Switchbeam 9 wrote:I would love to see it. Hate to see the monorail go away and I think it should stay at the SSL but the rest of the property can greatly benefit (with PRT serving the present MK bus depot). On the cutting edge was once important. Currently the cutting edge looks like the early 90s (CoP final scene). MK also has other very busy times, going into MK when Epcot closes at 9 and MK open until 1 or 2 EMH, and the fun two-way traffic of a party which are now very constant from August to January. Monorails do a great job here IMO. But then again I use a lot of mass transit and have a lot of experience with what is really really bad.
There is a good argument to be made for keeping the monorail to connect the MK to the main parking lot, but that concept misses the main point of PRT -- that it's ONE system that does everything.
You see, big parking lots are needed only if you have a big transport system -- like the monorail or ferryboats -- to feed them. OTOH, with a PRT system, you can have lots of small parking lots, with each space being close to a small PRT station. This would permit the parking to be scattered all over the property, or concentrated at the permiter, or mushed together into one giant lot, and each party of guests would get personalized service from their car to their destination, and back again.
Many guests will drive to the MK lot because they like the monorail but hate the buses. (And this goes beyond just MiMs.) With PRT to take them from their hotel *building* directly to the gates of the park and back, this mode disappears, and with it much of the monorail traffic. Pull the monorails and it all disappears. Besides, I think most will fine the PRT as cool as the monorail, especially as it can be customized to spiel in their preferred language and remember where they started the day.
Lots of potential here, of the sort that the current MiMs system just scratches the surface of. Still need some solid numbers to build a proof of concept though.