“Hi Mr Brown,

I am writing to say congratulations regarding the Pod.  It is fantastic.

My wife and I and father and mother in law  (69 and 72 respectively) used the pod for the first time last week and we were all extremely impressed with what has been created.  They really couldn’t get over that it actually existed and it was operating and was there to be of benefit to them.  It really was the perfect start to our short break.

We had all missed the press coverage when it went live last September so when we got to the car park it took us some time to believe that it was real.  It reminded me of something depicted in the 1970’s film Logan’s Run.

Far too often in the UK clever ideas and schemes are proposed but never seem to get past the planning stage or become diluted from the original idea; but the Pods are truly something to be proud of.  They are not a gimmick, they are not work in progress, they are not out of date or unnecessary before they are finished.  They are one of the most simple, environmentally friendly and useful engineering ideas I have ever seen and feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to have used it.  The idea of having to use an (often crowded) bus to get me from airport parking to the terminal is something I wish I wouldn’t have to do again.

The whole experience was faultless and I have no negative comments regarding any of it.  Have you considered solar panels in the Pods roof to assist with the vehicle recharging?

On our return journey a nice young lady handed us 1^st anniversary pins, pens and a USB stick (this confused my father and mother in law no end), this made using the Pod even more special.

When I use Terminal 5 again I will definitely be using the Business Parking specifically because of the Pod.

I hope you and your company every success in the future and I look forward to seeing the Pod expanded at Heathrow and hopefully into as many airports as possible.

Best Regards,

I.C.”

Step forward the Heathrow pod, celebrating its first year in passenger service.

The 21 electric powered, driverless, emissions free, 4 person vehicles, programmable to go where/when you want, have had a major impact on passengers and operator Heathrow Airport Ltd (HAL).

The creation of Ultra Global PRT, the Heathrow pod system operates 22 hours weekdays, 20 hours on Saturdays, 21 hours on Sundays – longer periods than many other public transport systems.

It also differs in using 70 per cent less energy per passenger to power than a car, and 50 per cent less than a bus. Since May 7, the pods have replaced the T5 Business Car  park buses, saving over 50,000 bus passenger journey’s, removing 200 tonnes of CO2.

For those who bemoan the time spent waiting for the next bus/train/tube or their dependability, listen to this – pod users turn up at a station, programme their pod, hop in and are off – usually within 30 seconds.  And with a reliability of over 99%, they leave other transport modes standing – literally.

Indeed, athletes and spectators arriving at Heathrow for the Olympics this summer will find the pods sprinting off the blocks (at 40km/25mph), working in relay, without any stopping or waiting, to take them onwards in their search for medal glory.

In the last few months the Heathrow pod has been garnered with awards from London Transport Times and the Business Parking Awards 2012.

If more proof of the success of the system is needed, an Ultra Global PRT pod system over ten times larger than the one at Heathrow is being installed at Amritsar, India, making it the World’s largest urban PRT system.  Featuring an 8km route with 240 vehicles, it will carry up to 100,000 passengers per day. The foundation stone was laid December 11 2011, with completion due late 2014.

With detailed feasibility work for potential expansion to T1, T2 and T3 being undertaken, a fully operating system at Heathrow Airport, a system under construction in Amritsar India and under consideration at several American and RoW locations – it really is a Happy Birthday for Ultra Global PRT and the Heathrow pod. Here’s to many more to come.

For this and other videos, please visit our video archive

Below you can see some extracts from articles published highlighting Ultra Global’s achievements:

Futuristic parking, now

Parking Review, 01/04/2012, p.6, Unattributed
These capsules, or pods, are part of a passenger rapid transport (PRT) system
that the airport’s operator, BAA, believes will become increasingly common in
the future.

Ensuring happy landings

Parking Review, 01/04/2012, p.13, Unattributed
Andy Cameron joined BAA three-and-a-half years ago as a retail operations
manager. Prior to that he was a store and area manager for Dixons Retail Group,
a role which gave him a solid grasp of retail operation as well as a strong
customer focus and service ethos.

Heathrow’s Ultra Pod PRT wins top award for parking innovation

New Transit, 01/03/2012, p.13, Unattributed
Heathrow’s Ultra Pod PRT wins top award for parking innovation MAR 14 The
Driverless electric transport ‘pod’ PRT People Mover system that shuttles
passengers between Heathrow Terminal 5 and the BAA airport’s business car parks
has won the top prize at the British Parking Awards 2012, which took place in
London on 9 March.

The best of the best…

Parking Review, 01/04/2012, p.4, Unattributed
A network of driverless electric pods that shuttle passengers between Heathrow
Terminal 5 and the BAA airport’s business car parks has won the top prize at
the British Parking Awards 2012, which took place at a lunch hosted by
Alexander Armstrong in London on 9 March.

The awards are a celebration of parking excellence

Parking Review, 01/04/2012, p.5, Unattributed
Equita Overall Winner Heathrow Ultra Global PRT & BAA.

Top of the pods scoop for ultra

Parking News, 01/04/2012, p.8, Unattributed
A network of driverless electric pods that shuttle passengers between Heathrow
Terminal 5 and the BAA airport’s business car parks swept the board at the
British Parking Awards 2012, which took place at a lunch hosted by comedian
Alexander Armstrong in London. The Ultra Pod system won the Equita Overall
Winner Award, having already scooped an Innovation Award and the Parking and
the Environment Award.

And the winner was…

Parking Review, 01/04/2012, p.3, Mark Moran
And the winner was… A network of driverless electric pods that shuttle
passengers between Heathrow Terminal 5 and the BAA airport’s business car
parks, which has won the top prize at Parking Review’s British Parking Awards
2012, which took place at a lunch hosted by Alexander Armstrong in London on 9
March.

Back to the future

Project, 01/04/2012, p.28, Sarah Speight
In 2005, BAA asked British developer Ultra to build the groundbreaking pod
system at Heathrow. But at that point, the pods were just a concept, and much
work still needed to be done. David explains: “Ultra brought the idea, but
they needed to take it to production. They had a test track in Cardiff, and had
some pretty clear ideas of what they wanted it to be, but it still needed work
and energy to take it to what you see now.”

The proposed path of the track would loop around an area from North Hills at Six Forks Road to Duke Raleigh Hospital on Wake Forest Road.

“We believe midtown is the ideal model test location,” Martha Grove Hipskind, executive director of the business group, said. “You would be able to come to midtown and try transportation that only seemed like a dream.”

Read the rest of the article here.

See the news report here.

The standards place great emphasis on making quality management systems closer to the processes of organizations and on continual improvement.  As a result, they direct users to the achievement of business results, including the satisfaction of customers and other interested parties.

Gaining the ISO certification is testament to all of Ultra’s employees and highlights the dedication to adopting quality management systems, and striving for continuous improvement throughout all levels of the organisation.

Judged by a panel of industry experts, the prestigious Awards recognize excellence in transport, rewarding successful innovation and progress for transport initiatives. Ultra beat off competition from larger, well known names to clinch the title.

Ultra Global PRT, a small Bristol based company designed and implemented the Heathrow pod system of 21 battery powered, driverless, zero emission vehicles capable of carrying more than half a million passengers each year along a dedicated 3.8km guide way.

They have proved hugely popular with passengers, BAA (Heathrow’s owners) and media around the world.  Their innovative benefits have been recognized by the Punjabi Government, which has commissioned Ultra Global PRT and their partner, Fairwood to build a much larger system (240 pods, 8km guideway) in Amritsar, India, due to go live in 2014.

Fraser Brown Ultra Managing Director at Heathrow said: “We are delighted to have our pioneering and innovative system recognized by the industry at the London Transport Awards. Passenger feedback on the Pods has been excellent since their launch at Heathrow a year ago. We are now implementing this pioneering and revolutionary British technology in other parts of the world to improve passenger transport, emissions, noise and the cost of providing modern public transport in the 21st century.”

Awards Press Release (opens in a new window):

http://www.transporttimesevents.co.uk/news.php/INSPIRING-TRANSPORT-PROJECTS-REWARDED-AT-LONDON-TRANSPORT-AWARDS-CEREMONY-26/

Heathrow’s car parking team celebrated a clean sweep at this year’s British Parking Awards, winning four trophies including The Equita Overall Award, at the event held in London (Friday 9th March).

Now in its 11th year the annual competition – supported by the British Parking Association (BPA) – rewards the best in car park management, design and service. The UK’s largest hub airport walked away with The Equita Overall Award – which recognizes the ‘Best of the Best’ in car park management – plus both the Parking & the Environment Award and the Innovation Award for its revolutionary Heathrow Pods which transport passengers between Terminal 5 and the nearby Business Car Park.

The awards were a personal triumph too for Andy Cameron, BAA Retail Operations Manager for Car Parks, who was awarded Parking Person of the Year after three and a half years of service at BAA.

The Heathrow Pods were developed by British company Ultra PRT and designed to eliminate more than 50,000 bus journeys on Heathrow’s roads each year. The system consists of 21 battery powered, driverless, zero emission vehicles capable of carrying more than half a million Heathrow passengers each year along a dedicated 3.8km guide way.

The BPA judges commended the environmentally friendly system which uses 70 per cent less energy than it takes to power a car, and 50 per cent less than a bus, ensuring passengers’ journey time to and from the terminal is congestion free. The on-demand system has been hailed a success by passengers who scored the pods 4.7/5 in a recent satisfaction survey*.

Andy Cameron oversees the maintenance and running of the 14 short and long stay car parks at Heathrow Airport, which have a capacity for 42,000 cars and vehicles in total, and is responsible for introducing car parking services to help improve passenger experience such as the Heathrow Service center and new valet parking areas. Andy recently oversaw the implementation of family car parking bays into all of Heathrow’s Long Stay car parks as part of Heathrow’s ongoing commitment to making the journeys of passengers traveling with children better.

Fraser Brown Ultra Managing Director at Heathrow said: ‘We are thrilled that Heathrow’s car parking offering has been celebrated and rewarded at the prestigious British Parking Awards. We are committed to making our passengers’ experiences within our car parks more efficient and meeting their needs and we are delighted that our latest car parking initiatives have achieved public recognition.”

Click here to download the press release.

The Climate Week Awards celebrate the UK’s most innovative, effective, and ambitious organisations, communities and individuals and their outstanding efforts to combat climate change. Together, the winners and finalists of the Climate Week Awards offer powerful illustrations of what can be achieved to make Britain a more sustainable, low-carbon society. By celebrating the very best innovations, practices and leadership, the Awards aim to inspire more people and organisations to take crucial steps for tackling climate change.

Being shortlisted in the Best Product category is great news for Ultra, as it highlights the huge positive impact we make on the environment. The complete shortlist can be found by clicking here.