This Bizarre West Virginia Transit Was Supposed to Be The Future

Morgantown, West Virginia is home to one of America's most bizarre forms of transit: the Personal Rapid Transit, or PRT, a grade-separated transit system with individual pod cars that will take you directly to the station of your choice. When it was built as an experimental prototype in the 1970s, it was expected to be the future. Today, it's the only one of its kind in the USA, and one of only a small handful worldwide. Why didn't it take off? Let's ride it and find out.
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/classywhale?f...
Classy Whale - at-least-weekly misadventures with trains and transit!

[@ClassyWhale]

Corrections: This video was shot at West Virginia University, not the University of West Virginia, which doesn't exist, and HSC is the northernmost station, not the southernmost.

[@drewk1514]

Morgantown is landlocked and the PRT has been a tremendous asset to the university community. Traffic was an absolute nightmare last year (even worse than usual) when the PRT was down for repairs and WVU had to utilize shuttle buses to transport people between different points. Know that WVU has several separate campuses (downtown, Evansdale, Health Sciences, Law) which had to be built away from the landlocked main campus downtown as the school expanded. The system was "overbuilt" because the original plan was to allow for expansion to other parts of the city, not just between campuses. The PRT has been described as a "horizontal elevator" and is really quite efficient.

[@joshbritton2364]

Thanks, Drew K, for this added detail. Interesting variance between original intent and final outcome.

[@brandonveltri2825]

No it’s not, at least while I was there. Maybe it’s gotten better recently but when I was there, cars would break down frequently and I even heard one person talk about their experience getting stuck in one for 2 hours

[@ianfrederick723]

5:40 As a WVU student, this car is used for an event we have at Mountaineer Week called the PRT cram. It is a modified car and students compete to see how many people can fit in a PRT car. The record was set at 97.

[@ianfrederick723]

Additionally, while it is efficient, it is sometimes unreliable. When not in service, they use busses.

[@ClassyWhale]

97?! HOW???

[@ianfrederick723]

@@ClassyWhale From what I have been told, the Chi Omega sorority holds the record and they stacked everyone like pancakes in the car

[@ClassyWhale]

@@ianfrederick723 was anyone injured???

[@ianfrederick723]

@@ClassyWhale Not that I’m aware of, but since then they changed the rules for the PRT cram

[@gregkocher5352]

I was a student when the PRT was first being used. There were plenty of shakedown issues, breakdowns, etc. Aside from any issues a transit system is very much needed. It was recognized from the start that it would also provide engineering studies for future transit systems in our country.

[@davidburrow5895]

I've been past Morgantown on the freeway numerous times while heading from the Midwest to D.C. I've always wanted to see the PRT, but I never made the time to do it. Thanks for letting me explore it vicariously through your video.

[@craigmiller332]

The prt is magnificent. It should be extended in the median strips of I-68 and I-79, and eventually on ALL Interstate highways. Imagine taking a prt across the Rockies. It would be glorious.

[@gnnascarfan2410]

High Speed Rail or a night train are way better and pleasant.

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

I feel like the main advantage of something like this is the fact it is DIRECT transport with no intermediate stops. Yes, this adds complexity, but in congested areas, it makes the most sense. In a way, I feel like this was technology ahead of its time, and for better or worse, were so used to how things are. I could see this working for large airports with multiple terminals and multiple people going to various terminals.

[@ClassyWhale]

Well - large airports use spacious, roomy people movers with multiple stops, and they get people from place to place quite quickly

[@akivaplutno]

I think the express stops would make more sense if this was 10 stations long or covered more of the town

[@williamerazo3921]

Heathrow has one from the rental lots to the terminal

[@wclark3196]

I think that's a driver's mentality there. The horror of having stops along the way!

[@gnnascarfan2410]

It doesn't make sense. Imagine how many pods you would have to build for the New York City subway. Thank goodness plans to expand PRT never went into major cities. PRT is a niche system for a niche problem. Light rail and trains are far more efficient and cheaper.

[@ARod4374]

This is really cool and is probably best gadgetbahn, but I'd argue that longer term you could build automated light metro (think Vancouver Skytrain) infrastructure at about the same cost as this, and wind up with like 100x the capacity.

[@donaldfedosiuk1638]

Rode this a long time ago while visiting a wonderful friend who was on the WVU faculty at the time. While there, I also watched her using something called the DARPA Net -- funny how both things worked out!

[@ClassyWhale]

Well I guess one technology made it out of Morgantown...

[@LouisOnAir]

I reckon this concept would be more useful if the stations weren't all along a single line, that way never needing to change trains becomes much more valuable.

[@cedricye1767]

PRT vs. Generic Rail is a very interesting debate... I would support generic rail because the better frequencies would probably cancel the time savings. Hey, at least Morgantown didn't try to fix the traffic with *"Just one more lane bro"* Great content as always! ...And DID SOMEONE SAY MOROCCO???

[@lellius]

Considering this is essentially a prototype system with only 5 stations and a maximum of 3 stops that can be bypassed it doesn't really seem like it saves that much time, but just imagine the possibilities with a much larger system with dozens of stations providing every passenger with nonstop service. Not only would it be faster than driving, but more people might actually ride it.

[@chrispontani6059]

I didn’t realize the PRT was five linear stops and you were just bypassing stops. I thought some stops were on different branch lines, which would make sense with a personal transport system. Like imagine if PATH was a personal system with a shit ton of vehicles. But the extra engineering and complexity doesn’t justify the cost. Make it automated all stops and more frequent.

[@BitmappedWV]

A branch to WVU's Coliseum was planned and there is a stub of an interchange for it, but it was never built.

[@hi55us2]

Great video! I remember taking a bus road trip to WVU back in 2011 for a basketball game and was so disappointed that we couldn't ride it. It was so futuristic looking, wish more places would consider it especially since it's much greener than buses.

[@ClassyWhale]

well except their buses are literally painted green haha

[@BitmappedWV]

A majority of the PRT's usage is on the section between Towers (dorms) and Beechurst (downtown campus). Each of these stations has a second dedicated platform that just goes to the other station during peak times. If you ran the PRT in all stations mode all the time, without the ability to turn around at stations, you would need a lot more vehicles running over the entire length of the system just to provide adequate capacity between Towers and Beechurst.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

Thank you for making such great transit related content. :]

[@johnchambers8528]

Thanks for showing the system and how it works. It seems to do a good job for where it is located. I was surprised at your comment complaining about having to wait five minutes for your pod to leave the station hoping for more passengers. On any other transit system a five minute wait for service would be considered great service. While this system would not work in many cities it would do a good job acting as a feeder system to a larger line between smaller towns and a larger city. About the only other system that I rode that while not the same was in Miami where their metro system connects with a smaller unmanned local system that servers various stations in the downtown area away from the main metro line.

[@willbygosh4887]

WVU actually has around 30,000 students not 20,000 .

[@hanslehmann2124]

I rode those a lot when I was a student there in the late 70's, though back then the Engineering Station was the end of the line when going north. Breakdowns were frequent which required having buses & drivers on standby so that we could get from one campus to the other between classes. The saddest incidents were when dogs or deer got on to the track. The PRT cars, having no drivers, would just mow them down.

[@kcindc5539]

I went to WVU in the 1980’s, and the PRT made getting between the campuses really easy. And they were fun in their quirky little way. FYI Walnut is the south end and HSC is the north end.

[@MrJamieBattle]

My alma mater, Old Dominion University was building a maglev in the early 2000s. The structure was built but was never opened to the public. It would have been the first maglev this side of the planet.

[@ClassyWhale]

Yoooo this is going to be a video

[@ClassyWhale]

If you're comfortable, email me everything you know (see my about page for the address)

[@MrJamieBattle]

@@ClassyWhale I’d be so honored. I wouldn’t mind a collab too because I’m from the Norfolk area.

[@sistayiddishkeitofficial5833]

I only found out about the PRT system a few minutes ago from seeing videos of Heathrow Airport's PRT service. Yet this technology has been around for almost 50 years? Why does every multi-acre institution in the world use this service? If you work at a large university or hospital, your students and visitors need this! Especially if they are disabled!

[@coolwoof2700]

Amazing video classy whale and keep up the awesome work with the videos

[@irtbmtind89]

I wonder if Morgantown is the smallest city in the world with a rapid transit system? I can't think of anything smaller (maybe small towns in Germany served by a larger regional S-Bahn or light rail system, if that counts).

[@MilesinTransit]

I agree that it's overengineered. When I rode it in 2018, it was only running in all stops mode for some reason, and the dwells were SO LONG! Not to mention that the trains can sense if they have too many people (about 15) on them and refuse to move. It just feels a lot lower capacity than a light rail or metro system would be.

[@BitmappedWV]

The PRT tends to run in all stations mode during lower traffic times like on weekends and evenings. It's cheaper to operate in that mode since fewer cars needs to be running.

[@gondolagripes1674]

@@BitmappedWV that's not true, the system was running to all stations during their cutover from the legacy transportation system to CBTC based system in 2018 and the only working mode was the schedule mode at the time.

[@BitmappedWV]

​@@gondolagripes1674 I've been at WVU for nearly 20 years. The system has long run in all stations circulator mode for off-peak periods. This wasn't just a temporary thing for the system upgrade.

[@gondolagripes1674]

@@BitmappedWV there are 5 modes. Closed, maintenance, normal, circulation, and freewheel. Normal requires a card swipe or payment, circulation allows destination selection but no swipe, and freewheel which requires no selection or card swipe. Closed and maintenance do not allow entry counters. The vehicles cannot operate like a normal metro with multiple stops, they can only have one destination. Sometimes the mode is changed for football to circulation to allow free public ridership or outside of the school year. There is also a UTO mode which allows operators to remotely control a vehicle to control its destination, but that will close the destination channel for departure once it has reached that gate.

[@craigmiller332]

@@gondolagripes1674 It would be good if they had a "fake stop" modes, where the pod could slow down like it's going to stop then mash the accelerator and sail through the station.

[@jacktandem860]

As a WVU Alumni I had to stop watching once you couldn't be bother to learn the name of the University .

[@pineyforkpress]

Ha! Right!

[@Brianrockrailfan]

great video 😮

[@bertspeggly4428]

Nice video, thanks. An ingenious system that fits well in a university setting.

[@joseflavallee8577]

They have tried to expand this system but have had no luck in finding anyone interested in building or supplying cars.

[@BitmappedWV]

The next phase of planned PRT upgrades is new cars. It's more an issue of money to pay for an extension than finding someone willing to do it.

[@car_tar3882]

i think a system like this would make a ton of sense for a place like walt disney world where there are times nobody would be making a trip for a while and some times many people would make a trip.

[@phillyguy8541]

A video on how it works would be interesting.

[@ClassyWhale]

Tom Scott has one!

[@paullehr9236]

I never knew this existed. Interesting concept. Thanks.

[@danielueblacker9118]

Well done, well explained.

[@jenniferwang3489]

We're planning to move to Morgantown in a few months. I'm excited to take my 2 little boys on PRT becasue I think they would love it!

[@djpetesake]

That's really cool, reminds me of an amusement park ride

[@triadrailfanproductions]

This is dope!

[@NATO4623]

Morgantown is a very unique city

[@tjejojyj]

“Personal Rapid Transit” is a misnomer but was common when this system was planned and developed in the late 1960s. It is really “Group Rapid Transit” AFAIK it was the first regular service driverless public transport system in the world, beating the PortLiner in Kobe Japan by 10 years. The system would have been a lot cheaper to build if more consideration had been given in the planning phase. They should have used an evolution of the Morgantown technology in Detroit, Jacksonville and Miami for the next autonomous “transit” systems built in the US but instead they had three different designs. If you can do a comparison video on the crisis of the Chicago O’Hare people mover upgrade. Millions of dollars and years late it is still not open. It’s not exactly clear why. More poor planning probably given the basic technology is now mature.

[@archimedesxxicentury]

🧐 The infrastructure project "The bee honeycomb model of the conglomerates" solves the problem.🐝 Archimedes XXI century 😇.

[@charleskosyjana1295]

Just a footnote about the PRT system. Although WVU and also Boeing publicly deny this, it's urban legend that in the first few years after the PRT opened, that University interns assigned to the system began hacking the not so sophisticated computer. Late at night close to the shut down of the system they would have the cars running the entire track and not stopping or just have a car pull up, open the door and once people got inside simply not move anywhere after locking them inside. In at least one instance, the interns purposely made the cars do head on collisions. They also disabled the emergency call and auto shutoff systems. After a few years, they upgraded the computer and no longer let University students be interns. This was told to me by multiple people who attended WVU in the late 1970's

[@johnsmart964]

Thank you very much for for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation. The principal of the idea seems a good one but the practicality thereof is not so good. Better to have a train that can take a large quantity of people at once and just stop at all stops. Rubber tyres on a road surface is also less efficient than metal wheels on metal rails and of course trains can be fully automated with no staff on board. These are magnificent video presentations you provide and are much appreciated by the people.

[@BitmappedWV]

The PRT track has sections with 10% grades, so while metal wheels might be more efficient in general you would be pushing the bounds of what's feasible for adhesion for rail in this application. Also, regarding automation, keep in mind the PRT was built in the early 1970s.

[@gregodessite]

Is there any protection against obstacles, which accidentally fall on tracks?

[@interstellarphred]

Another gimmickbahan to make the EL sexy and futuristic; heaven forbid we use lower friction 100% recyclable steel wheels.

[@BitmappedWV]

When you have 10% grades on the track like the PRT does, low friction is not necessarily your friend.

[@williamerazo3921]

This is what the boring tunnels should have been but ELon

[@FalconsEye58094]

You did a terrific job with this one, super fascinating. seems like the hyperlopp before the hyperloop, maybe a couple of upgrades could make it revolutionary

[@CycloneCordVHS]

The fact that I live in this exact city lol

[@senorspahrtan]

I so want to ride this thing.

[@jamesjohnson-ny3jl]

I know the real reason they was build só fast. 2 college students was killed walking between campus. They fast track the money to build the system. It was built in the early to mid 1970s. It wasn't to be built until the early 1980s. People forget that this is at least 50 yrs old.

[@michaelkearney55]

I think the benefits of PRT would be much greater if the stations were spread out not in a line. Skipping stops with bypass tracks only saves you the dwell time. A set of express tracks directly from every station to every station would dramatically reduce travel time if destinations were arranged, say, in a star shape. Maybe WVU wasn't the best place to showcase the benefits of PRT.

[@shauntakata1762]

Is that real time? Or sped up?

[@brunhildevalkyrie]

was the tom scott red shirt intentional?

[@ClassyWhale]

no, actually!

[@elizabethdavis1696]

Please do a video on lisbons 100 year old trolley

[@ClassyWhale]

Can you fly me there?

[@elizabethdavis1696]

There are you tube videos

[@elizabethdavis1696]

You could hire a local to film it for you

[@elizabethdavis1696]

You can’t help but think about what might have been if we didn’t rip all our 100 year old tracks out

[@LifeOnCoach]

✌🏾

[@EmperorMaglev]

will you come to New york?

[@ClassyWhale]

City or state?

[@EmperorMaglev]

@@ClassyWhale new york city and Nassau and Westchester counties

[@TemujinMSM]

No the PRT is a brilliant and perfect system the problem is big oil wants to make money and buys politicians.

[@gondolagripes1674]

Hi classy, I work there. If there's anything you'd like to know, I can answer it.

[@NATO4623]

Hi

[@PhilipSalen]

Boondoggle!

[@StephenEdwards-xo3zz]

You haven't lived until.u zipped around on the PRT @ WVU after swilling beer

[@sugoianimester5789]

It's WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY not UNIVERSITY OF WEST VIRGINIA

[@ClassyWhale]

See the pinned corrections

[@sugoianimester5789]

​@@ClassyWhale still got a dislike from me

[@Touchybanana]

This thing is very weird.

[@wclark3196]

The focus on making every pod programmable is not something that would scale to use as a real urban transport system. The technology of running local and express trips on the same right of way (with bypasses at stations, I guess) could be useful for subways and LRT systems. It could allow for express trips during peak hours without incurring the capital cost of building extra tunnels and tracks. Still, I wonder if it could be made to work in practice, particularly with really tight headways. The setup on display in the video looks like a regular people mover would work just fine. So the question is "Can we think of a real-world circumstance where these capabilities would be a benefit?"

[@jeffg.8964]

Why are they wearing masks? It’s over.

[@ClassyWhale]

Singapore begs to differ