion in urban areas of the future. In truth, it was the last one we built in this country.
Why we didn’t build more can be debated, but at least one element was that the cost of the pilot project in Morgantown was viewed as far too high. The $62 million cost for Phase 1 was more than four times the initial estimate and Phase II (1978-1979) cost another $64 million. In fairness, political deadlines required additional costs and overlapping of construction and design at a time when we hadn’t quite perfected design-build. For example, design of the Phase 1 guideways assumed the weight of the cars would be equivalent to railroad locomotives, because the design of the cars themselves was not yet known. The Phase II guideways are noticeably less robust and yet, they function just fine.
The system today has 8.65 miles of guideway supporting five stations and a maintenance and operations center. Depending upon how you do the math, the system claims a nearly 98% reliability – however, students are known during the most intense times of the semester to blame PRT delays or shutdowns for a host of shortcomings.
So was the PRT ahead of its time or just a stepping-stone to more effective public transit systems? That is a debated topic and is often a focus in university transportation classes. Regardless, the Morgantown PRT system is an icon that makes the Mountaineers unique and, if nothing else, nostalgia (and capital funding assistance from the Federal Transit Administration) is likely to keep those little blue and yellow fiberglass boxes running around the guideways for years to come.
Try these video resources to learn more and get a sense of what the PRT is all about:
- Pod Cars of the Past and Future: The Morgantown PRT
- Creation of the WVU PRT, Part 1
- Creation of the WVU PRT, Part 2
- A Ride of the Future, 1977
- Riding the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) in Morgantown WV. 2018
- Station Activity
- PRT Cram 2013
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