How to use MAIT ?

MAIT offers a large variety of modes to transport passengers and freight (see Section 1.4). Below the details of passenger transport are explained. Even though the mechanics and control of the system are complex and its form and appearance quite diverse, operation is simple. The user first needs to purchase his personal MAIT card from one of the MAIT user-services ⁴. The user-service is then the correspondence partner for the MAIT user from the booking on until payment, and subsequently each time he makes use of the MAIT card (see also Section 1.4). Equipped with one's card, the user can travel on MAIT by following the three steps listed below:

Step 1:

Specification of destination and, if desired, travel-options.

The user identifies themselves by inserting his MAIT card into the MAIT terminal which is located near MAIT stops (see Fig. 9(a)). The destination is then programmed at this terminal. Alternatively, a trip can be specified and booked in advance on any computer via Internet⁵. It is also possible to specify default options (see Section 1.4.2). If the default destination is used step 1 can be skipped. See the example in Section 2.1.

Step 2:

Entering an available vehicle.

At the MAIT stop (see Fig 9(a)), the user inserts his MAIT card into a slot beside the door of an available MAIT vehicle. Like taxis, MAIT vehicles are either by chance available at MAIT stops or they can be ordered in advance during Step 1. A vehicle signals its availability with a blinking green light beside the door. For visually impaired persons, the door also buzzes. The door of the vehicle opens and the user can take a seat along with accompanying passengers and their bags or shopping chart.

Inside the cabin, a display shows the destination of the present trip. The doors close after a moment and the voyage begins. The user has the option to interrupt travel at any time by pushing the ``interrupt'' button. For example, if the displayed destination station is not the correct one then the user presses the interrupt'' button. In this case the vehicle stops at the next MAIT stop. The user has also the possibility to reselect a destination by means of the user terminal inside the cabin.

Step 3:

Leaving the MAIT -vehicle.

After arriving at the destination station, the user vacates the vehicle. The door closes after the vehicle is empty and the user takes back his MAIT card from the slot.

This is generally how MAIT is operated. Following are some examples of MAIT trips.

Case 1: simple trip

On a straightforward ride with MAIT , a passengers get on an unbooked available MAIT vehicle and travel to their destination. This example trip begins at a MAIT stop at the main entrance of a down-town shopping center and the destination is a road-carrier stop in front of the passenger's home in a more sparsely populated residential suburb. A high speed, high capacity guideway, as presented in Section 1.3.2, will take the user out of town. The guideway network, however, does not reach each house in the residential neighborhood so, the cabin, including passenger, is moved from the guideway-carrier to a road-carrier with wheels as shown in Fig. 5. This new carrier then brings the passengers via ordinary roads to their destination.

Figure 9: Case 1: a simple trip with MAIT : (a) the trip starts at a MAIT off-line stop on an elevated guideway. The platform is accessed by an elevator. A MAIT terminal is available on the platform to program a destination stop. At this stop there is space for a maximum of three vehicles. (b) The three vehicles are leaving in block-configuration similar to a metro. If there is low demand, vehicles can leave one at a time. (c) Carrier exchange. Empty road-carriers are waiting to be loaded with cabins from guideway-carriers. (d) Cabin arrives at an off-line MAIT stop on a road carrier. For details see text.

(a)	(b)
(c)	(d)

Three steps are required for the user to make an entire MAIT trip as explained at the beginning of Section 2. Here again are these three user-steps only they are now applied to the present case-study:

Step 1:

The user proceeds to the MAIT stop shown in Fig. 9(a). It is an off-line stop on an elevated guideway-track system. An elevator moves passengers up to the platform where empty vehicles are waiting. On the platform the user has two choices.

• The user chooses the default destination: in this case, the user can pass directly to Step 2. The user has the option to set or change this default destination at any time at a MAIT terminal, via Internet, by phone, or through offices of their user-service. The MAIT vehicle will always take the user to the default destination unless another destination is explicitly specified.

• The user wants to choose a destination different from the default destination. In this case he inserts the MAIT card into the MAIT terminal which is right on the platform (see Fig 9(a)). The terminal prompts for the number that corresponds with the new destination stop. The user inserts the stop-number and takes back his card.

Step 2:

The user checks which one of the waiting vehicles (see Fig. 9(a)) is available. Cabins signal their availability with buzzing, and a blinking green light just beside the door, close to the slot for the MAIT card. Usually the first empty vehicle in the queue of waiting vehicles is signaling its availability. Inserting the card into the slot of the available vehicle opens the door to the cabin and the passenger can now take a seat. Passengers may also travel in small groups and as many passengers can enter the cabin as there are seats (usually 5). Co-passengers do not pay extra, just like with taxis.

The destination station is displayed on a terminal inside the vehicle. At this point, the doors are still open and the user can choose to leave the cabin and take back his travel card from the slot. After a moment, the cabin attempts to close the door. The doors can be kept open or reopened by pressing the ``open door'' button which is placed inside the cabin beside the door. This is similar to the operation of an elevator

Since the station shown in Fig. 9(a) is situated in a busy city center, MAIT will wait until all three vehicles are occupied with people. Then all vehicles will start moving simultaneously, leaving the station in block formation as illustrated in Fig. 9(b). This behavior has proved to be most efficient in terms of traffic throughput [4]. During off-peak times the first occupied vehicle in the queue will start as soon as the doors have been closed.

The vehicle moves along the guideway towards the destination and during the trip no further user-system interaction is required. However, the user always has the option to press the ``interrupt'' button, in which case the vehicle will stop at the next MAIT -stop.

As mentioned above, we assume that the trip will end in a residential neighborhood and that the guideway-carrier will need to be exchanged for a road-carrier. The carrier exchange is illustrated in Figs.9(c). The guideway-carrier with cabin rolls beside an empty road-carrier and stops there. The cabin is then moved sideways from the guideway-carrier onto the road-carrier ⁶. After the exchange, the road-carrier brings the user to his final destination and the now empty guideway-carrier begins searching for another cabin to be transported. The carrier exchange process is fully automated so passengers remain in the cabin during the exchanges.

Step 3:

After arrival at the destination station the door opens and all passengers exit the cabin with their bags. The user takes back the travel card from the slot outside the cabin, the door closes, and the empty vehicle moves ahead. After removal of the MAIT card from the slot, the user-service determines the total cost of the trip and bills the bank account associated with the travel card.

Case 2: a booked trip

Both passenger and freight MAIT vehicles can be reserved in advance. There are two advantages to booking MAIT vehicles:

• vehicles are ready when needed.
• passengers receive a discount for reserving in advance. When the MAIT computer network is given information in advance it can better predict demand, allocate resources, and distribute empty vehicles. The consequence of this increased system efficiency is higher mean-usage of vehicles and thus lower overall operating costs which, in turn, results in lower prices for the user. Similar cost structures exist in airline ticketing.

Case-study 2 describes a booked MAIT trip from a passenger's home address in one residential area (subsequently called ``Home'') to a friends place (subsequently called ``Joe'') in another residential area which is located at the opposite side of the city. The stop-names ``Home'' and ``Joe'' are user-defined and can be selected instead of the number of the corresponding destination stop because names are easier to remember. The focus of Case-study 2 is on the booking process. As in Case 1 the three user-steps are described in detail:

Step 1:

The user proceeds to either a MAIT -terminal or a computer connected to the Internet. In both cases the user connects to his user-service. The user identifies himself either by inserting a MAIT card into the MAIT terminal or by entering his user-ID in the computer. The user can then determine how many, and which type of cabins, should be at which MAIT stop at what time and with what destination. In this case the user orders an ordinary cabin to be at stop ``Home'' at 9:00am, destined for stop ``Joe''.

Not all MAIT stops can be booked in advance such as the stop in Case 1 (Fig. 9(a)) which is a busy station downtown with a high throughput. There, a booked vehicle waiting for the user would block other cabins. In general only off-line stations, that have spaces for single vehicles, can be booked. A typical bookable stop is shown in Fig. 9(d).

Step 2:

At 9:00 the booked vehicle is waiting at stop ``Home''. A small display beside the door indicates the user-ID of the costumer who booked this vehicle. The user approaches the vehicle; inserts his MAIT card; the vehicles door opens, and the user enters. If a different user wants to access the booked vehicle its door will not open. If the user does not arrive at 9:00, the vehicle will wait. After a certain time, which can also be specified by the booking, the vehicle will leave the stop without its passenger. The users pay a price for each booking, whether they actually take the ride or not. As far as the user-system interaction goes, the trip will be identical to the one described in Case 1 from now on: the destination station ``Joe'' is displayed on a terminal inside the vehicle, the doors close after a moment and the vehicle starts moving.

As mentioned above, the trip in Case 2 begins in a residential area so the cabin starts on a road-carrier and later exchanges for a faster guideway-carrier, as sketched in Fig 9(c), but in reverse order. Since stop ``Joe'' is also located in a residential area, the cabin will need to change again. This time from the guideway-carrier to the road-carrier as shown in Fig 9(c).

Step 3:

After arriving at the destination station the door opens and the user exits the cabin. He then takes back the travel card from the slot outside the cabin.

From the operational point of view the trips in Case 1 and Case 2 are identical, except for the preprogramming of destination and travel options during Step 1. The available options, such as the type or number of cabins, and the way they are selected during Step 1 depends on the user-service.