India’s first pod taxi network

•  Indian government is all set to begin work on India's first pod taxi service in Gurgaon by this month-end.
• The first phase will include a pilot project covering 13-km stretch from Gurgaon-Delhi border to Badshapur Mod with 16 stations.
• The Transport ministry has earmarked Rs850 crore for the pilot project. The ropeway-like system runs on electricity and driverless pods and comes down at designated stations, thus removing the traffic burden from already congested roads.
• The capital cost of metrino is Rs50 crore per km against Rs250 crore per km of the metro.

About Personal rapid transit:

• Personal rapid transit (PRT), also known as pod cars or pod taxis, is a public transport system developed for travelling swiftly in congested areas.
• They operate much like the traditional rail and streetcar network and are built above busy roads and highways.
• They are automated driverless vehicles and can carry four to six people in at a time.
• Pod-taxis are futuristic transport concept which is environment-friendly and can be run on solar power and other renewal power, bringing down pollution in densely populated areas. According to one estimate, a solar powered pod-taxi could cost one-tenth of an ordinary running car.
• The first pod-taxis were run at West Virginia University (WVU) in the 1970s.
• The other cities where pod-taxis are currently operating are Masdar City, Abu Dhabi running on CyberCab system known as METRINO and London's Heathrow airport. It covers a distance of 3.8 kilometres operational since 2011. The average speed of pods is 60 km per hour.
• There are numerous PRT systems that were proposed, but they didn’t get implemented. In India, around six states are looking to add pod taxis in some big cities to decongest traffic

By: Vishal