Cabinentaxi was a German urban transit development project, undertaken by the joint venture of Mannesmann Demag and MBB under a program of the German BMFT (German Ministry of Research and Development.) Messerschmitt is a famous German aircraft manufacturer, known primarily for their World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262. ...

The BMFT had many transportation technology development efforts underway in this same time period, and the Cabintaxi program (English spelling) was by far the most extensive urban transit program that it managed. Significant within the transportation development programs of the BMFT was the direct involvement of the VOV (German Association of Public Transit Operators,) the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railway) and their safety experts. This assured that when system development was completed, the systems would meet German public transit standards when installed. While the core elements of the Cabintaxi system was based around the concepts that are considered PRT, the total range of the system's capabilities was broader with more urban application potential than just the origin-to-destination characteristics, and with hardware that would meet the world accepted, German transit standards. Plaque commemorating 5,000 kilometers of electrification. ...

In the PRT mode, the Cabintaxi technology logged over 400,000 miles of vehicle operations from 1975 to 1978. In 1977 the system completed, fleet operation endurance testing, of 7500 continuous vehicle hours, and again in 1978, of 10,000 continuous vehicle hours, for a total of 17,500 vehicle hours of, PRT fleet endurance testing. The fleet was made up, at its maximum in this time period, of 24 operating vehicles over two levels. The Cabintaxi endurance tests are the only PRT fleet endurance test of these magnitudes ever carried out successfully with vehicle separations under 3 seconds. Older children can use personal rapid transit without adult help. ...

The Cabintaxi "development program" was considered successful by the German Government and its safety authorities. In 1979, the German government had authorized it for urban transit applications in German cities, and was moving forward for funding of its first application planned in the city of Hamburg. The initial system was to be approximately 7.5 miles of over and under guideway with 11 statioins and 50 vehicles. The total system costs for this initial instalation was estimated by the Hamburg Hochbahn in 1977 to be $56,568,000 or $7.5 million per double lane mile. These were not the final system costs which would have only been determined after construction, and cost increases were experienced as the project neared the start of construction. Position of Hamburg in Germany Hamburgs central broadway Jungfernstieg at the Alster lake, between 1900 and 1914 This article is about the city in Germany. ...

The Cabintaxi development created three PRT systems in one, a version running over the track, a version running under the track, and a combination 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 operate "married pairs" (two independent vehicles coupled to be considered one unit) of two 12-passenger vehicles (24 passenger units) and two 18-passenger vehicles (36 passenger units) to give the system flexibility in the early stages in which PRT networks were not yet mature, but higher capacity routes were desired.

All versions of the Cabintaxi technoloy were based around the same guideway/vehicle design. The system also had versions of both the upper and lower running systems that could accommodate standing passengers, providing the Cabintaxi family of systems with the widest application flexibility of any urban transit technology ever developed.

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. This article refers to the largest city of Michigan. ...

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 schedule for the Detroit People Mover Program and the Hamburg application appeared to conflict, and, because of this, the Cabintaxi joint venture chose to withdraw from the US competition and concentrate on Hamburg - where the system was being funded for installion as a follow-on to its successful development.

The withdrawal aggravated officials of the German Government, the funding source, as the system had been developed with expectation that it would be a significant export product. Further, 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 withdrew funding for the Hamburg project with a statement that among other things, the failure to pursue the export market - specifically Detroit, and the mandated budget cuts, led to its decision.

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.

External links

• Cabinentaxi Website