With Masdar being a huge draw towards domestic and foreign VIP’s, we are in the fortunate situation of the visitors experiencing our product. Some of the visits unfortunately don’t even get the same amount of attention, but many prime ministers have enjoyed a ride on the system (e.g. recently Turkey).

However, it is important to realize that the costs of the vehicles is irrelevant. It is the costs of the system that matter and should be compared. Vehicles are just one part of the system, the infrastructure and services need to be taken into consideration as well. The infrastructure will normally be at least 50% of the total costs of the system, thus reducing the significance of the vehicle costs. As such 2getthere will only supply information on complete systems to interested parties. As a rule of thumb it can be stated that a system would cost between 8 and 10 million euro per kilometer.

At the Rivium application in Rotterdam, the system operates from 06.00 until 21.00 on weekdays only. During each shift only one operator is present to monitor the operations of the 6 vehicles. Additionaly there is one supervisor present during the day who performs visual inspections and small maintenance. The staff consists of 4 people in total (the 4th resource being required to cover sick-leave, holidays and other eventualities).

At the Masdar application the system is operational 7 days a week, 18 hours per day. The staff from year 1 to year 2 has been reduced from 10 people to 8 people as this was proven possible in the operations in the first year. At any time there will be two people present at the facility to ensure that if any disturbances occur these can be properly addressed.

Is it going to be built somewhere else?