[Mpls] HF 1174 PRT - Is it Pie in the Sky

[Tim Bonham]

>I have yet to see three questions answered.
>
>1)  Who will be cleaning these vehicles between trips?  Do they really think
>that all passengers will leave them as clean as they found them?
>
>2)  If I should happen to leave my Neiman Marcus or Tiffany's shopping bag
>in my PRT vehicle when I reach my destination, where will the next rider
>leave it so I can easily get it back?
>
>3)  What is to prevent some thug from joining me for my ride?
>. . .
>Ray Marshall
>Minnehaha
         The answers seem pretty obvious, Ray, and I'm not an expert, only 
going on what I've read about PRT.

1. Each night, during slow times, the vehicles return to a transit 
facility, where a cleaning crew with vacuums, mops, etc. cleans them.  Just 
like the current MTC buses are cleaned in the garage each night.

2. The next rider (if honest) would use the intercom to communicate with 
the system operators, and inform them of lost property left in the 
vehicle.  After it delivers that rider to their destination, the operator 
override summons it to the main transit facility, where the property is 
taken out and put in a central lost-and-found office, for you to come by 
and pick it up.  Pretty much like what is done with lost property left on 
current MTC buses; it ends up in lost-and-found back at the garage.  (It 
might even be possible, with credit card payment systems, that the PRT 
operator could identify the rider who lost the property, and notify them, 
instead of just waiting for someone to come in and claim it.)

3. The suggested designs use turnstiles & gates to keep a ride private to 
you and your family/friends.  But if a thug did jump the turnstile and 
crowd into the vehicle with you, you could press the panic button in the 
vehicle, which would keep the vehicle stopped in the station with the doors 
open, would notify the transit police at headquarters, who could watch on 
the vehicle security camera and talk to you (& the thug) via the 
intercom.  They could also override the controls and send the car directly 
to the nearest police station.  I suppose the thug could still beat you up 
during this ride, but knowing that he was being videotaped & watched, and 
on the way to a police station would tend to inhibit this.  This seems as 
good, if not better, than current MTC buses, where any thug can get on and 
come sit down next to you.

Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson