Economic Feasibility of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Mode of Transport: A Case for Ahmedabad City, Gujarat

Rapid urbanization is inherited with the challenges to providing appropriate transportation facilities to cater to the demand of Indian cities. Looking at the current demand and inefficiency of the present public transport services, private modes hold the opportunity to cater to the service demand which further creates traffic congestion on limited road space. Most of the Indian metropolitan cities are facing certain challenges with severe traffic congestion and pollution. The present study focuses on the city of Ahmedabad: India’s first heritage city which is equipped with the existing infrastructure that includes the old heritage buildings, narrow streets, and congested housing plan in the city center that adds difficulty to continue with the traditional current transportation system such as Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS), Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), and other prospective transport systems to streamline the travel needs of the city. The requirement for the new mode of transport was established through the collected data set of BRTS, primary survey, and expert consultation. Indian cities are focusing on the concept of elevated transportation corridor or such system which runs above ground level; most of the time, attention is restricted to Metro. Personal rapid transit (PRT) is such a type of transportation mode which addresses the challenges similar to the metro and unconventional choices for the Ahmedabad City. In PRT, the small automated vehicle is operating on a network of the special predefined guided transit route. This paper mainly focuses on the Economic Feasibility of the mode for a selected stretch of the city with key recreational points (Kankaria Lake, Manek Chowk, and Sabarmati Riverfront) and its planning aspects. It is being observed that the travel time is significantly higher though the distance between these three places is precisely lower (3.5 kms) which offers delays (14 min) in travel routes. The paper points toward the operational and financial feasibility of the PRT mode of transport which incorporates challenges like higher commute time and the installation cost in an effective manner.