WVU PRT cars have traveled million of miles since first being put into operation as part of a pilot program in the 1970s, connecting the University’s Morgantown areas of campus. The system marks 50 years of service this year and will be celebrated with a series of special events. (WVU Illustration)
First built at West Virginia University as an experimental project, the iconic Personal Rapid Transit system, or PRT, is marking 50 years of transporting students, faculty and staff, and visitors across the Morgantown Campus.
The University will celebrate the milestone with a series of special events Nov. 3-8.
“The PRT is a quintessential and critical part of our campus community — a recognizable, bedrock piece of infrastructure that also stands as an ongoing example of the ingenuity that defines Mountaineers,” WVU President Michael T. Benson said.
“For generations, students, faculty and staff, and visitors have made their way to class, to sporting events, or to meet friends in the original PRT cars that run between the Downtown, Evansdale, and Health Sciences areas of campus along with downtown Morgantown as moving pieces of history.”
Initially funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation with design and construction from Boeing, the PRT holds a place in history as the first large-scale automated guideway transit system in the United States.
“There is no other system like this,” WVU Transportation Director Jeremy Evans said.
“When the PRT was built, the design life on it was estimated at 10 years. It’s really a testament to the people who work at the PRT — especially our maintenance staff — who have kept it running for these 50 years.”
The PRT system includes 67 rubber-tired, electrically powered vehicles that are built on a Dodge truck chassis. Cars travel at speeds of up to 33 mph on 8.7 miles of dedicated guideway between five stations: Walnut, Beechurst, Engineering, Towers and Health Sciences. The trip from end to end covers 4 miles in 11.5 minutes.
“Our on-demand service is really what sets us apart. You can get on any PRT vehicle, pick the destination you want to go to, and we’ll take you directly there and bypass all the other stations,” Evans said. “There are other similar systems, but you have to stop at every station, so we’re much more efficient and really the only ones that do it this way.”
Throughout its history, the PRT has helped reduce traffic congestion in Morgantown by providing more than 100 million passenger trips. On average, 12,000 riders take the PRT each day.
Despite the system’s age, the PRT’s reliability rate is regularly above 98% thanks to a dedicated staff of more than 30 managers, central control operators and maintenance workers.
“We take great pride in how well the PRT runs to serve our students which is very important to everyone here,” Evans said.
Members of the University community and the public are invited to help celebrate the PRT’s golden anniversary.
Key events include the following:
• As part of Mountaineer Week and the PRT’s anniversary celebrations, behind-the-scenes tours of PRT Central will be offered Nov. 6-7.
Each tour will give participants a look at the operations and technology that keep the transportation system running. Participants will meet at the Beechurst Station, where a PRT team member will gather the tour group to travel to PRT Central. Tours will last approximately 90 minutes and are limited to 20 people per group.
Tours are open to members of the University community and the public, but space is limited. Find tour registration information.
Parking is available in short-term University lots or City of Morgantown parking areas.
• The West Virginia and Regional History Center, located at the Downtown Library, will host a historical PRT display in the Atrium during regular business hours from Nov. 3 through the end of the year.
• The WVU Bookstore is hosting a special anniversary activation on Thursday, Nov. 6, and Friday, Nov. 7, that will include a walk-through photo history of the PRT and a retro-inspired PRT collection available for purchase. WVU Bookstore hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Follow @WestVirginiaU on Instagram, Facebook and X for other fun PRT anniversary events, and watch for the specially wrapped PRT car for photo opportunities and additional surprises.
In the next 50 years, with strategic investments — including needed updates to the original cars — Evans predicts the PRT will continue to evolve, tapping into new technologies to reaffirm the system’s original “ride of the future” designation.
“Possibilities include going to battery-powered vehicles that could someday allow us to take the PRT vehicle off the guideway and out into a dedicated lane somewhere and other places across campus and in town,” Evans said.
“Five decades later, the PRT experiment continues in really exciting, forward-thinking ways.”
Additional resources:
Watch “A Ride of the Future,” produced for WVU by Ellis Dungan in 1977.
Meet the WVU PRT supervisor who keeps campus moving.
-WVU-
sj/10/27/25
MEDIA CONTACT: Shauna Johnson
Executive Director of Strategic Communications
WVU Strategic Communications and Marketing
304-293-8302; sjohns13@mail.wvu.edu
Call 1-855-WVU-NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information from WVUToday.