Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Personal Rapid Transport - for the future

Dear Mr Tan,

I read your description of the personal rapid transport. Are there any examples of personal rapid transport that is successful in other countries?

MY REPLY:

From the examples quoted in Wikipedia, it seems that the closest to personal rapid transport is used in airports. London Heathrow is introducing this system soon.

The nearest example in Singapore is the sky train at Changi Airport. It is still a public transport, rather than a personal transport. However, it has some elements of the personal system. For example, the same train serves two sections of each terminal, i.e. before and after immigration.

If you take the train before immigration at one terminal, it brings you to the section before immigration in the other terminal. If you take it after immigration, it brings you to the section after immigration. Hence, the sky train is intelligent.

This intelligence can be incorporated in a future, large scale transport system. By entering the destination, the personal vehicle should be able to take you to the destination using the best route (avoiding congestion) and safely.

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