The system that has been hugely popular with Heathrow’s passengers began operations in May 2011 and has carried 700,000 passengers to date from the Terminal 5 Business Car Park across to Terminal 5 itself. Having removed 140,000 bus journeys from Heathrow’s congested roads and having saved 400 tonnes of carbon emissions the system has been a phenomenal success for Ultra, Heathrow and most importantly the airport’s passengers.

The huge success at Heathrow is now encouraging interest from the UK and across the rest of the world. With PRT now a proven, reliable and attractive option, a number of similar but much larger systems are now being considered in a number of locations including Amritsar, Northern India and Florianopolis, Brazil in addition to second system that Heathrow Airport plan to implement at Terminals 2 and 3.

Upon reaching the 2^nd Anniversary, Ultra’s Managing Director Fraser Brown commented, ‘We are delighted to have reached our second year of operation, we are now an established member of the Heathrow transport offering and the tremendous success of the system at Heathrow highlights the huge benefits in personal rapid transit to reliably and efficiently deliver a personal, direct and on-demand service particularly in areas where there are problems with last mile connectivity.’

Ultra Global’s founder Martin Lowson, who started the company in 1995, commented ‘It is extremely satisfying, and testimony to the dedicated work of the whole Ultra team, to reach one million miles, fully driverless and two years full passenger service. Most satisfying of all is that the pod continues to delight its users.’

Ultra Global is looking forward to an exciting 2013 with a number of potential new systems being explored and with the Heathrow system expected to be close to carrying its 1 millionth passenger by the end of the year.

The Comic Relief passenger pod, which takes you door-to-door without dropping off other passengers or waiting in traffic, is festooned in Comic Relief 2013’s Di-nose-saurs and is already a run-away passenger favorite.

From Red Nose Day on 15 March and throughout March, the passenger who tweets the best “Funny For Money” message from the pod after donating to Comic Relief on their mobile phone will win three days’ free parking at the T5 Business Car Park.

Almost two years old, the pods are a UK first, and Heathrow is the first airport in the world to use them. Passengers say they’re “incredible”, “pretty brilliant” and “futuristic”.

Fraser Brown, Ultra’s managing director, said: “We are very proud to support Comic Relief and promote their work towards a world free from poverty.

“Communities flourish when people can travel quickly, with less pollution and congestion. We’re working with partners across the world, in India, Malaysia and Brazil, to help them bring this innovative technology and its social benefits to communities.”

Notes to editors

1. More information on the pods and the UK company behind them can be found at Ultra’s website: http://www.ultraglobalprt.com
2. To enter, pod travellers should text “FIVE” or “TEN” to 70510 to donate £5 or £10 to Comic Relief from their UK mobile phone between 15-31 March and complete this tweet in the funniest way they can: “I gave £5/10 to @comicrelief on #heathrowpod…”. The competition closes at 5pm, 31 March
3. Ultra has signed Memorandums of Understandings (MoUs) with business partners in Malaysia, Taiwan and Brazil where they will work on feasibility studies to introduce a pod system in key cities
4. The driverless, laser-guided pods seat up to 4 people, going between Heathrow’s business car park and Terminal 5. The journey, past roads and runways, is just 5-6 minutes
5. traveling at 25 miles per hour, the vehicles run on four standard car batteries
6. In December 2012, the pods carried their 500,000th passenger
7. Photos of the Comic Relief pod are attached
8. For more info, please contact Gill Kirk at gill_kirk@lyric-communications.com / 07721 036191

  

The new Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, which will be the second installed at Heathrow, follows in the path of the hugely successful Heathrow POD system that currently connects the Terminal 5 Business Car Park with Terminal 5 itself. The system at Terminal 5 which has been operational since May 2011 has carried over 600,000 passengers to date, has removed the need for 70,000 bus journeys on Heathrow’s roads each year and has maintained impressive availability figures of around 99.7%.

In response to the news, Ultra Global Managing Director Fraser Brown commented, ‘We are thrilled to hear of Heathrow’s inclusion of a further PRT system in Q6, the success of Heathrow POD has demonstrated the huge potential in PRT to deliver an effective sustainable first/last mile solution around campus locations such as airports as well as providing a distributor service from ‘heavier’ transport interchanges such as rail stations. It is an endorsement of the Ultra system that less than two years after opening the world’s first airport PRT system, Heathrow wants to build more.’

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will now publish a consultation on their initial proposals for aeronautical charges at Heathrow before making a final decision in January 2014. The Q6 Period will begin in April 2014 and run through to 2019.

The full Heathrow Airport Limited Q6 Business Plan can be found here.

Notes to Editors:

Ultra Global Limited

Ultra Global Limited designed and operate the Heathrow POD system at London’s Heathrow Airport. Ultra Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is a new and innovative on-demand system for developed or urban environments. It is designed to meet the need for congestion free, multi origin, multi-destination public transport. Using small driverless electric vehicles that run on guideways, the lightweight and flexible nature of the system enables it to be retrofitted into a broad range of environments and provide transportation that is environmentally friendly and operationally efficient. For more information please visit www.ultraglobalprt.com

Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited

Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited (formerly BAA) owns and runs London Heathrow Airport, Britain’s aviation hub, as well as a number of other UK airports – Aberdeen ,Glasgow and Southampton. For more information please visit www.heathrowairport.com.

The system at Heathrow has carried over 500,000 passengers to date, with passengers continuing to rave about its speed, reliability, environmental credentials and its readiness to go.

We’ve had transport and government ministers from the UK and around the world visiting the system to ascertain how it could be incorporated into new and existing cityscapes.

As a result of this, we’ve signed Memorandums of Understandings (MoU’s) with business partners in Malaysia, Taiwan and Brazil where we will be working on feasibility studies to introduce a pod system in key cities.  All of these are very real development prospects that will bring demonstrable benefits to users.  We aim to bring you more news on these in the coming months.

The Amritsar project is still under development and should hit key milestones in 2013 including beginning construction.

To sum up – 2012 has been a good one for Ultra.  But we’re hoping 2013 will be an even more exciting one, as more development projects move forward, with pods becoming a familiar sight in more cities around the world.

Fraser Brown
MD, Ultra Global

Recently, another fan, Rt Hon Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for International Development also hopped on board the pods, prior to beginning of his UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Ministerial Mission to Singapore, and Malaysia. The Minister was promoting the UK’s expertise in Smart Cities Technology, to solve problems relating to urban living – the pods are a shining example of this.

Norman Baker said of his visit; “it was great to see this revolutionary technology first hand and celebrate the positive impact it has had on reducing congestion at Heathrow over the past 18 months. This technology has the potential to be used on both a local and global level to reduce car dependency and make traveling easier in urban areas.”

Fraser Brown Ultra Managing Director at Heathrow said: “It was great to meet with both Ministers and show them the pod system. We are proud to celebrate an incredibly successful first 18 months of operation and we are pleased that the technology is of interest to a wide range of potential partners worldwide”.

The pods are an unmanned system of rechargeable automatic mini-taxis.  The Minister said of his first ever ride on a pod, “This is British engineering, design and execution at its best. This is a revolutionary, environmentally friendly transport system that’s easy and cost effective to install, pollution free and extremely fun to use.  It highlights the UK’s and Ultra Global’s ability in designing a world first and world beating new form of transport, moving large numbers of travellers, to exactly where and when they want to go.  This is exactly the sort of innovative system that I’ll be promoting on my forthcoming Far East Trade Mission.”

The Minister was accompanied on his ride by Fraser Brown, MD of Ultra Global PRT, the Bristol company that designed, engineered and runs the Heathrow pod at Heathrow’s T5.  The system, originating from Bristol University, has been in operation at the Airport for 18 months, carrying nearly 500,000 passengers and winning passenger plaudits and industry awards along the way.

Ultra Global is working with its Far East partner Fairwood  on an engineering feasibility study at Changi Airport, looking at connecting existing terminals and the new Terminal 4 building. In addition, Ultra has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with YTL of Malaysia and Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) and are working on opportunities in Kuala Lumpur, particularly in the town of Putrajaya.

The Ultra Global pod is world beating transport technology which can be easily installed, with minimal disruption or environmental impact, give existing cities with already established infrastructure/buildings real economic and social benefits in a sustainable way by solving ‘last mile’ solutions, which is what passengers want.

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Launched at Terminal 5 in April 2011, Heathrow pod is a network of 21 low-energy, battery powered, driverless, zero emission, transport vehicles. They carry four passengers and their luggage along a dedicated 3.8km guide way between the main terminal and its business car parks. Each pod is controlled by an internal computer and onboard sensor systems.

This year, the Pods will carry their ½ millionth passenger and continues to grow in popularity with several countries lining up to use the advanced technology. Work has started on the project to deliver the world’s first urban PRT system in Amritsar, India.

The Heathrow pod was showcased at the Global Business Summit on Infrastructure this year as an example of the best of British business to the world to develop strong international partnerships for future growth. The event drew delegates from Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Russia and Ghana.

For Ultra it is an honor to be recognized at the National Transport Awards, which follows on from our success in winning in the ‘Most Innovative Transport Project’ category at the London Transport Awards earlier in the year.

For more information on the awards click here.

Download the full CBI Business Voice article (pdf)

This article is taken from the September 2012 edition of Business Voice, the CBI magazine.  To read the original Ultra report on the exhibition, click here.

This builds on a successful year for Ultra: in early 2012, the Pods were awarded the top prize at the British Parking Awards for transport innovation, as well as a London Transport Award for Most Innovative Transport Project.

Further success was achieved at the Global Air Rail Awards, where Heathrow pod won the Innovation of the Year award, and most recently the pods have been announced as the winner of the Most Innovative Service at the Best in Britain awards of The Great Exhibition 2012.

Launched at Terminal 5 in April 2011, Heathrow pod is a network of 21 low-energy, battery powered, driverless, zero emission, transport vehicles. They carry four passengers and their luggage along a dedicated 3.8km guide way between the main terminal and its business car parks. Each pod is controlled by an internal computer and onboard sensor systems.

This year, the Pods will carry their ½ millionth passenger and continues to grow in popularity with several countries lining up to use the advanced technology. Work has started on the project to deliver the world’s first urban PRT system in Amritsar, India.

The Heathrow pod was showcased at the Global Business Summit on Infrastructure this year as an example of the best of British business to the world to develop strong international partnerships for future growth. The event drew delegates from Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Russia and Ghana.

For more information on the Light Rail Awards click here.