Are Heathrow & Masdar PRT Projects Really PRT?

Back in 2003, J. Edward Anderson made the following boast:

“This is disruptive technology,” said Edward Anderson, standing beside a red, egg-shaped PRT prototype in the Taxi 2000 Corporation shop in Fridley.

Well, looking around Minneapolis I don't see thousands of pods on a network of iron trestles. After all those years the pod people don't have one... not one... true PRT system in revenue service anywhere in the world.

After years of outrageous hype about PRT being "faster, better, cheaper" than conventional transit, the pod people have nothing to show except the much-postponed Heathrow project (rumored to debut "soon after Christmas") and the scaled-back Masdar project.

PRT Guru announces the grand opening of a PRT "system":

On Sunday, November 28th, the Masdar PRT system opened to the public. To quote Larry Fabian, 2getthere, the manufacturer, got there. 2getthere operates the system with the support of Singapore Mass Rapid Transit. Masdar City is a new carbon-free city being developed adjacent to Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

The system has 10 passenger and 3 freight vehicles serving 2 passenger and 3 freight stations connected by approximately one mile of track. The system is in operation 18 hours a day, seven days a week serving the Masdar Institute of Technology. Trips take about 2 and a half minutes and are presently free of charge. Average wait times are expected to be about 30 seconds.

Can Masdar really be called a system with only two at-grade-level stations and runs a short distance in a basement? Isn't PRT supposed to be elevated? How can they say that PRT can pay for itself when trips are "free of charge"? One mile of track? who is going to bother with the pods in the basement when they can walk that distance easier and faster?

And how are the snail-paced, battery-operated, automated vehicles at Heathrow and Masdar any different than the vehicle in the video below?:


See also:

Masdar and Heathrow PRT Still Not Happening.

The Pawlenty administration wasted at least $150,000 on personal rapid transit .

PRT Conference Newsletter & Website Features PRT Plan by Convicted Felon.

PRT is so not happening at Heathrow.

Daventry says "Pods Off!".

Video: Bill James Pitches Jpods Resolution to Hennepin County.

Federal Funding Nixed for Winona Personal Rapid Transit Project

Minnesota legislators tell pod people not to expect funding from the state at dismal MnDOT "workshop".

Taxi 2000 lobbyist and Bachmann pal Ed Cain also lobbied for the phony U.S. Navy Veterans Association charity.

ULTra PRT Heathrow Debut Postponed a Fourth Time.

No $25 million earmark for PRT pork project in Winona, Minnesota.

The Swedish/Korean PRT prototype malfunctioned recently in front of the media.