2016-10-10

[public] 1.09M views, 38.6K likes, 152 dislikes audio only

Tom Scott

The Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system threads its way through West Virginia University, taking thousands of people a day around the campus, non-stop. It's a system that was meant to be the future: so why isn't it?

Thanks to all the WVU Transportation and Parking team for helping with this video! You can find more about the project here: https://prt.wvu.edu/

And the technical manual for the system is here, as a PDF: https://web.archive.org/web/20161023202125/http://assets.slate.wvu.edu/resources/1610/1406301617.pdf

This video has an error: an interviewee from the university said that the “PRT never shuts down”. That's not true: it's had some reliability problems, and it's closed on University holidays and semester breaks. That line shouldn't have made the edit. See https://wvpress.org/copydesk/insight/wvu-prt-breakdowns-can-cause-misery-panic/ or the full corrections page: https://www.tomscott.com/corrections/

On camera, thanks to MATT GRAY: http://youtube.com/unnamedculprit - http://twitter.com/unnamedculprit - http://mattg.co.uk

And thanks to DAN W: http://twitter.com/iamdanw

And edited by Michelle Martin: http://twitter.com/mrsmmartin !

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