Recorded 09/11/2021
Here is my part 1 of the WVU PRT system - a full ride from Walnut to the Health Sciences Center station. No cuts (except when waiting for the vehicle), and original audio, so you can enjoy a full experience like you're actually riding it.
This is a very interesting and unique transportation system. It is the first large-scale automated transit system in the U.S. Planning started in the late-60s; it began construction in 1972, and was built by Boeing Vertol, the former transit division of The Boeing Aerospace Co. There are 69 individual vehicles that travel the 8.65 mi. system with its five stations: Walnut, Beechurst, Engineering, Towers, and Medical (now HSC). Walnut and Beechurst are in Downtown, while Engineering, Towers, and HSC are on the Evansdale Campus. The 1st phase opened in 1975, and the 2nd in 1978. The 1st phase included the Walnut, Beechurst, and Engineering stations, while the 2nd included Towers and Medical. It was the only transit system of its kind in the world, up until around 2011 with the Heathrow Pod Cars. I think there are now a total of around 5 transit systems like this 1. But this is still the only 1 in the U.S.
It is a very useful transit system that is operated and mostly used by university personnel, and carries about 15,000 people/day. How you use it is kind of like a destination-dispatch elevator; a "destination-dispatch train." University personnel swipe their ID card and ride for free. Anyone without an ID can also ride for 50 cents/trip. Then you select your destination. Sometimes during peek hours, only certain stations at certain gates show-up. For example, when I was here, one side of Beechurst Platform "B" was for Engineering and Towers, while the other was for Walnut, and the entirety of Platform "A" was for HSC. When I was here, the system was free for everyone, and I was here good timing, as it was the last day they were doing that. But there was a football game going on, so the system was very crowded. It was pretty much impossible to get a vehicle to HSC to myself (that's where the stadium is), but at least rather than getting a vehicle with a bunch of drunk students, it was a dad and his 2 kids, who went to WVU and explained how he remembers the system being mostly the same and explaining how part of the tracks were designed to rust. Overall very interesting and informative.
However just like any other older transit system, it is aging. Reliability started to drop in the 2000s, and things started to break. A "renewal" plan was adopted in 2012, which has mostly replaced the vehicle control and propulsion systems, along with the turnstiles. There are plans to replace the vehicles at some point too.
Installed 1972-78, modernizations in 2014-19
LINKS:
Beechurst Platform "A" elevator: [ Ссылка ]
Walnut Station elevator: [ Ссылка ]
HSC elevator: [ Ссылка ]
PRT going from HSC to Walnut: [ Ссылка ]. .
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