Gurgaon’s Pod Taxi- Know more
पोड टैक्सी के रूट से रुकावटें होंगी दूर
13 May 2011, 0400 hrs IST
नबीटी न्यूज॥ गुड़गांव
पॉड टैक्सी के रूट की अड़चनों को दूर करने की कवायद अधिकारियों ने शुरू कर दी है। नगर निगम के कमिश्नर और पर्सनल रैपिड ट्रांजिट (पीआरटी) सिस्टम के नोडल ऑफिसर सुधीर राजपाल की अध्यक्षता में हूडा, पीडब्ल्यूडी बीएंडआर और बिजली निगम के अधिकारियों की एक बैठक गुरुवार को हुई। बैठक में पॉड टैक्सी के रूट को लेकर चर्चा की गई। इस रूट को मेसर्ज अल्ट्रा फेयरवुड ग्रीन ट्रांसपोर्ट प्राइवेट लिमिटेड की ओर से तैयार किया गया है।
एक सप्ताह में देना होगा जवाब
नगर निगम के एक अधिकारी ने बताया कि हूडा, बिजली निगम और पीडब्ल्यूडी बीएंडआर को पॉड टैक्सी के रूट का नक्शा सौंपा गया है। उनसे आग्रह किया गया है कि इस रूट की जांच करें और एक सप्ताह के अंदर रिपोर्ट प्रस्तुत करें कि कंपनी की ओर से तैयार किए गए रूट में उनकी कोई मास्टर सर्विसेज आ रही हैं या नहीं। हूडा के सर्कल नंबर 2 की ओर से रूट को हरी झंडी दे दी गई है। इनके अधिकारियों का कहना है कि रूट को लेकर सर्वे किया जा चुका है, उनकी कोई मास्टर सर्विसेज इस रूट में नहीं आ रही है। अब हूडा के सर्कल नंबर 1, बिजली निगम और पीडब्ल्यूडी बी एंड आर को रिपोर्ट सौंपनी है। रिपोर्ट सौंपने के बाद सभी विभागों के अधिकारियों की बैठक दोबारा होगी, जिसमें इन बाधाओं को दूर करने को लेकर चर्चा की जाएगी। अगर मास्टर सर्विसेज शिफ्ट हो सकती हैं तो इस बारे में विचार किया जाएगा। अगर नहीं तो रूट को दोबारा तैयार करने का आग्रह कंपनी से किया जाएगा। रूट के फाइनल होने के बाद प्रदेश सरकार को इससे अवगत करवा दिया जाएगा।
निर्माण पर खर्च होंगे 6 हजार करोड़
गौरतलब है कि कंपनी की ओर से जो रूट तैयार किए गए हैं, उसके अनुसार मिलेनियम सिटी में पॉड टैक्सी के 143 स्टेशनों का निर्माण किया जाएगा। इस पर 3150 पॉड टैक्सियां दौड़ेंगी। पॉड टैक्सी का प्रस्तावित रूट 105 किलोमीटर है। पॉड टैक्सी पीपीपी मोड के अनुसार तैयार की जाएंगी। इसके निर्माण पर लगभग छह हजार करोड़ रुपये खर्च किए जाएंगे।
http://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/delhiarticleshow/8277610.cms
Will Bangalore take a call on POD after Gurgaon experiment?
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 10:13 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore
While Gurgaon is ready to invite it, Delhi is thinking of implementing it. Provide-On-Demand (Pod) Personal Rapid Transit is a necessity but a far-fetched plan for Namma Bengaluru.
Pod is an automatic, driver-less, battery/power operated, laser ray-guided taxi running on or hanging from an elevated track. It is a personalised transport like hired high speed cab, but centrally controlled.
Passengers will choose their destinations from a list of options on a touch-sensitive screen beside the rank of waiting pods at a station, board in, press 'close doors' button inside the pod cab and then press 'go' button.
London Heathrow airport has already got Pod from airport to nearest metro stations and transport junctions and even New York and many places in the US have got PRT. India is trying to bring Pod home. Sweden is considering PRT. South Korea and Japan are enjoying pod taxi.
Recently, Haryana chief minister announced that the detailed project report for the Pod PRT for Gurgaon is already out and Delhi CM Sheila Dixit discussed the viability of Pod PRT in Delhi during the last week of April. Even Amritsar is trying to consider Pod soon.
Haryana government has announced the cost at Rs40 per kilometre involving 143 stations stretching to 31km in its first phase and 73km in the second phase. Stations will be at every 100 yards on the elevated tracks under which multi-level parking facility will be designed.
Delhi chief minister, who had a meeting with transport authorities to discuss the viability of Pod during the last week of April, is now thinking of bringing it on in ITPO, Dwarka City, Karol Bagh and North campus as pilot project.
On the other side, transport authorities in Bangalore feel the futurist idea is welcome but not everything new can just be implemented without thoughts being put to it. Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority commissioner V Manjula says she will wait to see how Pod PRT works in Gurgaon.
“I saw the demo of Pod in Mobility India conference in Delhi but I am still to see how it performs. Let us first see how Gurgaon, even Delhi and Amritsar fares. Everything new cannot be right away implemented without realising whether the place needs it or not,” said V Manjula.
However, she agreed that Pod is necessary to quicken the transportation time in cities where the road traffic eats up commuters’ time to reach one point to other. “Pod could be thought of in places where there are a lot of culturally improved places, airports and airport connectivity from a common point in the city,” she said.
She added the focus of easing transportation in Bangalore is now mass transit. “Pod is a form of PRT. Here we are not thinking of such futurist ideas like personlalised rapid transport. Our focus at this point in time is on mass rapid transit,” she said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_will-bangalore-take-a-call-on-pod-after-gurgaon-experiment_1539191
Pod taxis, a reality soon in Gurgaon?
GURGAON: Soon, you can expect futuristic pod taxis to run across the NH 8 and connect all the existing and upcoming metro stations in Gurgaon and its adjoining areas.
In a recent feasibility report, submitted to the government in April, the details of a 105 km long route map has been prepared dotted with the exact locations of possible pod stations. The report, prepared by the project planner Ultra Fairwood Ltd, has presented the details of the route expansion possibilities in and around Gurgaon. According to the map, the pod taxies run along NH 8 starting from near Ambience Mall near the toll plaza and going all the way to Sector 32, near HSEB colony. The route is almost parallel to the NH 8 while other routes will be in loop formations connecting different sectors of both the Old City and Gurgaon.
Each pod has the capacity to seat six people and has a cargo capacity of 500kg. It can travel at the maximum speed of 40km per hour. In the future, the elevated pod project would also be extended to the industrial hub of Manesar. The project, named the Personal Rapid Transit System, shall be integrated as per the unified transport network that includes Bus Rapid Transit, Mass Rapid Transit and Orbital railways. To ensure better pod connectivity in the Old City, one route starts from industrial Sector 37 and goes till Sector 13. This routes goes parallel to Old Delhi-Gurgaon road and covers Shivaji colony, Civil area and other sectors of the Old city.
The feasibility report has also pointed out that other routes connected with existing metro stations. In the proposed PRT network map, the pod route will connect sectors which will have future metro routes which is ahead of the HUDA city center.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Pod-taxis-a-reality-soon-in-Gurgaon/articleshow/8123537.cms
MCG chief appointed nodal officer for Pod taxi project
After the meeting in Chandigarh, another round was held at Khullars office in Gurgaon and Phil Smith, CEO of ULTra PRT, specially flew down to the city to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, the government has also shown keen interest in bringing the Pod to the old city as well. It has asked the private consultant that is implementing the system in India to include the bus terminus and Sheetla Mata Mandir in the route map. The private consultant has already started the homework and a traffic demand study was carried out in these two areas on Monday.
The meeting was held to discuss ways to go about implementing the entire project and the officials present there felt that since many people come to both these places, they should figure on the alignment. It was a midcourse correction and it can easily be implemented since nothing has been freezed till now, informed an official.
We will be carrying out two studies on these two routes, the first will be the traffic demand study and the second will be the hindrance study to see what things could come in the way of the alignment. It could be things high tension wires or streetlights. We have initiated these studies and are should have the results in a fortnight, he added.
The actual work however will only start after the government invites tenders. There are various procedures to follow before we invite the bids. We can also go for the Swiss Challenge route wherein competitive bids will be solicited from other prospective bidders and the original proponents will be given a chance to match them, said a source.
A route plan for Gurgaon spanning 105 kilometers has already been prepared. According to it, there will be 143 stations and eight multi-level parkings with a total of 3150 pods. The maximum speed will be around 40 kmph and the estimated average trip time is around seven minutes. The pods on the elevated guideway can either run parallel or one above the other in opposite directions, depending on the space available.
Haryana gives go-ahead to feasibility study for Pod taxis
TNN, Jan 17, 2011
GURGAON: Taking a step forward to make the ambitious Pod taxi a reality in Gurgaon, Haryana government has given go ahead to an international firm to carry out a traffic feasibility study in the city.
The Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Bhupinder-Singh-Hooda> , said, the government has recently given the go head to the firm for carrying out traffic study to explore possibilities for the project.
He was talking to media personnel after inaugurating the media centre at the district Congress office in Gurgaon on Sunday afternoon. He added that the findings of the study will decide the next course of action for this ambitious project.
In an obvious indication of the state governments intention to get the most advanced form of personalized public transport system, Hooda said, "I believe if the Pod taxies are successful in Heathrow <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Heathrow> airport, it would also be successful in case we launch it in Gurgaon."
Hooda further said that a detail project report is also being prepared to explore all the possibilities of the project. The futuristic mode of public transport will immensely improve public transport in the city, the chief minister claimed.
As per the proposal, the hi-tech driverless pod taxies would be guided by laser for running on elevated tracks in the city. The government is keen on a proposal to build about 105-km route with 143 stations and 3,150 pod cars in the beginning.
The plan is being prepared by the Urban Light Transport (ULTra) PRT Limited, a UK based firm in association with Fairwood, a firm operating from Gurgaon.
The state government has been claiming that Pod cars seem as the best possible option for the city which has already grown and it has little space left on the ground for public transport infrastructure. Elevated tracks for the Pod taxis <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Pod%20taxis> require less space even in comparison to elevated Metro, sources said. Government officials also claimed that the average fair for Pod users would also be affordable.
Responding to questions on the already delayed KMP expressway, the chief minister said, One section of the express will be operational from November 1 this year and the agency and authorities have been told to hurry completion. The 135-km expressway has failed to meet several deadlines in the past.
Originally, the project was supposed to be completed by July 2009. But the deadline was extended to December 2010 and now it looks that by November 1 only one section of the KMP project would be operational. Hooda did not comment on the reasons for the delay in this project.
On the proposed Metro express line between IGI airport and IFFCO Chowk Metro station, the chief minister said that the DMRC will submit its detailed project report once it completes feasibility study. The work will start accordingly, he added. The city authorities are meeting next week to discuss the details of the project and also land availability for this.
Read more: Haryana gives go-ahead to feasibility study for Pod taxis – The Times of India <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Haryana-gives-go-ahead-to-feasibility-study-for-Pod-taxis/articleshow/7300035.cms#ixzz1BS1wUSZH> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Haryana-gives-go-ahead-to-feasibility-study-for-Pod-taxis/articleshow/7300035.cms#ixzz1BS1wUSZH <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Haryana-gives-go-ahead-to-feasibility-study-for-Pod-taxis/articleshow/7300035.cms#ixzz1BS1wUSZH>
Delhi gets a glimpse of Gurgaon's pod dream
Joel Joseph, TNN, Dec 5, 2010, 12.20am IST
GURGAON: It seems that the Millennium City is moving fast to solve its public transport woes. Riding high on Metro connectivity, Gurgaon residents on Saturday got a glimpse of another new-age urban transport system the personal rapid transit or the pod.
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This is the first time a pod is in India, specially flown in from the UK for the ongoing Urban Mobility India conference. Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had talked about his pet project in the inaugural TOI Gurgaon edition.
Impressed by the pod, the CM, however, refrained from saying by when the pod will be operational in Gurgaon.
"I have seen the pod in presentations on various occasions but this is the first time I am actually seeing it and am impressed. However, we need to discuss the economic viability and other financial aspects before I can tell you by when the pod will run in Gurgaon,'' he told TOI.
Unlike the Metro train, the personal rapid transit system or pod, as it is commonly known, facilitates last-mile connectivity and is a four to six seater battery-powered vehicle without a driver, which uses rubber wheels and usually runs on an elevated guideway. The travel time gets reduced as the stations are off-line allowing the pod to bypass all stations on the way to the destination. The stations can be integrated into already existing buildings, facilitating direct entry into malls, hotels and offices. It is estimated to be a Rs 5000-crore project in Gurgaon.
As far as the functioning is concerned, a passenger walks into the station using an access control swipe card and selects the destination in the console.
The central control room sends the nearest pod and selects the most economical route for that destination. Once inside, the passenger just has to push a button to close the doors and another for it to start. There is an LCD screen, an alarm button and two CCTV cameras, all linked with the central control room to communicate with the controller in an emergency situation or if the passenger wants to change the destination midway. There is also an emergency exit in each pod, informed Sanjaya Varma, advisor, Fairwood consultants, who are implementing the system in India.
A route plan for Gurgaon spanning 105 kilometres has already been prepared. According to it, there will be 143 stations and eight multi-level parkings with a total of 3150 pods. The maximum speed will be about 40kmph and the estimated average trip time is approximately seven minutes. The pods on the elevated guideway can either run parallel or one above the other in opposite directions, depending on the space available.
At present, Heathrow airport is the only place where the pod is operational. While it is right now being used by the airport staff, the commercial operations will start soon after Christmas.
Dispelling fears about its security, former NASA employee and inventor of pod Martin Lawson said, "All the security issues have been looked into. Passengers are in a controlled environment with a secure access system. Moreover, there are 150 different computer controlled transport systems around the world carrying 2 billion people and there have been no accidents so far.''
Read more: Delhi gets a glimpse of Gurgaon's pod dream – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-gets-a-glimpse-of-Gurgaons-pod-dream/articleshow/7045000.cms#ixzz17D6YAfT7