Skip to main content
West Virginia University Personal Rapid Transit
PRT Hours
  • Home
  • About the PRT

About the PRT

The PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) transports about 15,000 riders per day and serves as the University's primary mass transit system for students, employees and visitors.

Overview

Originally a demonstration project and the first large-scale automated guideway transit system in the U.S., WVU's Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is an automated people mover that connects the three areas of the WVU Morgantown campus and the Morgantown central business district.

The PRT consists of a fleet of 69 electronically powered, rubber-tired vehicles that travel on 8.7 miles of dedicated guideway between five stations: Walnut, Beechurst, Engineering, Towers and Health Sciences.

Since opening in 1975, the PRT has provided over 83 million passenger trips and taken countless vehicles off Morgantown's busy streets. The PRT transports about 12,000 riders per day and serves as the University's primary mass transit system for students, employees and visitors.

PRT Facts

  1. The PRT first began passenger service in 1975.
  2. The PRT is a public transportation service that receives capital funding assistance from the Federal Transit Administration.
  3. Around 83 million people have traveled the PRT since 1975.
  4. Approximately 12,000 people ride the PRT during the school year every day.
  5. Since opening in 1975, the PRT has traveled approximately 35 million miles along its tracks.
  6. The system has 69 cars that are built on a Dodge truck chassis.
  7. Each car can accommodate 8 seated passengers and comfortably carry a total of about 15 passengers.
  8. The PRT can travel up to 30 mph.
  9. It takes 11.5 minutes to ride the entire length of the system from the Walnut Street Station Downtown to the Health Sciences Station.
  10. The car is powered by environmentally friendly electric motors!

PRT History

The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system was designed and developed in the early 1970s by Boeing. On Oct. 24, 1972, the first phase of the PRT was dedicated.

Phase I included 45 vehicles operating between Walnut Street and Evansdale. President Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia, was on board for one of the first demonstration rides.

Phase II extended the tracks to the Health Sciences Center and added 28 more vehicles by July 1979.

Samy Elias, a former industrial engineering professor, oversaw the development of the PRT concept in the 1970s. In June 2004, the WVU Board of Governors officially adopted a resolution to rename the Engineering PRT station after Elias.

A RIDE OF THE FUTURE

Watch this video from 1977 that explains the development of the PRT.

Photos From the Archive

Take a ride through the times to see snapshots of the PRT and WVU campus.

Archived Photo from Walnut Station
Archived Photo Near Walnut
Archived Photo of Entry Ramp to Downtown Campus
Archived Photo of PRT Car at Station
Archived Photo of PRT Leaving Station
Archived Photo of PRT Railways
Archived Photo of Railway
Archive Photo of Platform