The runaway bus

[Zazu]

I say we just make the Monorail go everywhere.

I say not.

No offense to BW and his team, but there's a better technology available today and WDW would make the perfect venue for a demonstration project:

PRT = Personal Rapid Transit

Imagine if you will a monorail network that had stations not just at every hotel, but at each building; not just at each parking lot, but at each lane; not just at each park, but at multiple entrances to each park! Now imagine the monorail trains are so small that only one family rides in each. Automate. That's PRT.

A touchscreen pad will let guests select their destination, and speak to them in their own language along the way. (Think MIMS on steroids, only not lame.) The system will remember your hotel room and where you parked your car. Voice links to live operators can fill in when the programmed system fails to satisfy. One touch of an emergency button and the vehicle is routed to an emergency aid station.

Much like the Internet, a crowded guideway, broken switch, or disabled vehicle will be routed around. Guideways can be aerial like the monorail, at grade (perhaps even using existing roadways), or more likely a combination. Plus, after hours the seats fold up and the vehicles are used to haul merchandise and supplies to backstage locations.

A group of us are working to develop such a system. We haven't specified a vendor or a specific technology, as there are several available. The big issue is really handling the post-fireworks rush at MK -- a sustained 60,000 guests/hour (less monorail and ferry capacity). Gonna take a *lot* of station tracks. The rest is pretty straightforward engineering.

Ultimately, the system would replace all of the on-property buses. If desired, it could also replace the monorails, and some of the watercraft. Not that they aren't fun, but it's a lot easier and cheaper to maintain one fleet of vehicles than a mixed fleet with so many different types.

Do I think it's likely to happen any time soon? Frankly no, but then I don't see a monorail extension happening soon either. But some day....

[turkeyham]

Zazu,

What ever you do, don't contract 2200. It might be maintence, but they will get to a job 2 to 3 days later. :mad:

[Zazu]

What ever you do, don't contract 2200. It might be maintence, but they will get to a job 2 to 3 days later. :mad:

Okay, I'm confused. 2200 what?

[turkeyham]

2200 is maintence at Disneyland.

My friend George worked there and then retired last year.

You call that number to report problems that need to be repaired.

Lets say you need a cash register to be fixed because the paper dispencer is not working...They will work on that and get it fixed.

George was a good friend of mine. :)

[Shorty82]

2200 is maintence at Disneyland.

I had a feeling that is what you meant. In the MK maintenance is 8855. Don't know if the same extension is used in the other parks or the resorts.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I thought he was trying to say the system Zazu was describing would be available in the year 2200.

Maybe from By N Large?

[felinefan]

Talking about bus mishaps reminds me of the time I was in 7th grade. I lived in El Toro, now Lake Forest, at the time, and not all the roads were paved. There was one road my school bus traveled on to take us home which was unpaved, and one year we got heavy rain. The road turned to mud, and my bus driver apparently thought it was okay to drive over. NOT! The bus's wheels stuck in the mud, it was raining, and my bus driver tried for some time to get the bus out of the mud. Nothing worked, so he had to call for help on his bus phone. We pretty much kept calm, did our homework, talked, etc.. I think we had to wait half an hour before a rescue bus came, which did not sink in the mud, and we were helped off the bus and onto the new bus. Later, the emptty bus, still stuck in the mud, was on the news and in the paper. We had quite an adventure! Nobody was hurt, but I think the bus driver was kind of embarrassed over getting stuck.

[Big Wallaby]

I say not.

No offense to BW and his team, but there's a better technology available today and WDW would make the perfect venue for a demonstration project:

PRT = Personal Rapid Transit

Imagine if you will a monorail network that had stations not just at every hotel, but at each building; not just at each parking lot, but at each lane; not just at each park, but at multiple entrances to each park! Now imagine the monorail trains are so small that only one family rides in each. Automate. That's PRT.

A touchscreen pad will let guests select their destination, and speak to them in their own language along the way. (Think MIMS on steroids, only not lame.) The system will remember your hotel room and where you parked your car. Voice links to live operators can fill in when the programmed system fails to satisfy. One touch of an emergency button and the vehicle is routed to an emergency aid station.

Much like the Internet, a crowded guideway, broken switch, or disabled vehicle will be routed around. Guideways can be aerial like the monorail, at grade (perhaps even using existing roadways), or more likely a combination. Plus, after hours the seats fold up and the vehicles are used to haul merchandise and supplies to backstage locations.

A group of us are working to develop such a system. We haven't specified a vendor or a specific technology, as there are several available. The big issue is really handling the post-fireworks rush at MK -- a sustained 60,000 guests/hour (less monorail and ferry capacity). Gonna take a *lot* of station tracks. The rest is pretty straightforward engineering.

Ultimately, the system would replace all of the on-property buses. If desired, it could also replace the monorails, and some of the watercraft. Not that they aren't fun, but it's a lot easier and cheaper to maintain one fleet of vehicles than a mixed fleet with so many different types.

Do I think it's likely to happen any time soon? Frankly no, but then I don't see a monorail extension happening soon either. But some day....

I think you could do a combination of the two... and in reality, the Monorail is a system that should be automated. You'll never hear it again from me, and in 24 hours I am taking that line off the site... if ADHD doesn't stop...FLOWER!

I see the Monorail as a Mass system, where PRT could feed to the Monorail (Mag-Lev, Light Rail, etc. system). Now, the monorail would become a system for much longer distances, only where it would save power and time over the PRT, or places where the monorail could use higher speed. With system where the PRT is Mag-Lev, you would take away this argument altogether. The one thing that the Monorail in any form would be better for is, as Zazu says, ultra high capacity. As the Monorails and ferries are now, they can together take about 20,000 per hour. Buses are a major part of the 60K number, as so many return to resort hotels. If we left the Monorail and ferry as is, and used PRT for what the buses do now, I think it would be a good blend.

I can't remember which at the moment, but there's a college that has a rudimentary PRT system in place now... it's kinda like what the Monorail is now at WDW... not enough, but a great start.

The other thing we would probably have to do with PRT at WDW that doesn't have to be done on the same magnitude anywhere else is to control the number of vehicles travelling at any given time. As it is now, of the twelve monorails, we'll have 6 on Lagoon and Exterior, plus two on Epcot. Then, as we get close to close, we'll ramp up to 8 between the two MK loops and take one more to Epcot, so that at the crush we are running 11 trains. With PRT at WDW, we'd need places to store the cars for the exits and other crush times. If we had one holding area at each park, we could keep guests flowing well.

I believe that for WDW the answer is a mix, but PRT is a VERY important part of it.

The Monorail is forever an icon, and I hope we never lose it, or at least keep it in some form or another.

If played right, Disney could be a major component in seeing PRT become a reality everywhere. I hope they take that chance. Walt would.

[ktulu]

I vote for more steam trains :D:

[Big Wallaby]

I vote for more steam trains :D:

So long as they're not limited to 12 mph. That would make TTC to AK a long trip.