User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Buses World News: September 2006
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Buses World News

In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry

26.9.06

Solutions - USA - New buses may help city'sstruggling transit service

Lynchburg,VA,USA -The Lynchburg News and Advance, by Conor Reilly -Sept 24, 2006: -- Public transit is Lynchburg is struggling with deficits and bus-maintenance problems that often leave paying customers without a reliable way to get to work or to the doctor... But there may be several solutions, both long-term and short-term, that could strengthen a system that many of the city’s working poor depend upon... Those interviews and documents show that the GLTC faces severe maintenance issues and growing costs to provide service, including rising fuel prices... Part of GLTC’s maintenance woes stems from an aging bus fleet. A total of 14 of the city’s 29 buses are nine years old or older. Towing alone has cost $8,000 over the past 18 months... GLTC General Manager Mike Carroll said he is looking to purchase new diesel-hybrid vehicles, then phase out the older buses that are prone to breakdowns. He hopes to have those buses on the road by next summer...

posted by Unknown @ 5:52 PM  0 Comments

TechnoNews II - USA - Mentor topology router automaps buses

Santa Cruz, Calif,USA -East Bay Business Times (Contra Costa,CAL), by Richard Goering -25 Sept 2006: -- Autorouters can route pc boards quickly, but they don't have the designer's ability to step back and see patterns. With the rollout of a bus topology planner and router this week, Mentor Graphics Corp. is claiming a breakthrough in which autorouting rivals the quality of manual pc-board layout... The new technology, available around the end of 2006 with Mentor's Expedition and Board Station design flows, has two applications. The first is a topology planner used by engineers to plan and optimize bus systems and subsystem interconnects. The second is a topology router that enables the board designer to automatically route the bus connections...

posted by Unknown @ 5:46 PM  0 Comments

Security - Canada - Ottawa buses may soon get cameras

Ottawa,Ontario,Canada -CBC News -Sept 25, 2006: -- Ottawa's acting transit director says she's "very optimistic" that a third of OC Transpo's bus fleet could be equipped with surveillance cameras as early as winter... Helen Gault's said the plan is to install cameras on 330 buses, including all night routes... While the cameras would not be monitored, Gault said police could use the captured video as evidence. She said she hopes the cameras will act as a deterrent...

posted by Unknown @ 5:37 PM  0 Comments

TechnoNews - Australia - Green light for bus plan

Sydney,New South Wales,Australia -Sydney Morning Herald, by Jonathan Pearlman -Sept 26, 2006: -- Buses will be linked via satellite to traffic lights to allow them to rush through traffic if they are running late, the State Government has announced... The Transport Minister, John Watkins, said the technology would also allow buses to be fast-tracked through heavy traffic and given priority at major intersections... About 4000 private and government buses will be fitted with GPS tracking devices which will allow the Roads and Traffic Authority's traffic management centre to monitor punctuality and adjust traffic signals to give buses a faster passage...

posted by Unknown @ 5:06 PM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS DRIVERS WORLDWIDE

* UK - 30 passengers hurt as bus overturns
Huddersfield ,UK -Guardian Unlimited/Press Association -Sept 25, 2006: -- Around 30 people were taken to hospital when a bus veered off a road and overturned... It is believed the vehicle left the road and collided with a garage and a wall before overturning in a garden... A police spokeswoman added: "Around 30 people have been taken to hospital. Most have minor injuries. One person is more seriously hurt."...

* USA - 25 people injured in Detroit bus crash
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit Free Press, by Zachary Gorchow -Sep. 25, 2006: -- William Richardson was sitting on the steps of a Detroit church Monday morning when he noticed two buses, one following closely behind the other... At 10:55 a.m., the Detroit Department of Transportation bus slammed into the rear of a coach from the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation. The windshield on the passenger side of the DDOT bus exploded and smoke began rising from the SMART bus as the stench of leaking fuel filled the air... The driver of the DDOT bus, who was among those seriously injured, was suspended Monday as a matter of protocol pending the outcome of an investigation and a test for alcohol and drug use, said James Canning, a spokesman for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick... (Photo by Daniel Mears, The Detroit News - An inspector checks a Detroit Department of Transportation bus that rear-ended a Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation bus on Woodward)

* Ecuador - Bus crash kills 47
Quito, Ecuador -El Comercio newspaper/UPI -Sep 25, 2006: -- Nearly four dozen people were killed when a bus crashed outside the Ecuadorian capital, reported Monday... In all, 47 people were killed over the weekend when the bus reportedly flipped over while traveling along a winding mountain road near Quito. Among those killed were 17 children... The passengers were all believed to be family members and close friends who hired the bus for a group trip... Officials said it was the worst auto accident in the country in recent history...

posted by Unknown @ 5:06 PM  0 Comments

Report - UK - Rocky road for buses as passengers switch to cars

London,UK -The Times, by Ben Webster -Sept 25, 2006: -- Thousands of daily bus services will be scrapped and fares will rise by 20 per cent during the next decade in a continuing exodus from public transport to the car, a report has found... The Government is falling well short of its official target of increasing bus use in every region. Passenger numbers are declining in every large city apart from London, the only area where services remain under public control... Fares have increased by 86 per cent above inflation since 1986 and passengers have fallen by half in those cities. By contrast, the cost of motoring has remained stable and the total distance travelled by car in Britain since 1986 has increased by 50 per cent... The report, commissioned by the Passenger Transport Executive Group (PTEG), which represents local authorities in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle upon Tyne and Birmingham, found that bus companies were exploiting local monopolies to make excessive profits... The report found one company dominating bus services in each of the biggest six English regional cities. National Express runs 81 per cent of buses in Birmingham and makes an estimated 21 to 35 per cent return on investment. The other companies also make “excess profits” despite presiding over declining services, and often failing to fulfil commitments to invest in newer, more reliable vehicles...

posted by Unknown @ 4:38 PM  0 Comments

25.9.06

OPINIONS & COMMENTS

* USA - Extending the subway versus adding buses
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Times, by MATT MASON -Sept 24, 2006: -- Cheers to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for being the one politician to have the guts to push for the subway extension. This project, though expensive, would cost no more than the proposed tunnel alternative for the 91 Freeway in Orange County... Buses are cited as a cheaper option, but they cause their own congestion by cutting in and out of traffic and are actually more expensive to operate than rail on a per-passenger basis. Light rail is cited as cheaper, but it doesn't have the capacity or ridership of the subway. If we are serious about reducing air pollution, foreign oil consumption, traffic and suburban sprawl, we need more of this type of high-speed and highcapacity transit that much of the rest of the world's big cities already enjoy...

posted by Unknown @ 12:25 PM  0 Comments

Bus shortage! - Jamaica - JUTC's fleet of 730 buses non-functional

Kingston,Jamaica -The Jamaica Gleaner, by Tyrone Reid -Sept 24, 2006: -- A plethora of problems, including the unavailability of spare parts, bad roads and frequent crashes, has rendered close to half of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company's (JUTC) fleet of 730 buses non-functional and has placed the financially unstable company speeding down a path of inefficiency... Officials from the JUTC confessed that the 390 buses currently in the system are inadequate and cannot efficiently serve the commuting public within the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region where the bus company operates... The bus shortage has therefore impacted on the length of time that a passenger has to wait on a bus. A passenger now waits at a bus stop from as short a time as six minutes on a busy corridor during the peak period, to two hours in an area with low ridership on a weekend...

posted by Unknown @ 12:06 PM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS PASSENGERS

* China - Bag containing gas on fire in bus, kills 5
Mudanjiang City,Heilongjiang Province,China -The Shanghai Daily (Shanghai,China) -24 Sept 2006: -- A bag containing gas and fireworks which a woman brought onto a bus she was riding on caught fire, leading to a blaze that killed five people in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province... The motive of her carrying the danger items onto the vehicle was unclear. The bus caught fire when traveling on a street on Thursday morning. Five were killed and two seriously injured...

posted by Unknown @ 12:02 PM  0 Comments

New buses - UK - For city park-and-ride

The buses are operated by First under council contract

Barth,UK -BBC News -23 Sept 206: -- Eight new double-decker buses are to be added to the fleet running Bath's park-and-ride service... The low-emission and fully accessible buses also have a new livery reflecting the council's new corporate branding... A Bath and North East Somerset spokesman said the investment meant the city would have the most modern buses in the South West... The buses, which cost £170,000 each, will be visible on the city streets from Monday...

posted by Unknown @ 11:55 AM  0 Comments

Flexi-bus system - Australia - Opposition backs decision to axe

Australia -ABC Online -Sept 23, 2006: -- The ACT Opposition has welcomed the Territory Government's plans to scrap the flexi-bus system but says it should never have been introduced in the first place... The Opposition's transport spokesman, Steve Pratt, says the Government claimed the new service was designed to create more flexible bus services after hours - rather than sticking to a strict route... But Mr Pratt says the flexi-bus service was just a waste of taxpayers' money...

posted by Unknown @ 11:49 AM  0 Comments

Free Lane - Greece - Greeks snub car free day

Athens,Greece -Kathimerini -22 Sept 2006: -- Athenians yesterday seemed to snub the European Union’s (EU) annual car free day as traffic choked the city’s roads as usual despite free travel on public transport... The day brings to a close European Mobility Week, which the EU launched in 2002 to promote sustainable mobility and alternative forms of transportation to the car... Athens was not shut to automobile traffic as were some European cities... A study recently conducted by OASA, the Athens Urban Transport Association, showed that buses can reach speeds of about 21 kilometers an hour when the lane is free of other traffic. Otherwise, buses travel at a slower 12 to 15 kilometers per hour...

posted by Unknown @ 11:32 AM  0 Comments

BUSES BOOM MEANS MORE JOBS

Newport,England,UK -Isle of Wight County Press, by Richard Wright -22 Sept 2006: -- A silver traveller bus passenger boom sparked by the IW Council's free travel for the over-60s, is leading to more services, cheaper fares and 43 extra drivers' jobs... The revolution in public transport sparked by heavy subsidies to older people and students was detailed to an IW Bus Users' Group public meeting... IW Council transport manager Andy Morris told the meeting the Islander card, which gave over-60s and people with a disability free bus and train travel without restriction, had proved very popular with, in the first five months, 900,000 journeys made — rising to an expected two million by the end of the financial year... (Picture by Georgia Russell: More people are travelling by bus)

posted by Unknown @ 11:25 AM  0 Comments

Recalls - Japan - Nissan Recalls 2,166 Buses, 96 Trucks

Tokyo,Japan -The Houston Chronicle (Houston,TX,USA)/AP -Sept. 21, 2006: -- Nissan Motor Co. said it is recalling 2,166 buses because of a door defect and 96 trucks for a loose bolt problem... The recall affects Civilian small-sized buses built between Sept. 6, 2004, and Aug. 28, 2006, and Atlas trucks built in March and April of this year, said in a statement... Also recalled are 112 Journey small buses sold by Isuzu, a model that is made by Nissan and identical to the Civilian but marketed and branded by Isuzu, according to the transportation ministry...

posted by Unknown @ 11:20 AM  0 Comments

But ... - India - Luxury buses ready, but wait for routes

Tamil Nadu,Chennai,India -The Hindu (Chennai,India), by P. Oppili -22 Sept 2006: -- Two new luxury coaches, built by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, are ready to hit the city roads... Fitted with pneumatic doors operated by the driver himself and plush seats, the coaches have features that add to passenger comfort and have a more pleasing look, compared to the rickety buses that commuters normally use... But: ...MTC officials say they are yet to decide on routes on which the two luxury buses will be operated. But the service will be `super deluxe'... (Photo by S.Thanthoni: PASSENGER-FRIENDLY: The new luxury bus seen at the MTC's Central Depot on Pallavan Salai)

posted by Unknown @ 11:11 AM  0 Comments

Rush-hour - UK - Cycling beats buses, trains and cars

Edinburgh ,Scotland,UK -The Scotsman, by RAYMOND HAINEY -22 Sept 2006: -- A race to find the fastest way through Edinburgh during rush hour yesterday saw bicycles leave other modes of transport trailing... Bikes won out over cars, buses and trains in reaching their destinations in the fastest time from a variety of places around the city - leading the event's organisers to declare that cycling into work is the fastest, cheapest and most efficient way to get around the city...

posted by Unknown @ 11:02 AM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS ROADS WORLDWIDE

* Philippines - Eight dead as landslide buries bus
LA TRINIDAD,Philippines -ABS CBN News -22 Sept 2006: -- A landslide buried a bus on a rain-soaked mountain road in the northern Philippines, killing eight people, rescue officials said Friday... Fourteen other people were injured in the disaster outside the town of Natonin, 270 kilometers north of Manila on Thursday, the civil defense office said...

posted by Unknown @ 11:00 AM  0 Comments

Opposition - USA - Buses get red lights at hearing

New Canaan,CT,USA -The New Canaan Advertiser, by Laura Kenyon -Sep 21, 2006: -- ... Approximately 150 residents and Town officials attended last Thursday’s public forum on September 14 to address the Board of Education-appointed School Bus Facility Task Force, the sixth such committee in seven years, in the New Canaan High School auditorium... Citing fumes that would blow directly at children during gym class, sports organizations that are already strapped for fields, student safety, aesthetics and a potential traffic nightmare on South Avenue, speakers overwhelmingly opposed the committee’s recommendation to pave over playing fields at Saxe Middle School to accommodate 60 buses, 70 cars, a fueling facility, maintenance facility and office...

posted by Unknown @ 10:45 AM  0 Comments

Buses' Purchase Battling

* Australia - No new buses, we're just not hot enough
Kingscote,South Australia,Australia -The Kangaroo Island Islander, by SHAUNA BLACK -21 September 2006: -- Kangaroo Island is a low priority for new school buses despite the fact the average age of the 18 school buses on the Island is 18 years... While other country communities battle to get seatbelts for their students, a transport committee of Kangaroo Island Community Education Governing Council has been battling just to get the safety features that come with more modern buses... (Picture: kangaroo Island)...


* USA - 2,000 aging San Joaquin Valley school buses must be replaced or updated
FRESNO, Cal,USA -San Jose Mercury News (CAL, USA)/Associated Press -22 Sept 2006: -- About 2,000 aging San Joaquin Valley school buses must be replaced or updated to cut down on toxic exhaust, air regulators said... The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District approved the rule Thursday that will take up to 10 years to meet and cost $250 million...

posted by Unknown @ 10:35 AM  0 Comments

BUSES' PURCHASES WORLDWIDE

* USA - Mahopac voters support plan to buy school buses, vans
MAHOPAC,NY,USA —The Journal News.com, by DIANA BELLETTIERI (Westchester,NY) -Sept 21, 2006: -- The Mahopac school district will add new vehicles to its fleet after voters yesterday approved a purchasing plan that was slightly more expensive than the one struck down in May... Specifically, school officials plan to buy six 66-passenger buses, two 30-passenger buses and at least two vans at a cost not to exceed $800,000...

posted by Unknown @ 10:29 AM  0 Comments

EcoNews - USA - Spearfish buses using an ethanol-diesel blend

SPEARFISH,SD,USA -AP/The Madison Daily Leader (Madison,SD) -21 Sept 2006: -- School buses in the Spearfish School District have been converted to burn O2Diesel, which is a blend of 7 percent ethanol and diesel fuel... Dakota Trailways is contracted to provide bus service... Officials say the reduction in emissions is noticeable...

posted by Unknown @ 10:23 AM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS DRIVERS WORLDWIDE

* USA - N.J. School Bus Accident Injures 11
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J.,USA -CBS/AP -Sep 21, 2006: -- Nine students were treated and released from hospitals after their school bus was rear-ended in Franklin Township this morning... Police say the bus was picking up students on Little Mill Road when an SUV struck a car behind it. The car hit the bus... Police issued a careless driving summons to the 35-year-old motorist who was driving the SUV... (Photo: CBS - The accident in Gloucester Co. injured 11)

* India - Bus falls into gorge in J&K, 25 dead
Rajouri,Jammu and Kashmir,India -CNN/IBN -Sept 21, 2006: -- A bus fell into a gorge in Buddhal area of Rajouri district, killing 25 people and seriously injuring nearly 25 more... The accident happened around 1510 hours IST when the bus driver lost control while negotiating a sharp curve... The bus rolled down more than 400 metres down into a gorge and police say the death toll is likely to go up... This is the third such major accident in the Jammu region this year...

* Uganda - Speeding bus kills 10 ugandan revellers
Mbale,Uganda -The Ireland Online (Dublin,Ire) -22 Sept 2006: -- A speeding bus crashed into a group celebrating a circumcision ritual in eastern Uganda, killing 10 people, including four children... The group was dancing in the street in Mbale last night behind a young man who was about to be circumcised – a common procession among the Bagisu people in rural Uganda...

* USA - 11 Injured in Western Mich. Bus Crash
USA -Forbes/Associated Press -23 Sept 2006: -- A bus returning from a casino rolled onto its side in a construction zone early Saturday, injuring 11 passengers and closing the roadway for more than two hours, authorities said... Eleven of the 34 passengers on board the B&W Charters bus were taken to area hospitals with mostly bumps and bruises... The bus had left Little River Casino Resort in Manistee about 2 a.m. and was returning to the Kalamazoo area... In a construction zone on eastbound Interstate 96 where the road narrows to one lane, the 43-year-old driver went too far to the right...


* Pakistan - Eight killed in bus accident
Rawat,Pakistan -Ninemsn (Sydney,New South Wales,Aus)/AP - Sep 23, 2006: -- An out of control bus collided head-on with another on a narrow road near the Pakistani capital, killing at least eight passengers and wounding about 50 others, police said... The injured were transported to hospitals and were listed in a critical condition, said Ghulam Mustafa, an area police official... Road accidents are common in Pakistan mainly because of poorly maintained vehicles and road conditions and wide disregard for traffic rules...

* Bangladesh - 4 killed, 30 injured as bus collides with truck
Sylhet,Bangladesh -agency UNB(Bang)/People's Daily News/Xinhua (China) -Sept 24, 2006: -- Four people were killed and 30 injured as a bus tumbled into a ditch after collision with a truck Saturday in Bangladesh, Sylhet district, 200 km northeast of capital Dhaka, private news reported... Sources said a truck rammed into two buses one after another and one of the buses plunged into a roadside ditch at about 5:30 pm, killing one person on the spot. Three other people died on the way to hospital...

posted by Unknown @ 10:14 AM  0 Comments

NYC Parents - USA - School bus form deadline coming!

New York,NY,USA -WABC, by Art McFarland -Sept. 21, 2006: -- An important deadline tomorrow for parents of many New York City students. And missing it, could mean no school bus service for their children... For the first time, The NYC Department of Education is requiring parents to sign up for yellow bus service for their child... If they don't, their stop could be eliminated when routes are re-drawn later this year... Instead, those students would get a metrocard... 110,000 children are affected...

posted by Unknown @ 10:11 AM  0 Comments

EU project - Lithuania - Vilnius launches 'language buses'

Free language lessons

London,UK -BBC News, by Laura Sheeter -20 Sept 2006: -- A scheme to teach people foreign languages while they travel is starting in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius... The so-called "language buses" will play useful phrases in Lithuanian, Polish and English in an attempt to encourage people to learn new skills... The project is being funded by the European Commission... It will also be coming to buses, trams and trains all over the European Union by the end of 2006. The scheme will run for a year... (Picture, BBC: The EU project will be pioneered on Vilnius trolleybuses)

posted by Unknown @ 10:02 AM  0 Comments

Jobs - Inldia - State express buses to carry parcels

Madurai,India -The Chennai Online (Chennai,In) -Sept 20, 2006: -- Tamil Nadu State Express Transport Corporation buses, plying on long distance routes, will carry couriers and parcels to augment revenue, Transport Minister K N Nehru has said... Inaugurating bus services in 40 routes here last evening, he welcomed the suggestion made by Nanguneri MLA H Vasanthakumar and said "we will soon launch parcel service through passenger buses"... He also said 8,000 drivers and conductors would be recruited to fill the vacancies in the transport corporation...

posted by Unknown @ 9:59 AM  1 Comments

Service cuts - USA - Under consideration for NYC subways & buses

Long Island,NY,USA -Newsday/AP/The New York Times -Sept 20, 2006: -- Commuters could face longer wait times and extra crowding on the city's subways and buses if millions of dollars in budget cuts are approved, according to transit officials... Under the proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, riders on many subway and bus lines would have to wait an additional one to five minutes during off-peak hours... Midday riders would wait for up to 10 minutes for trains, while evening and late-night trains would run every 10 to 20 minutes, according to authority budget documents detailed Wednesday...

posted by Unknown @ 9:56 AM  0 Comments

Changes II - Canada - Bus changes anger citizens

Saanich,BC, Canada -The Saanich News -by Andrea Lavigne -Sep 20 2006: -- A delegation of angry bus riders from Saanich Peninsula petitioned the Victoria Regional Transit Commission to revisit scheduling changes made to the fall schedule. "We've got the impression that we're second-class citizens," said Robin Dunn, spokesperson for the delegation... BC Transit cancelled 72 Sidney and express trips in the 70 Pat Bay schedule as part of scheduling changes for September. The changes have resulted in longer commutes for passengers and crowded conditions on buses... Many passengers must stand while the bus travels at highway speeds. "God help us if there's ever an accident," Dunn said... There was no public consultation made before the changes were adopted...

posted by Unknown @ 9:47 AM  0 Comments

Change - UK - Lib Dems vote to reverse bus privatisation

Brighton,UK -The Guardian Unlimited, by Matthew Tempest -Sept 20, 2006: -- The Liberal Democrats pledged today to copy Ken Livingstone and take back control of local buses in a bid to get Britain moving again... At the party's conference in Brighton, delegates agreed a motion reversing the Conservative bus privatisation of the 1980s, which the Lib Dems claimed has led to a long-term decrease in bus usage... Uniquely, Mr Livingstone, the mayor of London, was handed powers over bus routes and prices when the capital regained a city-wide governing authority six years ago... (Photograph by Don McPhee: The 192 bus route between Manchester and Stockport)

posted by Unknown @ 9:42 AM  0 Comments

Smart Move - Greece - High-tech trolley bus stops will tell commuters expected journey time

Athens,Greece -Kathimerini - 20 Sept 2006: -- Six smart trolley bus stops are set to be unveiled today and will be able to inform waiting commuters how long it will take for the next two trolley buses to arrive and how long their journey will take, officials said yesterday... Transport Minister, Michalis Liapis, is due to inaugurate the high-tech stop at Klafthmonos Square today but other smart stops in Plastiras and Syntagma squares, Ano Kypseli and two in Piraeus are also due to start operating...

posted by Unknown @ 9:39 AM  0 Comments

20.9.06

Only Public Transport - China - It will be on the buses in Beijing

Ottawa,Canada -The OttawaCitizen (subscription -Ont,CAN) -19 Sept 2006: -- Spectators will have to rely on public transport to get to the Olympics in Beijing, with private cars banned from all venues for the 2008 Games... Beijing's traffic gridlock is seen as one of the biggest threats to the smooth running of the Games, and organizers are determined to curb the number of private cars on the streets of the city during the Olympics... No parking places for private cars will be provided at the Olympic venues and free bus passes will be offered to people...

posted by Unknown @ 1:26 PM  0 Comments

Products - Sweden - Volvo to launch 3 new buses at IAA

STOCKHOLM,Sweden -AFX/Forbes -19 Sept 2006: -- AB Volvo said it will launch three new buses at the IAA bus and truck trade show in Hanover, Germany, today... The buses have new designs, new safety features, as well as engines that are cleaner and more fuel-efficient than earlier models thanks to new technology, Volvo said... The Volvo 9700 has the broadest application area, with versions for intercity traffic, express coaches and tourist coaches. The Volvo 9900 is the company's most exclusive tourist coach, with 'exceptionally' high passenger comfort...

posted by Unknown @ 1:22 PM  0 Comments

New Ones - USA - UMass adds five buses to transportation fleet

AMHERST, Mass.,USA -Eyewitness News (East Providence,RI) -19 Sept2006: -- It's going to be a little easier to get around U-Mass and the four other colleges in the Amherst area... U-Mass just added five buses to its fleet for a total of 40 vehicles. The buses will serve students at the university as well as Hampshire, Smith, Amherst and Mount Holyoke colleges... Officials say the 40-foot diesel buses are more fuel efficient and have wheelchair-accessible ramps that fold out to the curb...

posted by Unknown @ 1:19 PM  0 Comments

New Buses? - Canada - For Vancouver Communters?

VANCOUVER,BC,CAN -CKNW (AM980) -Sep, 19 2006: -- The waiting game continues for Lower Mainland commuters crowding onto older buses every morning... Translink was supposed to have 50 new compressed natural gas buses before September. Less than half --17-- are actually in service... There's word five more buses will be ready over the next few days and another eight have arrived in Port Coquitlam, but they need to be checked out before they can hit the road... The CNG's are replacing buses in service since 1987...

posted by Unknown @ 1:16 PM  0 Comments

Radio programming - USA - School buses in 11 states tune in

Aimed at kids

USA - USA TODAY, by Wendy Koch -17 Sept 2006: -- The latest effort by schools to boost tight budgets by hooking up with corporate sponsors gets going next month, when school buses in 11 states begin airing commercial radio with ads targeted at kids... Bus Radio, a Massachusetts-based company, says 100,000 riders on 800 buses will hear music and commercials. The company says the broadcasts will entertain children and curb rowdiness...

posted by Unknown @ 1:00 PM  0 Comments

TechnoNews - USA - CATA buses to be tracked

University Park,PA,USA -Penn State Digital Collegian, by Lauren Boyer -Sept. 18, 2006: -- A plan to incorporate a gps navigation system in all of the CATA vehicles, will allow people to view exact bus locations online... Within three to four months, the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) will have global positioning systems in all its vehicles, allowing the public to track bus location online... Called "advanced traveler systems," the software will provide a Web site showing the actual location of the CATA buses...

posted by Unknown @ 12:59 PM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS DRIVERS

* Switzerland - Tunnel fire death toll rises
Switzerland -Swissinfo -Sept 18, 2006: -- The death toll from Switzerland's worst road tunnel accident in several years has risen from six to nine... Police in canton Graubünden said one of the two cars incinerated in Saturday's crash involving a bus had been carrying four, not two passengers as had been previously thought... The collision in the 750-metre-long Viamala tunnel between a car and a bus carrying a local ice hockey team was the worst incident of its kind since 2001... Witnesses said the car with German licence plates caused the accident. They said the vehicle lost control after one of its wheels came off. It crashed into the bus, setting it on fire... (Photo by Keystone: The charred remains of the bus and one of the cars)

* Rajasthan - Bus, truck collision kills 17
Jaipur,Rajasthan -Reuters -Sept 18, 2006: -- A head-on crash between a truck and a passenger bus carrying pilgrims killed 17 people, including two children, in Rajasthan, police said... Fourteen of the dead were women, a police officer said, adding that 26 passengers were injured with seven of them in a critical condition... The crash occurred late on Sunday in the Rajsamand district, some 350 kms (220 miles) south of Jaipur... The 75 passengers were on their way to Pushkar to take a dip in a sacred pond, the officer said...

* India - Commuter bus overturns; 1 killed, 10 injured
New Delhi,Indo Asian News Service/DailyIndia.com (Niskayuna,NY,USA) -Sep 18, 2006: -- One person was killed and 10 were injured when an interstate bus of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) overturned in southwest Delhi Monday... Police said that the rear axle of the bus snapped, leading to the accident, which occurred near the Delhi Cantonment area...

* USA - Driver's brakes didn't fail in collision with bus; driver to be cited
Ionia,MI,USA -The Sentinel-Standard, by BRANDON LACIC -Sept 19, 2006: -- The 18-year-old driver who ran a stop sign and struck a fully-loaded Lakewood Public Schools bus last Friday morning is expected to be ticketed after investigators determined her vehicle's brakes did not malfunction... Caitlin Veldkamp, a Lakewood High School student, was southbound on Bliss Road when she ran the stop sign at the intersection of West Tupper Lake Road (M-50), and hit the bus broadside. The bus spun 180 degrees, rolled once and came to rest on its side. The 48 students and driver aboard were tossed around and ended up piled on top of one another, but all managed to escape through a rear exit or roof hatches within minutes...

posted by Unknown @ 12:54 PM  0 Comments

Protest - USA - Collier's bus drivers working conditions

Naples,FL,USA -The Naples Daily News, by Katherine Lewis -Sept 18, 2006: -- Mosquitoes, heat, dirt in the water fountains and a public bathroom near the Palmetto Ridge High School football stadium to seek shelter in... They don't sound like the ideal conditions to work in, but for 39 Collier County bus drivers, those things are part of their working conditions... They want it to stop... The drivers said they were promised a portable building they could use to wait for their shift to start, but that building has not shown up on the campus...

posted by Unknown @ 12:38 PM  0 Comments

18.9.06

Appointment - India- Government urged to operate mini buses

VELLORE,India -Newindpress (Chennai) -Sept 18 2006: -- Members of the Pattukodai Alagiri Transport Corporation Federation (PATCF), (CITU), on Sunday, adopted a resolution to urge the State Government to operate mini buses for the convenience of passengers... They also adopted a resolution demanding the government to fill the 30,000 vacancies in the corporation immediately and issue appointment orders to the recruited 2,700 drivers and contractors...

posted by Unknown @ 12:44 PM  0 Comments

New Buses - USA - SunLine roles out

Palm Springs,CAL,USA -The Desert Sun, by Michael Perrault -Sept 16, 2006: -- Many of SunLine Transit Agency's workhorse passenger buses - some nearly 13 years old with almost 800,000 miles - are finally being retired from the fleet... Thousand Palms-based SunLine Transit has begun sending 15 new 40-foot, 47-passenger buses onto the streets, the first new buses in 12 years... The life expectancy of transit buses based on federal guidelines is 12 years or 500,000 miles, and many of SunLine Transit's buses have surpassed that point, said Tommy Edwards, director of maintenance...

posted by Unknown @ 12:36 PM  0 Comments

"Vomit Comet" Buses - USA - Agency To Put Guards On

ASPEN, CO,USA -cbs4denver.com (Denver,CO)/AP -Sep 15, 2006: -- Transportation officials have voted to hire a private security firm to patrol the bus station and late-night buses on Fridays and Saturdays that commonly have to take drunken passengers home from Aspen -- a bus service inauspiciously dubbed the "Vomit Comet."... The transit authority must spend about $21,000 annually to deal with unruly drunks on buses, RFTA concluded Thursday...

posted by Unknown @ 12:33 PM  0 Comments

17.9.06

DANGEROUS ROADS

* Canada - 1 dead, 10 injured in bus crash in
Calgary,CAN -People's Daily Online (Beijing,China) -16 Sept 2006: -- A bus riding some 16 British soldiers rolled over in western Canada's Alberta province Friday afternoon, killing one and injuring at least 10, officials have confirmed... Several possible causes for the crash are under investigation, including driver error, weather conditions and mechanical failure...

* UK - Fifteen hurt in bus and van crash
Devon,UK -BBC News -16 Sept 2006: -- Fifteen people have been injured in a road crash involving a bus and a van in north Devon... The collision happened at Pathfields in South Molton, near the Allers Cross roundabout, on Saturday morning... The bus driver, his 12 passengers and a passenger in the van were described as having minor injuries... (Photo: All the injured were taken to hospital after the crash)

* Swiss - Bus crashes in highway tunnel, six killed
Geneva,Swiss -Reuters -Sep 16, 2006: -- At least six people were killed when a bus carrying an ice hockey team crashed and caught fire in a tunnel in eastern Switzerland on Saturday, police said... The accident occurred in the Viamala road tunnel on the A13 motorway, near the Swiss border with Italy and Austria, when a car swerved to avoid a wheel lost by another vehicle, local media reported... The bus and car caught fire, filling the tunnel, almost 750 meters (820 yards) long, with smoke that slowed rescue efforts...

* USA - Car rams bus; 23 hospitalized
Ionia County,Mich,USA -The Detroit Free Press -Sept 16, 2006: -- At least 23 people, mostly children, were treated at hospitals after a car slammed into a school bus Friday... The bus rolled over and came to rest on its right side in the morning accident on M-50 just west of Lake Odessa in rural southwestern Ionia County. Victims had broken bones, sprains, cuts and bruises... Deputies said the accident occurred when an 18-year-old Lake Odessa woman who was driving a 1986 Cadillac south on a side road ran through a stop sign at the highway and struck the eastbound bus broadside...

posted by Unknown @ 1:04 PM  0 Comments

16.9.06

Upgraded - China - Overheating buses get cool upgrade

Shanghai,China -The Shanghai Daily, by Zhang Jun-16 Sept 2006: -- The city's seven new electric buses, six of which overheated and broke down last month, have been fitted with upgraded cooling devices, transport authorities said yesterday... The No. 11 route buses were now back on the road... "We are fully aware of the problems and we are sure the same malfunction will not happen again," said Chen Youkou, a top engineer with the Shanghai Modern Transport Construction and Development Company, which helped design the buses...

posted by Unknown @ 2:05 PM  0 Comments

BUSES' PURCHASES WORLDWIDE

* Sri Lanka - More buses to the public bus fleet
Colombo,Sri Lanka -ColomboPage News -Sept 15,2006: -- Sri Lankan Ministry of Transport in the hope of improving the public transport system in the country has ordered 2000 buses under an Indian credit line for the government owned passenger transport companies... Already 750 of the ordered buses have reached the country now and 500 of them have been added to the bus fleet of the government bus companies. The government hopes to distribute the rest of the buses with priority given to the remote areas...

posted by Unknown @ 2:00 PM  0 Comments

Uncomfortables - Canada - New Buses Have Bad Seats

Rear seating on new buses makes Moscoe uncomfortable - TTC chairman wants to give riders more room

Ontario,Canada -National Post, by James Cowan/Torontoist -15 Sept 2006: -- ... TTC chairman Howard Moscoe promises efforts are underway to address two common gripes about the transit system: the quality of its merchandise and crowded seating on its new buses... In a letter to his fellow transit commissioners released yesterday, Mr. Moscoe proposes reconfiguring the seats at the back of the TTC's new low-floor Orion buses. Mr. Moscoe states the seats, crowded on a raised platform above the rear wheels, are "impossibly constrained and uncomfortable."...

posted by Unknown @ 1:52 PM  0 Comments

Unhealthy - USA - Fumes sicken students aboard bus

27 children are taken to hospitals

Boston,MAS,USA -The Bostyn Globe, by Brian R. Ballou -Sept 15, 2006: -- Twenty-seven charter school students riding a Boston public school bus yesterday morning in Dorchester were taken to hospitals after complaining that fumes coming from the bus made them nauseated and gave them sore throats... "They started to smell fumes or smoke coming from the bus and some of them got dizzy," said Richard A. Serino, chief of Boston's Emergency Medical Services... Officials are not certain what caused the student's reactions, but blood tests will be performed on all 27 children...

posted by Unknown @ 1:45 PM  0 Comments

GreenNews - Pakistan - To introduce CNG bus service in major cities

Islamabad,Pakistan -International News Network -16 Sept 2006: -- National Assembly on Friday was told that ministry of environment has decided to operate CNG bus service in major cities... Minister of state for environment Malik Amin Aslam said on the floor of the house that a clean air program in connection with the operationalisation of CNG bus service has been launched so that the environment could be protected against the pollution... He informed that CNG rickshaws valuing Rs 1 billion have been brought in Lahore to make the city pollution free...

posted by Unknown @ 1:40 PM  0 Comments

15.9.06

To Target Terror - USA - MBTA trains and buses getting extra security

Boston,MA,USA -WHDH/TV -14 Sept 2006: -- A new element of security is added to MBTA trains and buses to target terror... Teams from the Transportation Security Administration are working at key bus and subway stations to look out for suspicious passengers or items... MBTA transit police and TSA officials have been on alert at South Station, the Logan Airport stop on the Blue Line and on the Silver Line... These MBTA stops are all key links to Logan Airport...

posted by Unknown @ 4:55 PM  0 Comments

Vandals - UK - Dozens are stranded as thieves hit buses

Herts,Essex,UK -The Star/Herts Essex News -14 Sept 2006: -- Thieves have left dozens of elderly and disabled people effectively stranded in their homes after they vandalised two community transport minibuses and stripped them for parts... The vehicles belong to the Voluntary Action Epp-ing Forest charity and have had to be taken off the road after the damage was discovered yesterday morning... Now dozens of people who rely on the service for transport have been let down and left without transport... Mrs Mallardo said among the journeys which may have to be cancelled are shopping trips for the housebound and lifts to hospital for elderly people with appointments...

posted by Unknown @ 4:49 PM  0 Comments

Drivers' Shortage - USA - More students must walk to school

Fairfax County,VA,USA -Virginia Connection Newspapers, by Brian McNeill -Sept 14, 2006: -- Their starting salaries have been raised by 26 percent from $12.90 in 2004 to $16.25 per hour in 2006. They are eligible for medical, dental and life insurance, as well as paid school holidays and retirement benefits. And to cap it all off, they get a $500 signing bonus... Yet despite the increasingly sweet employment package, the Fairfax County school system cannot seem to recruit or retain its bus drivers... The school system operates the nation's second largest public bus fleet, with 1,570 buses that carry 110,000 students back and forth from school each day. But as students returned to class on Sept. 5, the county was roughly 120 drivers short... The ongoing bus driver shortage has put acute pressure on the school system to find efficiencies within its transportation schedule. Partly as a result, both bus routes and bus stops have been reduced across Fairfax County...

posted by Unknown @ 4:02 PM  0 Comments

SMART DRIVERS

* USA - Quick-thinking driver evacuates school bus after smelling smoke
Chesapeake,VA,USA -The Virginian Pilot (Norfolk,VA) -14 Sept 2006: -- A quick-thinking school bus driver who smelled smoke thismorning, got 41 students off a bus and safely into Cedar Road Elementary before the ...

posted by Unknown @ 3:58 PM  0 Comments

Production - Bulgaria - Europe's biggest bus manufacturer to assemble buses in

Sofia,Bulgaria -The Sofia Echo/Darik Radio -13 Sep 2006: -- Cacciamali, Europe's biggest bus body producer, would assemble buses in Bulgaria's town of Panagyurishte... Cacciamali would contract a Bulgarian partner for the construction... The bus construction would begin in four months. Italian engines and chassis would be used for the buses... Investment would reach three million euro... In the beginning, the company would employ 80 people, but the number of workers is expected to rise to 500... Buses, put together in Bulgaria, would be cheaper than the imported ones by 25 to 30 per cent...

posted by Unknown @ 3:39 PM  0 Comments

BUSES' PURCHASE WORLDWIDE

* USA - School to buy new buses
Tuttle,OK,USA -The Tuttle Times, by Karen Brady -Sept 13, 2006: -- The Tuttle School Board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of four new school buses at its monthly meeting on Monday, Sept. 11... The new 71-passenger buses will be purchased from Midwest Bus Sales in El Reno at a cost of $58,962 each. Two 1985 model “junk” buses will bring $500 apiece as trade-ins...

* Thailand - Company bags $54mn contract to convert buses to natural gas
Bangkok,Thailand -The Business Day, by Vipin Wilson -Sept 13, 2006: -- US Energy Initiatives has bagged a 54,000,000 dollars agreement to convert 10,000 buses from diesel to the company's patent dual-fuel diesel to natural gas systems over the next five-years... The Tampa-based company has an exclusive license through its sub licensee GreenGas Ltd. to PS Natural Gas Co. Ltd Thailand. PSGas was formed in 2006 specifically to address the conversion of buses from diesel to operate on natural gas. It has partnered with PTT Public Co. Limited...

posted by Unknown @ 3:28 PM  0 Comments

Safety - USA - Days on school bus come with rules on

Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit Free Press, by BY MATT HELMS -Sept 13, 2006: -- Keeping little ones safe for the bus ride to school is a matter of teaching them how to be smart about it... School buses are, by far, the safest method of transporting students -- eight times safer than riding in cars, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The most dangerous part of the ride is getting on and off the bus. Children are three times more likely to be killed during those transitions, compared to when they're riding the bus, the National Association for Pupil Transportation says.

posted by Unknown @ 3:05 PM  0 Comments

Jumping Closing Doors - USA - City Buses Get the Escalefter Treatment

Washington,DC,USA -DCist.com -Sept 12, 2006: -- WMATA continues its trend of futile campaigns today by announcing it will start warning passengers not to chase fleeing buses... After six pedestrian fatalities in two years, including a 62-year-old man who stumbled and fell underneath the wheel of a bus as he chased it earlier this month, Metro's looking for the bus version of the stern-motherly voice on the trains to keep people from jumping in the closing doors. Also, we think we heard a panicked city lawyer scream something about limiting liability... Metro also plans to install warning sensors on 55 buses that will notify the driver when it is closer than three feet to another vehicle. One imagines these sensors won't be much help to a ten-ton passenger bus as it speeds down K Street, or if the obstruction happens to be a pedestrian or bicycle, but they're certainly a step in the right direction... (Photo by Dupont Knitter)

posted by Unknown @ 2:47 PM  0 Comments

SALES' PROSPECT

* Sri Lanka - Tax concessions to replace old buses
Colombo,Sri Lanka -ColomboPage News -Sept 11, 2006: -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has advised the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance to exempt all the taxes levied when private bus owners buy new buses to replace old ones... Sri Lanka has a fleet of 17,000 private buses and 6500 or 35% of them are more than 10 years old. Around 90% of private buses are owned by individuals and companies own the rest. Private buses contribute to 60% of the passenger transport in Sri Lanka. Seventy thousand families directly depend on the industry, while another 30,000 families depend indirectly...

* Australia - Public transport funding pledge 'falls short'
South Australia,Aust. -ABC News online -Sept 13, 2006: -- A group representing public transport users says extra South Australian Government funding for train, tram and bus services falls short of what is needed... The Transport Minister, Pat Conlon, today announced that $10 million will be included in next week's Budget to increase public transport capacity by 5,000 passengers a day... Margaret Dingle, from People for Public Transport, has welcomed the announcement but says more is needed... "I'm not quite sure how far $10 million will go and it's over four years so that's quite limited, but certainly it's better than nothing at all," she said...

posted by Unknown @ 2:38 PM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS DRIVERS


* India - 35 passengers injured in bus-lorry collision
Coimbatore,Tamil Nandu,India -The Hindustan Times -Sept 11, 2006: -- Thirty-five passengers of a bus were injured, when their vehicle collided with a lorry on Palani-Pollachi road on Monday... Of the injured, five have been admitted to the Government hospital at Udumalpet and three brought and admitted to the Government hospital in Coimbatore, while 27 have been treated as outpatients at Udumalpet, police said... The state-owned bus was coming to Pollachi from Palani when the mishap occurred, they said...

* India - 7 killed, 16 hurt in bus-truck collision
Jhakolari,Gurdaspur,India -The Tribune, by Lalit Mohan -Sept 11, 2006: -- Seven passengers were killed and sixteen injured, three of them seriously, in a collision between a Punjab Roadways bus and a truck coming from the opposite direction this morning... The accident took place on the Gurdaspur-Pathankot road at about 5.45 am near Jhakolari village. Sources on the spot said the Batala depot Punjab Roadways bus was coming from Pathankot. A truck coming from the opposite direction hit the bus from the driver side...


* Canada - Drunk bus driver alleged - Police to lay charges against woman who was transporting Fort Macleod students
Calgary,Canada -The Calgary Sun, by PABLO FERNANDEZ -Sept 14, 2006: -- Police have arrested a school bus driver who was allegedly drunk behind the wheel while she dropped children off at Fort Macleod schools yesterday... Mounties in the town, 140 km southeast of Calgary, pulled a bus over along Hwy. 2, north of Fort Macleod, suspecting the driver was intoxicated, said RCMP Sgt. Dennis Eidet... The driver, who's believed to be a contract driver and not a school district employee, is scheduled to appear in provincial court on Nov. 1...

* UK - Four injured in bus plunge crash
Glasgow,UK -BBC News -14 Sept 2006: -- Passengers on a Stagecoach bus which plunged 10ft down an embankment suffered neck and back injuries... The Express service was going north from Ayrshire to Glasgow at the time... Strathclyde Police said the bus, which had 15 people on board, crossed the carriageway and went down the embankment. Four passengers were taken to hospital after the crash... A statement from Stagecoach said: "Investigations are under way into the cause of the crash and we're assisting the police with their inquiries."...

*UK - Three buses crash in one week
London,England,UK -The Bexley Times -14 Sept 2006: -- Five bus passengers received hospital treatment after the bus carrying them smashed into a lamppost. Debris from the 229 bus to Thamesmead, including half the front door, littered Erith Road, Barnehurst, after the crash on Monday at 2.40pm... The Barnehurst crash brought the number of bus crashes up to a total of THREE in the area this week... Last Wednesday, a 233 to Eltham smashed into railings in Sidcup and just 40 minutes after the Barnehurst crash, a 492 to Sidcup ploughed into a wall in Dartford after the driver's brakes failed... In the latest incident, it is believed the driver of the 229 lost control of the bus and crashed close to the junction of Grasmere Road... (Pictures: -left- PRANG: The 229 after its mishap in Barnehurst on Monday. -right- STOPPED: The 233 crashed into railings by Sidcup High Street)

posted by Unknown @ 2:27 PM  0 Comments

"GREEN" NEWS

* New Zealand - Christchurch Buses To Trial Biodiesel
Havelock Nth,Hawkes Bay,New Zealand -newswire.co.nz -11 Sep 2006: -- Biodiesel is being trialled as an alternative fuel on some Christchurch buses to help decide whether it is a viable option for the future... Canterbury Regional Council is launching a 12-month trial of the buses today to assess how the fuel performs in the Canterbury climate... Four buses using a blend of plant oil and animal fat will be trialled, but other types of biodiesel may be introduced on other buses during the year... She says biodiesel tends to crystallise in engine components in the cold...

* Canada - Bus of the future debuts in Winnipeg
Winnipeg,Canada -The Winnipeg Sun -13 Sept 2006: -- The zero-combustion vehicle is more advanced than previous generations of hydrogen-powered buses and emits no pollution, only water vapour... Hydrogenics Corporation, a major Canadian developer and manufacturer of fuel cells and hydrogen production systems, is the lead partner in the project... Hydrogenics developed the bus with financial support from Natural Resources Canada in collaboration with Winnipeg's New Flyer Industries, Dynetek Industries of Calgary, and ISE Research and Maxwell Technologies of California...

* USA - SunLine Purchases Eco-Friendly Buses
THOUSAND PALMS, Calif.,USA -CBS -Sep 14, 2006: -- SunLine Transit Agency purchased 15 new passenger buses, including a low-emission hydrogen hybrid bus and a zero-emission fuel cell bus... The buses are part of an effort to replace its old fleet to better meet the demands of the growing Coachella Valley... The new 40-foot, 47-passenger "Orion V" buses produced by Daimler-Chrysler run on compressed natural gas and were obtained with grant funding from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee... (Photo: CBS file - SunLine Transit Agency to buy new buses)

* USA - Portland's yellow fleet of green buses
Portland,OR,USA -OregonLive.com, by Chatten Hayes -Sept 14, 2006: -- ... Battered by the fuel crisis of the late 1970s and increasingly strict air-quality regulations, Portland Public Schools began to convert its bus fleet to propane in 1983, requiring its contractor, Laidlaw Education Services, to do the same. The fleet totals 310 vehicles; 269 are converted. Of those, 110 buses belong to the district, and the others are contracted to Laidlaw... Portland Public School fleet manager Phil Weber wasn't a fan of propane when he took the job, but he was happily surprised. "It was the fiscal thing, and the fact that it could run reliably," Weber says. "It's a good fuel." ...

posted by Unknown @ 2:21 PM  0 Comments

Prepay - Australia - Cashless buses to cut travel times

Sydney,New South Wales,Australia -The Sydney Morning Herald, by Andrew Clennell -Sept 11, 2006: -- A prepay cashless bus service between Bondi Beach and the city will be introduced next month in what is being billed as the way to help speed up travel times... The 333 bus will run every 10 minutes on the popular 380 route and is expected to lead to future trials of cashless buses in an attempt to get buses moving to the city more quickly... Passengers will be able to use weekly or periodical tickets, TravelTens or single-ride magnetic cards, but will not be able to pay in cash...

posted by Unknown @ 2:18 PM  0 Comments

12.9.06

BUSES' PURCHASES WORLDWIDE

* India - PCMT plans to buy 127 new buses
Pune,India -Pune Newsline, by Manoj More -11 Sept 2006: -- Wants to reach out to every corner of the township and increase frequency to Hadapsar, Katraj... Enthused by increase in its earnings in last two months, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Transport (PCMT) has decided to purchase as many as 127 new buses... The purchase, if it takes place, will be the biggest ever in the history of the transport undertaking...

posted by Unknown @ 12:42 PM  0 Comments

Health - Australia - No buses but a fast track to obesity

Melbourne,Victoria,Australia -The Age, by Peter Weekes -Sept 10, 2006: -- As Melbourne expands, so will the number of people suffering heart attacks, obesity and related diseases — unless urban planners start designing developments that guarantee ready access to healthy, affordable food... While state and federal governments bombard the community with expensive "healthy eating" campaigns, experts are concerned many families who don't have cars have difficulty getting to their local supermarket to buy fruit and vegetables because public transport is poor... (Photo, by Michele Ferguson -- The sun's out and so are the kids, bikes and balls in Fairford Court, Bayswater North. A study shows parents consider cul-de-sacs safe places for play, unlike though roads)

posted by Unknown @ 12:37 PM  0 Comments

"GREEN" NEWS

* USA - Beach school buses cleaning up their act with biodiesel fuel
Norfolk,VA,USA -The Virginian-Pilot, by LAUREN ROTH -Sept 9, 2006: -- More than 200 school buses used by Virginia Beach public schools - about one-third of the fleet - will be running cleaner starting Monday... They will be burning a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent diesel fuel. Biodiesel is made of vegetable oil, recycled cooking oil or animal fats...

* USA - Buses in Davis County to Be More Environmentally Friendly
Davis County,UT,USA -KSL-TV (Salt Lake City,UT), by John Hollenhorst -Sept 12th, 2006: -- The Davis School District is launching a project to clean up fumes from some of its older school buses. It's one of the few districts in the country to do that, thanks to a seemingly unrelated pollution problem at a nearby oil refinery... The connection may not be obvious between allegations of illegal pollution he Chevron refinery and school bus fumes miles away... Beginning next year, new school buses will be required to have the latest pollution controls, but old buses won't have to comply and can continue to pollute...

posted by Unknown @ 12:30 PM  0 Comments

9.9.06

Profits - UK - Buses beat fuel costs for Arriva

Leeds,Yorkshire,UK -The Yorkshire Post Today -8 Sept 2006: -- Transport group Arriva hailed the performance of its UK bus arm yesterday after it posted higher profits in the face of a £7m rise in fuel costs... Revenues from the division rose by £27.2m to £365.2m in the first six months of the year, leading to operating profits of £31m – up £1m on the figure achieved a year earlier...

posted by Unknown @ 5:49 PM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS DRIVERS

* USA - PM School bus driver resigns
Louisville,KY,USA -The Louisville Courier Journal, by Harold J. Adams -8 Sept 2006: -- A school bus driver charged with being drunk behind the wheel as she transported the New Albany High School cheerleading squad from a football game last week has resigned, school officials said Friday... Driver Sylvia Cooke handed in her resignation Thursday morning, and it was accepted by the New Albany Floyd County School Board at its regular meeting that night, according to Tony Bennett, assistant to the superintendent for operations...

* USA - School bus in collision; students unharmed
Des Moines,IA,USA The Des Moines Register/AP -Sept 8, 2006: -- The driver of a Williamsburg school bus carrying 16 students suffered minor injuries when the bus collided with a pickup truck, officials said... None of the students on the Williamsburg school bus were hurt, Superintendent Randy Freeman said... The accident happened about 4 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of two gravel roads...

* Nigeria - Bus crash kills 20
Lagos,Nigeria -News24 (South Africa) -8 Sept 2006: -- Twenty people were killed after a bus collided with a truck on a road in central Nigeria, said reports on Friday, blaming the accident on speeding... The reports said the crash took place early on Thursday along the Lokoja-Abuja road. Among the 20 dead was a one-year-old boy... Road safety official Yusuf Salami was quoted as blaming the driver of the bus for the accident, accusing him of attempting to overtake another vehicle after he ran into the upcoming truck... Accidents were frequent on Nigeria's poorly-maintained inter-city roads because of disregard of traffic rules and speeding... Sixteen people died at the weekend after a collision of two buses in southwest Nigeria...

posted by Unknown @ 5:27 PM  0 Comments

Buses to Replace Trains - USA - In Midtown Sacramento This Weekend

Sacramento,CA,USA -KXTV, by C. Johnson -7 Sept 2006: -- Sacramento Light Rail users are being advised buses will replace trains in part of the midtown area this weekend... Regional Transit says Light Rail service between the Alkali Flat and 16th Street stations will be shut down so that pavement, overhead wiring and signal work can be performed. RT will have buses to transport riders between the stations... The work will take place from Saturday 1 a.m. until Monday at 4 a.m.The work is part of a half-mile extension of the Amtrak/Folsom Corridor Light Rail Extension Project...

posted by Unknown @ 5:15 PM  0 Comments

BUSES' PURCHASES

* Australia - 1,000 new buses to hit Sydney streets
New South Wales,Australia -ABC Sydney -8 Sept 2006: -- The New South Wales Government says it plans to buy 1,000 new buses to meet growing demand and replace ageing fleets... Following criticism of recent cuts to off-peak services across Sydney, the Government says it will buy 1,000 new buses over the next seven years... It estimates the cost at $500 million, with half of the buses to be used by private operators...

* USA - Jefferson area BOE to buy 3 new buses
JEFFERSON,OH,USA -The Ashtabula Star-Beacon (Ashtabula,OH), by ELLEN KOLMAN -8 Sept 2006: -- The Jefferson Area Local Board of Education discussed it's ABC's at the meeting Tuesday evening... The board voted to authorize the purchase of three 72-passenger buses for the district...

posted by Unknown @ 4:54 PM  0 Comments

ECONEWS

* USA - City urged to jump on electric buses -- Community has right tools to test new technology, expert says
Lawrence,KS,USA -The Lawrence Journal World, by Chad Lawhorn -Sept 7, 2006: -- If Lawrence is really serious about being a high-tech city of the future, John Powell has a great billboard to advertise it: a fleet of electric buses... Powell told university and transit leaders that he thinks either KU or the city has an excellent chance of being a testing ground for new electric bus technology... University and city leaders will be watching with interest. Leaders of both the city and university transit systems have said they’re interested in alternative fuel technology, but they said economic issues were a concern. Electric buses are traditionally 20 percent to 25 percent more expensive to purchase than traditional diesel buses, Powell said. The buses obviously save on fuel costs, but other specialized equipment, battery replacement and training costs can make operational costs nearly equal... In Chattanooga, Tenn., where Powell’s organization is based, the community has 22 electric buses and now markets the unique buses as part of their tourism efforts...

* USA - Grant to help cut pollution from buses
Pittsburgh,PA,USA -The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, by David Templeton, Sept 07, 2006: -- Allegheny County students soon will be breathing easier under a county grant program to help make school buses puff less diesel-fuel pollution... The Allegheny County Health Department voted unanimously yesterday to allocate $500,000 from its Clean Air Fund to help school districts retrofit buses with filters that reduce diesel particulates by as much as 90 percent... With 1,800 diesel-powered school buses in the county lacking filters, that can cost from $1,000 to $8,000 each, the $500,000 will fall short of solving the problem...

posted by Unknown @ 4:47 PM  0 Comments

8.9.06

Safety - Canada - School buses have better air quality

Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada -The Daily News, by Lindsay Jones -Sept 6, 2006: -- Students who ride the bus in metro will breathe cleaner air this year... Halifax Regional School Board's 265 buses are equipped with engine pre-heaters to reduce idling outside the schools... Traditionally, when school buses arrive at the school to pick up students, they kept their engines running to warm them up and defrost the windows... Now, if the bus drops below a certain temperature, the preheater takes over, said John Turney, Stock Transportation general manager...

posted by Unknown @ 1:32 PM  0 Comments

BUSES' PURCHASES

* USA - D70 agrees to buy two more buses
Pueblo,CO,USA -Pueblo Chieftain, by GAYLE PEREZ -6 Sept 2006: -- The busing dilemma in Pueblo West was solved Tuesday night after the District 70 school board agreed to purchase two new school buses... The board voted unanimously to purchase the two 2007 school buses for a price of $151,906 to alleviate the problems that have arisen in Pueblo West with the bus schedule...

posted by Unknown @ 1:26 PM  0 Comments

Explanation - - UK - Code reds keep our buses on the move

Letter from Mike Weston, Operations director, London Buses

London,England,UK -The Bromley Times -6 Sept 2006: -- The article (Bus route labelled the 'most dangerous', Bromley Times, August 10) suggests these bus routes are dangerous because of the high number of Code Red calls - but Code Red is not a by-word for emergency... In fact, it is a call made by bus drivers to the London Buses control centre about anything from roadworks, route diversions and calls for help if a passenger is taken ill to more serious incidents that may require police assistance... Is the number of Code Reds high? As a proportion of six million people who travel on more than 7,000 buses every day, it is not... Is it rising? Yes, because we are encouraging drivers to report everything that affects their journey, no matter how small...

posted by Unknown @ 1:20 PM  0 Comments

Fight - UK - Fury over bus service cutbacks

Edinburgh,Scotoland,UK -The Scotsman, by ALAN RODEN -6 Sept 2006: -- Hundreds of residents have protested against a series of cut-backs to bus services in the city... Three separate petitions have been set up by community leaders in the Capital, angry at changes to Lothian Buses' timetables... In Dumbiedykes, nearly 300 residents are fighting plans to axe the number 60 route on Saturdays and during rush hours. They say the elderly and disabled will be hardest hit, because they will be unable to walk up the hill on Holyrood Road to do their shopping...

posted by Unknown @ 1:14 PM  0 Comments

DANGEROUS DRIVERS

* Spain - 3 dead, 14 injured after bus with German and British tourists crashes
MADRID, Spain -The International Herald Tribune/AP -Sept 6, 2006: -- A bus carrying tourists from Portugal through Spain collided with a truck near the southern city of Seville Wednesday, killing three people and injuring an additional 14... The bus, which had been carrying 31 passengers, mainly German and British tourists, had left from the seaside city of Faro in Portugal, a popular summer destination, police said... It appeared that the bus had crashed into a stationary truck on the A-49 highway as it approached Seville from Huelva, police said...

* Egypt - 2 bus crashes kill 44 in
Zafarana,Egypt -News24 (South Africa) -6 Sept 2006: -- A bus accident early on Wednesday in Egypt's Red Sea coast left eight people dead and 42 wounded, said official sources... The bus, en route across the Red Sea coast, was carrying 50 Egyptian Muslim passengers on a pilgrimage... The sources said five of the injured were in critical condition. The road accident was attributed to speed... The driver reportedly lost control of the steering wheel while driving the bus off the highway, where it overturned...

* USA - 23 hurt in NYC bus crash
New York,NY,USA -The Houston Chronicle (Houston,TX)/The Associated Press -Sept. 6, 2006: -- A city bus and a tractor-trailer crashed near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge during the morning rush hour Wednesday, injuring 23 people... None of the injuries from the Staten Island crash was believed to be life threatening, NYT Transit said... The cause of the crash was under investigation, Seaton said...


* USA - 19 Hillwood students hurt as buses collide
Ashland City,TN,USA -The Ashland City Times, by KATE HOWARD -6 Sept 2006: -- An accident involving two Metro school buses Tuesday afternoon sent 19 Hillwood High School students to the hospital with minor injuries... The buses left the school around 2:20 p.m. and were traveling down Charlotte Pike when they collided about 10 minutes later, officials said. None of the injuries was serious, fire officials said... Police said the accident happened after a silver Honda Civic driven by Rachel Tyree, 19, of Nashville slowed to make a left turn in front of Pet Resorts of America...

* South Africa - 58 hurt as bus skids into petrol station
Cape Town,South Africa -Independent Online -Sept 07 2006: -- About 58 people were injured on Thursday morning when the driver of a bus lost control and drove into a petrol station in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni metro police said... "A Mazda 323 was waiting for the bus to pass as he wanted to turn right at a robot on the corner of Cason and 11th Avenue. We suspect the bus driver tried to beat the robot and lost control"...

* USA - Fla. school bus crash injures 9 students
HOLLYWOOD, Fla.,USA -The Seattle Post Intelligencer -Sept 7, 2006: -- An SUV slammed into a school bus Thursday morning, injuring nine students who were taken to a hospital complaining of neck and back pain... The extent of the injuries following the 7 a.m. crash was unknown, and no other injuries were reported among the 56 other students aboard, authorities said... Police were investigating what caused the SUV to hit the back of the bus...

posted by Unknown @ 1:13 PM  0 Comments