​People in Bath are being invited to have their say on a futuristic transport system that would see pods on tracks above the ground criss-crossing cities.

A project funded by the European Commission is using Bath to test the idea of personal rapid transit - driverless electric vehicles which would revolutionise the way we move around.

Potential designs and routes were exhibited in Bath last year as part of the ULTra PRT scheme, and now university academics are staging a workshop to explore public perceptions in more detail.

Bath is being used as a hypothetical setting for the concept, which would be similar to a system already built at Heathrow Airport.

The workshop is being organised by the Centre for Transport & Society at the University of the West of England in Bristol, which is looking for around 40 Bath residents to take part.

It will be held at a venue in the centre of Bath from 10am to 2pm on Saturday June 26, with lunch, refreshments and a store voucher being given in return for people’s time.

The team is looking for non-experts for the workshop rather than people with a particular interest in or knowledge of transport.

Professor Graham Parkhurst of the Faculty of Environment and Technology at the university said: “People could say now that this will never happen, but whether they’ll be saying the same thing in ten years’ time if oil prices have soared is a different matter.”

He added: “We want to explore in detail with members of the public how they perceive the system and what would be the advantages and disadvantages.”

Prof Parkhurst said he and his colleagues particularly wanted to discuss people’s views on issues such as personal safety - whether they would be happy to share a pod, and on how flexible the system would need to be to be attractive.

“It could never be literally door-to-door but we hope it would offer a more individual and personal service than public transport already offers,” he said.

The work is being funded as part of the Civitas programme which is also part-funding Bath and North East Somerset Council to look at other transport ideas, such as a new freight drop-off depot for the city.

Bath has been chosen to allow experts to assess the potential for an environmentally-friendly system in a location which is historically sensitive.

The hypothetical network mapped out so far consists of a single 3.5km (2.2 mile) loop, with nine stations - each of which would be less than a four-minute walk from anywhere in the city centre.

There has also been consideration of extending the system as far as the University of Bath and the Royal United Hospital.

To find out more about the workshop, contact Julie Triggle by phone on 0117 3283209 or email julie.triggle@uwe.ac.uk