Ultra
From Camlink
This article describes the Ultra Personal Rapid Transit System, and provides links to relevant web resources. Liberal Democrat members of Cambridgeshire County Council believe that the Ultra system has potential application in Cambridge, and that it should be evaluated as an alternative to the County Council's bus-based strategy contained in its £500m bid to the Government's Transport Innovation Fund.
Background
The Ultra Personal Rapid Transit System is manufactured by ATS Ltd, a spin-off from the Advanced Transport Group, University of Bristol. The Ultra system has been under development since 1999, with Government support from the Dept of Transport, Dept of Trade & Industry, NESTA, and the EC. The prototype system was given consent by HM Rail Inspectorate to carry passengers in 2003.
Early Applications
The first commercial Ultra system is being built by British Airports Authority at Heathrow. The phase currently under construction comprises 3.9km of guideway, mostly elevated, and 18 vehicles. Daventry, Northamptonshire, commissioned detailed economic and traffic studies which indicated that an Ultra type system would provide favourable cost benefit in Daventry.
Features of Ultra
Ultra has some features in common with a guided busway, in that runs on a dedicated concrete track with concrete kerbs. This track may be on the surface, elevated, or underground. The difference lies in the type of vehicle. Instead of a bus, Ultra uses driverless 4-person taxi-like pods, which are laser-guided between the kerbs. The pods can carry a bicycle.
Ultra has the following advantages compared to a guided bus:
a. Minimal waiting time. Because the pods wait for the passenger, waiting times are minimal (typically an average of 1 minute).
b. No intermediate stops. Because each passenger (or family group) has a personal pod, and because all stations are in laybys, there are no intermediate stops on the journey.
c. Not confined to a linear route. Unlike a bus, which is confined to a linear route, the Ultra pod can go directly to any desired destination in the network, automatically changing direction at junctions as required.
d. 23/7 operation. Ultra can operate 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. This would be particularly attractive to Park & Ride users.
e. Zero carbon, zero pollution, minimal noise. Ultra pods are powered by battery driven electric motors. They use about half the energy of a bus network, and if green electricity is used, the system is zero carbon.
f. Economical bridges and tunnels. Because the Ultra pods are small and light, the cost of bridges and tunnels is a fraction of that for bus bridges and tunnels.
g. No requirement for drivers. With rising costs of labour, the absence of drivers offers economic advantage as well as enabling long hours of operation.
Cambridge
It is not clear whether there is a role for an Ultra-type system in the transport strategy for Cambridge, but it does merit investigation. One possibility would be an Ultra network connecting the city centre with the railway station and the main employment centres such as the Science Park and the Addenbrookes site. To avoid visual impact in historic and residential areas, such a network would have to be underground within the city centre. Although an interesting possibility for the longer term, this would today be costly and risky - particularly since there is as yet no practical experience of running Ultra systems in tunnels.
A more realistic possibility would be to use elevated Ultra systems to reduce congestion and improve accessibility in the newer development areas on the fringe of the city, such as the Science Park, the West Cambridge site, the Addenbrooke's site, and a future airport development. Of those possibilities, the one that could perhaps be included in the current TIF proposal is the north east area comprising the Cambridge Science Park, the Cambridge Business Park, the new Milton Park & Ride, the Cambridge Regional College, and the proposed new Chesterton station. Connecting these with an Ultra system could provide a number of benefits:
a. Reducing congestion at the A10/A14 junction and adjacent roads.
b. Increasing the benefit of the proposed Chesterton station, by providing quick access to the Milton Park & Ride, and to employment centres in the area.
c. Facilitating movement generally within this area of Cambridge.
d. Reducing the need for car parking at the proposed Chesterton station, thus releasing land for more productive use.
e. Testing out this technology for possible wider application, eg in the new airport development.
Further Information
The following links are to material relevant to Personal Rapid Transit systems, including Ultra:
Advanced Transport Group. University of Bristol.
Advanced Transit Association. USA Personal Rapid Transit association.
Arup. Civil engineering consultants for Heathrow Ultra system.
ATS Ltd. Bristol-based manufacturers of the Ultra system.
ATS USA. USA website of ATS Ltd.
British Airports Authority. Description of Heathrow Ultra system.
Daventry City Council. Studies on Personal Rapid Transit for Daventry.
Personal Rapid Transit. Wikipedia article.
Ultra system. Wikipedia article.
Ultra video. US promotional video for Ultra on You Tube.
Welcome to the Transport of Tomorrow. Guardian article.
If you would like to discuss Personal Rapid Transit for Cambridge, please contact Alex Reid, Liberal Democrat Spoke for Environment and Transport, Cambridgeshire County Council. Email: reid@dsl.pipex.com. Tel: 01223 356537.
