Cabinentaxi (personal rapid transit)

Cabinentaxi was a German personal rapid transit project, a joint venture of Mannesmann Demag and MBB. Cabinentaxi was the most extensive PRT development ever attempted at the time of its creation in the mid-1970s.

When it was cancelled, Cabinentaxi was considered fully developed by the German Government and its safety authorities. The German government had authorized it for export, installation in urban areas, and full passenger operation.

This extensive development created three PRT systems in one, a version running over the track, a version running under the track, and a combintation of both where the vehicles traveled both over and under the track, doubling route capacity.

Besides the PRT aspects of the technology, the system could "marry" pairs of two 12 passenger vehicles (24 passengers) and two 18 passenger vehicles (36 passengers,) to give the system flexibility in the early stages in which PRT networks were not yet mature, but higher capacity routes were desired.

The system also had versions of both the upper and lower running systems that could accomodate standing passengers, giving the technology the most adaptable urban transport technology up to that time.

Cabintaxi was considered one of the leading contenders for the US Downtown People Mover Program, and was widely recognized as the favorite system to win the Detroit People Mover Project.

For the Detroit project, the system's over-and-under beam was a major advantage over competitors as the City of Detroit specified a single beam system, and the Cabintaxi system was the only technology in the world capable of bi-directional operation on a single beam.

Unfortunately for the technology, the system was to be installed in Hamburg at the same time. The schedule for the US People Mover Program and the Hamburg application appeared to conflict. The Cabintaxi suppliers chose to withdraw from the US competition and concentrate their efforts on Hamburg.

The withdrawl aggravated officials of the German Government, the funding source, as the system had been developed as an export product. When the American Government requested increased defense spending by the NATO allies, it resulted in a mandatory funding cut to all departments of the German Government. The ministry of research and technology that was to fund the Hamburg project withdrew funding with a statement that among other things, the failure to pursue the export market – specificly Detroit, and the mandated budget cuts, led to the decision to stop the project.

The developing firms found themselves without a market opportunity in Europe or the United States, and withdrew from the public transit field. The United States firm of Cabintaxi Corporation obtained the technology shortly after the development team withdrew from the field, and continues to pursue private sector transportation applications based on this technology.