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Questions and Answers

Questions about the design competition

Q: Do the submitted designs have to be in an historic style?
  • No, the designs may be in any style which the designer feels is appropriate. Making the designs blend in with the 18th-century surroundings is certainly one option, but it is also possible for more contemporary design aesthetics to successfully integrate with the built environment. There are many examples of high-quality modern designs working well in Bath.
Q: Does my design have to use the exact ULTra PRT route shown here, or can I make alterations?
  • The exact positioning of the hypothetical ULTra PRT route is certainly not fixed; it is more intended as a guide which demonstrates how the nine stations on the inner loop can be connected. Minor alterations to this route are therefore perfectly acceptable and are indeed welcomed if they allow your design to fit more effectively into the surrounding environment (provided of course that the alterations do not affect the connectivity of the network - the route must still form a loop).
Q: What kind of support will participants receive?
  • We understand that ULTra is a new and unfamiliar technology, while Bath is a challenging environment which out-of-town designers may have difficulty coming to grasps with. Therefore, we are committed to providing ongoing support in our participant's forum. Participants may ask questions pertaining to any aspect of the project, and expect to receive detailed answers from ATS engineers and designers.
Q: Is it possible to enter the competition as a team?
  • Yes, team entries are permitted.
Q: What is the deadline for submitting my entry?
  • The deadline for submitting your entry is the 1st October 2009. Please register for the competition as early as possible, however, to ensure you are kept informed of any updates (such as new material being added to this site which may be of use in preparing your entry).

Questions about ULTra

Q: What is ULTra?
  • ULTra is a new type of transportation technology, which consists of small, lightweight, automatic electric vehicles running on slender, special-purpose guideways. ULTra provides on-demand, non-stop transportation in your own personal vehicle. For more about ULTra and its benefits, go here.
Q: How many people can ULTra carry?
  • An ULTra vehicle can carry up to 4-6 passengers at once. An ULTra vehicle is more like a taxi than a bus or train.
Q: Is ULTra a monorail?
  • No, it is not a monorail. Monorails use large vehicles, travelling on large guideways, carrying large groups of people along pre-determined routes at pre-scheduled times, with many stops along the way. ULTra uses small vehicles, travelling on small guideways, carrying individuals or small groups, along user-determined routes, on demand, with no intermediate stops. Thus ULTra is almost exactly unlike a monorail.
Q: Is ULTra built on a track or a guideway?
  • Yes. For reasons of both speed and safety, ULTra vehicles are never allowed to mix with pedestrians or other traffic. The guideway is very minimal, however, and may be elevated, on the ground, or below ground. The guideway is very customisable, and part of the purpose of the Bath study is to figure out how it can best be adapted to a historic urban environment like bath. You can find more details about the guideway design here.
Q: Will it be elevated?
  • At times. In the hypothetical Bath network, there are places where it is elevated, and other places where it is at ground level, below ground, and possibly even inside buildings.
Q: Do the pods have drivers?
  • No, ULTra pods are entirely automated. They can do this safely because they operate on an exclusive guideway, in a completely controlled environment. However, whilst the pods are guided entirely by computers, the network as a whole is monitored at all times by control room staff.
Q: What about safety?
  • Every vehicle is equipped with a "help" button which can instantly put the rider in audio and visual contact with a network operator, who will be equipped to deal with any emergency. If necessary, the operators can redirect a vehicle to a different station, or to waiting security personnel. In this way, the personal safety of the riders can be assured. Additionally, all elements of the system — vehicles, guideway, and stations — are covered by CCTV.
Q: How much does ULTra cost?
  • The cost can depend on many different factors, although a range of £5M - £10M per mile is typical. In a place where any tunneling or extensive customisation is required — which is very likely the case in Bath — then the costs will be higher. The estimated cost of the hypothetical Bath network has not yet be calculated, but will be done by the time our study is completed, in 2010.
Q: Where can I see ULTra?
  • The first commercial ULTra system has been built at Heathrow airport, and is currently undergoing testing. It will open to the public in the autumn of 2009. You can read more about it here.
Q: How is ULTra powered?
  • ULTra vehicles are 100% electrically powered, using batteries that are recharged whenever the vehicle is parked at a station.
Q: Whats speed does it travel at?
  • The maximum speed is 40 kph (25 mph). This may not seem very fast, but it is important to remember that this is non-stop: once an ULTra pod departs its station of origin, it does not stop again until it reaches its destination. In congested urban areas, this makes ULTra considerably faster than private cars, and much faster than trains or buses, except for express services with few intermediate stops.
Q: Is ULTra environmentally friendly?
  • We believe that ULTra is the most environmentally friendly form of transit ever invented. It uses approximately 1,000 BTUs per passenger-mile, which makes it 50% more energy-efficient than buses or trains, and 70% more energy-efficient than private cars.
Q: How noisy is ULTra?
  • It is very, very, very quiet. The noise has been compared to that of a bicycle with a well-oiled chain. From a few meters away, it is effectively inaudible.
Q: How wide does the route need to be?
  • Approximately 2.1m (7 feet) wide, including the outer kerbs. This is approximately 30% narrower than a typical road lane. you can read more about the guideway infrastructure here.

Questions about ULTra in Bath

Q: Is an ULTra system going to be built in Bath?
  • No, there are currently no plans to build an ULTra system in Bath. The study we are conducting is purely hypothetical, for the purpose of assessing the general applicability of ULTra in historic urban environments. Any initiative to pursue the actual development of an ULTra system in Bath would be a separate process, taking place at a later date, and is presently not under consideration.
Q: Who will pay for any system?
  • Keeping in mind that any system is purely hypothetical at this point, such a system would presumably be paid for by a mix of public and private funds. Unlike many transit systems, ULTra can be expected to operate at a profit, making it attractive for certain types of private investment. Working out the business case for doing this is an ongoing element of our study.
Q: Will it need planning approval?
  • Absolutely. Before any ULTra system could be built in Bath, it would need extensive planning review and approval. Because the current study is purely hypothetical, and will not result in a built system, no such approval is necessary, although we will still be conducting a public feedback and review process.
Q: Why isn't this being used on the Bath Package?
  • The Bath Package Bus Rapid Transit system is designed to rapidly bring people from park and rides outside of town into the city centre. ULTra is designed to be a local-area circulator, primarily used for shorter trips. It could complement the BRT system by expanding the effective service area of each BRT station, but is not designed to replace the currently-planned Bath Package system.
Q: How many car trips would it save?
  • We don't know yet, but an important part of our study is to find out. In numerous studies of other cities, PRT networks have been estimated to decrease car trips by 10% to 30% or more, with an average decrease of 15%.
Q: What would the route be?
  • Keeping in mind that this is totally hypothetical, and that no ULTra PRT network is currently planned to be built, we have defined a route for an initial pilot system, which you can view here. Although the further phases of network development would hypothetically extend throughout the rest of the city, we will not be examining those routes in great detail.
Q: Where would the stations be?
  • With the standard disclaimer that this is totally hypothetical: we have identified nine locations for stations in the city centre, which you can see here. Elsewhere, we would generally attempt to have a station within about 300 meters of most points in the city.
Q: Will ULTra run on existing roads? What happens to the other traffic?
  • No, ULTra would never run along existing roads, and would not displace any traffic. It would always run above, below, or alongside existing roads.
Q: Who would be responsible for the system and its maintenance?
Q: Would there be any benefits for cyclists?
  • Definitely. ULTra vehicles are spatious enough to care bicycles on-board, greatly extending the range of possible cycling activities (such as riding ULTra up a hill and cycling back down, or cycling out in the sunshine, and riding ULTra back in the rain). Additionally, it may be desireable in places to build elevated ULTra guideways directly above cycling paths, providing a semi-sheltered environment for cyclists.
Q: Wouldn't you have to put the system in a tunnel?
  • Yes, in places. The hypothetical Bath network pilot system includes a section of tunnel running from Cattle Market Car Park, beneath George Street, to the Charlotte Street car park. More extensive underground routing is difficult due to the number of basements in Bath & the local hydrology. Tunneling is in general more expensive than using elevated guideway, and these additional factors would make the difference in cost considerable.
Q: How would all this link up with the park-and-rides?
 Q: Would there be links to the hospital and university?
  • Yes, in the extended hypothetical Bath network, Royal United Hospital and the University of Bath would form the furthest extents of the system. Travel time between the two sites would be approximately 15 minutes, and each campus could have multiple stations within.
Q: Would parking be lost as a result?
  • Keeping in mind that this is completely hypothetical, yes it would be possible that some parking might be lost. Car parks (particularly in the city centre) are often very attractive locations for ULTra stations, which might displace some parking as a result. In theory, this would be much more than offset by the people choosing to take ULTra into the city centre, rather than drive. As a simplistic analysis: if ULTra reduced the number of parking spaces in the city centre by 1%, but also reduced the number of cars in the city centre by 15%, then parking would actually become about 14% easier to find.
Q: Wouldn't this undermine existing bus services?
  • The hypothetical ULTra network for Bath is specifically designed to completment the Bath Package bus service; part of our study will be to find how significant that is. In previous studies in other cities, ATS has found that ULTra would increase the ridership of all public transit modes, including city buses. The reason is simple: ULTra makes it much easier to leave your car at home, but it can't go everywhere. By increasing the total number of non-automotive trips, ULTra naturally increases the viability of transit services across the board, including buses.

    A large part of our Bath study involves simulating and studying this effect, and how it would specifically work in Bath. Those studies are ongoing, and will not be complete until 2010. An extremely preliminary analysis, however, suggests that ULTra might displace some bus services in the city centre, while simultaneously increasing the ridership, service frequency, and economic viability of bus services elsewhere in the city.
Q: I'm worried about the potential loss of trade if the route is outside my business. Would I be compensated?
  • Please keep in mind that this is a hypothetical study only, and that there are absolutely no tangible plans to build an ULTra PRT system in Bath at this time. That said, there are several issues which this question raises:
  1. Concerns about mitigation are definitely something which need to be factored into our study, so if this is an issue you feel strongly about, we encourage you to tell us about it on our contact form, and to participate in future public forums that we will be conducting.
  2. The chances of a route being immediately outside your business are lower than you probably think. ULTra guideways are extremely small and flexible, and can fit into some surprisingly obscure places, for the purposes of minimizing the disruption to the surrounding environment. Part of our study is finding the best ways to do this in Bath.
  3. The guideway is extremely easy and fast to install; for the system we built at Heathrow, the longest road closure during construction was 4 hours, overnight. Also, no in-ground utilities had to be relocated anywhere along the route. So in most cases, it is very unlikely that there would be construction-related disruptions to businesses.
  4. Another major element of the study is determining the most attractive, aesthetically and environmentally appropriate appearance for the infrastructure and vehicles. The hope is that a visually attractive, completely silent transport system would not have any negative impact the surrounding homes or businesses, whereas the positive impacts (increased convenience, additional customers) would be expected to be numerous.
  5. If any negative impacts did occur, then the questions of mitigations would certainly arise, as a matter of discussion between the city authorities, the PRT provider, and the impacted property owners. Now is not the time to actually have that discussion for real, as no PRT system is currently being planned. However, we encourage you register these concerns with us, because this is a very important part of our study.
Q: What about the impacts on my home?
  • Please see the answer to the above question, which addresses this question as well.
Q: I love / hate / feel rather conflicted about the idea of an ULTra PRT network in Bath.
  • That's great! In that case, we want to hear from you. The most important aspect of our study is assessing the preferences of the Bath citizenry; if you have a strong opinion of what we're doing, then we want to hear about it.