Evaluation of different vehicle management strategies for the personal rapid transit system

PRT is a futuristic on demand transportation mode that uses driverless vehicle to transport people. Unfortunately, this mode of transport can result in a large amount of wasted energy due to the empty vehicle´s movement. In this paper, four different management strategies for empty vehicle´s movement will be presented. The impact of each strategy on the energy consumption and on the waiting time for passenger is analyzed by using a discrete event simulation model. The results found suggest that the quality of the system service as well as the energy consumption can be improved by incorporating management strategy.