At the inaugural L'Enfant lecture on City Planning and Design of the American Planning Association Sir Peter Hall - Leading UK City Planner and author of the classic book "Cities and Civilisation" - said, in answer to a question:

“I think we may also in the future be looking to technological advances in public transportation to create new kinds of personal rapid transit. We had a big breakthrough announced only a week ago that a British system called, literally, PRT, Personal Rapid Transit, is going to be adapted for Heathrow Airport progressively over the next ten years … And if this is as successful as I think it will be, this could be a big breakthrough in developing new kinds of totally personalized rapid transit, which could transform our cities in ways that we can't yet see.”

At the CNU '05 conference, Peter Calthorpe, leading US "Smart Growth" advocate said,

“One of my pet peeves is that we've been dealing with 19th Century transit technology. We can do better than LRT. We can have ultra light elevated transit systems (personal rapid transit) with lightweight vehicles. Because the vehicles are lighter, the system will use less energy. I used to be a PRT sceptic, but now the technology is there. It won't be easy to develop PRT technology and get all the kinks out, but it is doable. If you think about what you'd want from the ideal transit technology, it's PRT: a) stations right where you are, within walking distance, b) no waiting.”

Thanks to Steve Raney www.cities21.org for this information.