{"id":965,"date":"2025-06-23T08:05:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/?p=965"},"modified":"2025-06-23T08:05:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:05:29","slug":"why-bengaluru-must-revisit-the-personal-rapid-transit-prt-dream-before-its-too-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/why-bengaluru-must-revisit-the-personal-rapid-transit-prt-dream-before-its-too-late\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Bengaluru Must Revisit the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Dream\u2014Before It\u2019s Too Late"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Years ago, when Bengaluru was choking under the pressure of its own growth, <strong>BBMP was given the task to evaluate a futuristic solution<\/strong>\u2014the <strong>Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) System<\/strong>. I was among those who <strong>actively raised the matter<\/strong> and pushed for <strong>PRT as the most cost-effective, scalable, and scientifically sound urban mobility solution<\/strong>, especially for a city like Bengaluru with its chaotic road geometry and narrow lanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike metro projects that are exorbitantly priced, rigid in format, and take years (sometimes decades) to complete, <strong>PRT offers a lightweight, low-footprint, spider-web style solution<\/strong> that can be mounted on <strong>elevated aluminum-steel pylons<\/strong>, weaving effortlessly across congested inner lanes and junctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\ude9d <strong>PRT: What Bengaluru Needed and Still Needs<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u2705 <strong>Fraction of Metro\u2019s Cost<\/strong><br>PRT infrastructure can be built at <strong>less than 1\/5th the cost of metro lines<\/strong>, making it far more viable for a financially stretched civic ecosystem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2705 <strong>Flexible Network Design<\/strong><br>A spider-web layout of routes, <strong>customized to population clusters<\/strong>, last-mile challenges, and urban density\u2014not the fixed-line design of metro or monorail.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2705 <strong>Eco-Friendly &amp; Smart<\/strong><br>Most modern PRT systems are <strong>AI-controlled, electric<\/strong>, and emission-free. No driver, no pollution, no waiting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u2705 <strong>Built for Narrow Lanes<\/strong><br>Bengaluru\u2019s inner roads can never support BRTS or Metro Rail. But PRT? It can dance through them\u2014elevated, silent, and elegant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udef0\ufe0f The SkyTran Episode<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Back then, I shared detailed documents and proposals on <strong>NASA-based SkyTran technology<\/strong> with the government. I was invited by the <strong>Principal Secretary to then CM Siddaramaiah<\/strong>. All papers were taken, discussions were held, but <strong>no follow-up ever happened<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years later, <strong>SkyTran was taken over by Reliance<\/strong>, and the same concept has <strong>moved ahead in UAE<\/strong> and other innovation-forward geographies. India, and especially Bengaluru, missed the bus\u2014not because the technology failed, but because <strong>our political interest and administrative will failed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udce3 Bengaluru Must Solve Its Own Problems<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, <strong>\u20b918,000 crore is being thrown at a tunnel project<\/strong> that will <strong>benefit private car owners at \u20b9600\/day<\/strong>, backed by a <strong>flawed DPR by a previously banned consultant<\/strong>, while the public pays a <strong>\u20b97,200 crore viability gap<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not infrastructure development. This is a <strong>failure of vision<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, <strong>PRT remains shelved<\/strong>, though it\u2019s the most <strong>practical and democratic solution<\/strong> we can implement\u2014with the <strong>least disruption, best ROI, and highest coverage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u270b My Offer to Bengaluru<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If any MP, MLA, CM, or Minister is serious about solving Bengaluru\u2019s mobility crisis<\/strong>\u2014not by political lip service, but real innovation\u2014I am ready to <strong>support, advise, and even help launch a 1 km pilot project<\/strong> tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had asked for it back then, and I am saying it again\u2014<strong>this city can be saved<\/strong>. But <strong>not with tunnel vision<\/strong>, literally or metaphorically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If no one\u2019s listening, then let Bengaluru keep <strong>scrolling LinkedIn posts in English<\/strong> and venting on traffic jams\u2014<strong>because that\u2019s all we\u2019ll ever do<\/strong> if real solutions are ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rajnish <\/strong>#RDS<br>Mobility Futurist | CXO Scientist | MSME &amp; Public Infra Consultant<br>Founder \u2013 RDS Scalar Revolution<br><a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/rajnishsharmards\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"linkedin.com\/in\/rajnishsharmards\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Linkedin<\/a> <a href=\"\/hi\/rajnish@rajnishrds.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"rajnish@rajnishrds.com\">Email<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"SkyTran solution to Tel Aviv traffic woes: Israeli metropolis to build new public transport system\" width=\"750\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F86hjy63bVA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Years ago, when Bengaluru was choking under the pressure of its own growth, BBMP was given the task to evaluate a futuristic solution\u2014the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) System. I was among those who actively raised the matter and pushed for PRT as the most cost-effective, &hellip; <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,27,35,31,26,32],"tags":[57,53,56,55,54,58,60,59],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electric-vehicles","category-graphene-technology","category-business-turnaround","category-scalar-devices","category-scalar-materials","category-value-investing","tag-bbmp","tag-bengaluru","tag-bengaluru-infrastructure","tag-bengaluru-metro","tag-bengaluru-traffic","tag-prt","tag-reliance","tag-skytran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajnishrds.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}