West Virginia Universitys Personal Rapid Transit will be closed May 6-21 for routine maintenance.


PRT employees will be testing high-voltage electrical cables that propel the 72 computer-controlled cars over 3.8 miles of guideway between Walnut Street in downtown Morgantown and the Health Sciences Center.


“Basically, this is preventive maintenance,”said Bob Hendershot, assistant director of Public Safety and Transportation Services.”Typically, the PRT doesnt run between semesters anyway, so were taking this opportunity to test the cables.”


Hendershot said the testing involves sending high electrical surges through the cables to detect any weak spots.


“The testing takes two days to complete,”he said.”If there is a problem, it takes another one to two days to locate and repair the problem. If there are several problems, it can take longer. Because it can be very time-consuming, we prefer to do the testing between semesters.”


The PRT will be running two times during this hiatus: Saturday, May 12, for Alumni Day and Sunday, May 13, for Commencement.


Rides will resume when the first semester of summer school begins Tuesday, May 22. The PRT s summer schedule is 6:30 a.m.-6:15 p.m. weekdays and 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays.


The PRT began running in 1972 as a model alternative mass transit system. About 16,000 students, WVU employees and Morgantown residents ride the PRT on an average school day, and 1.5 million people use it throughout the year.