WVU Personal Rapid Transit

The PRT was conceived in the early 1970s, when the federal government was funding experiments in new forms of urban transit and West Virginia University faced a real problem: its campuses were spread across steep hills and separated by a congested downtown, making it hard for students to get from class to class. A demonstration project promised a solution and a showcase for a bold new technology.

The system that resulted was one of the first automated, driverless transit systems anywhere. Small computer-controlled cars, each holding a modest number of passengers, run along a dedicated elevated guideway, stopping at stations on request rather than following a fixed schedule of stops. In its day it was hailed as a vision of the transit future, and it drew engineers and planners from around the world to study it.

Rather than running like a fixed train, the PRT works more on demand. A passenger enters a station and selects a destination, and cars are dispatched along the guideway to carry riders where they want to go, in many cases running non-stop between the origin and destination stations. The cars are electric, automated, and controlled by a central computer system rather than drivers.

The elevated guideway carries the cars over Morgantown's difficult terrain and around its downtown congestion, connecting the historic downtown campus with the newer Evansdale campus and other points across the city. For students, it turns a slow, hilly trip into a quick ride, and it has become an essential part of daily life at the university.

Many of the ambitious automated-transit experiments of the 1970s were eventually shut down or never expanded, but Morgantown's PRT endured. It has been repaired, modernized, and updated over the decades to keep it running, and it remains a working transit system rather than a museum piece, carrying students year after year. That longevity has made it a point of local pride and a genuine landmark of the city.

The system's quirks are part of its charm. Generations of WVU students have their own stories of the PRT, and its distinctive cars and stations are as much a part of the campus identity as the clock tower of Woodburn Hall. For a visitor, riding it is a chance to experience a piece of living transit history that most cities only dreamed of.

The PRT is inseparable from Morgantown, the spirited college town that grew along the Monongahela River and up its surrounding hills. The university shapes the city's rhythm and energy, and the transit system was built precisely to knit its scattered campuses together across that difficult ground. The river valley setting gives the elevated guideway some fine views along its route.

The Monongahela valley was ancestral homeland and shared hunting ground of the Lenape, the Shawnee, and the Haudenosaunee, who traveled and hunted the river corridor long before the town and university rose. None of those nations is federally recognized in West Virginia today, and their descendant nations continue in other states, but the river valley they knew still shapes the city the PRT crosses.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

The WVU Personal Rapid Transit, in Morgantown, West Virginia, is a unique and pioneering automated transit system that has connected the campuses of West Virginia University and downtown Morgantown for decades. Often simply called the PRT, this innovative system uses small, driverless, computer-controlled electric cars that travel on an elevated guideway, carrying passengers between stations on demand, one of the first systems of its kind in the world. A beloved and quirky local institution, the PRT is both practical transportation and a fascinating piece of transit history. With its pioneering driverless cars, the WVU Personal Rapid Transit offers a fascinating destination in West Virginia.

The WVU Personal Rapid Transit works using small, automated, driverless electric cars that run on an elevated concrete guideway connecting several stations across the university campuses and downtown Morgantown. Passengers select their destination at the station, and the computer-controlled cars carry them there, often nonstop, in a system that blends features of a personal car and public transit, a novel idea when it was built decades ago. Riding the quirky driverless cars is a fun and unique experience. This pioneering automated system makes the WVU Personal Rapid Transit a fascinating ride in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Yes, visitors can ride the WVU Personal Rapid Transit, which is open to the public for a small fare, offering a fun and novel way to experience Morgantown and the university while riding the pioneering driverless system. The PRT typically operates on a schedule tied to the university, running most heavily when classes are in session and on more limited hours at other times, so checking the current operating schedule before you go is wise. Riding the unique automated cars is a memorable experience. This accessible, quirky ride makes the WVU Personal Rapid Transit a fun stop in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The WVU Personal Rapid Transit typically runs on the fullest schedule when the university is in session during the academic year, with more limited hours during breaks, weekends, and summer, so checking the current operating schedule before you go is wise to be sure it is running. Riding it is enjoyable any time it operates, in any weather, as the cars and stations are enclosed. For the best chance to ride, aim for a weekday during the university's academic year and check the schedule for the WVU Personal Rapid Transit in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The WVU Personal Rapid Transit is in Morgantown in northern West Virginia, connecting the West Virginia University campuses and downtown, near Woodburn Hall, within reach of Coopers Rock State Forest, Cheat Lake, and Pricketts Fort State Park near Fairmont. That makes the WVU Personal Rapid Transit a fascinating stop to combine with Woodburn Hall, Coopers Rock State Forest, and the other attractions of the Morgantown area on a visit to West Virginia.