Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
TECHNO-NEWS * USA - Texas Bus Fleet Gets Connected with Icomera
Executive Coach Inc. chooses the Moovbox M200 for on-board passenger Wi-Fi and GPS tracking
San Francisco,CAL,USA -PRWEB -June 23, 2009: -- Icomera AB, the world's leading provider of cellular broadband gateways, has announced that Irving, TX-based charter provider Executive Coach Inc. has selected Icomera's award-winning Moovbox M200 Mobile Broadband Gateway to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to passengers on its fleet of charter bus vehicles. Established in 1985 Executive Coach is the largest privately owned charter company in Texas, and one of the fastest growing bus companies in the United States. With a fleet of over 120 vehicles, the company provides luxury motor coach charter services nationwide, including entertainer coaches with sleeping quarters and lounge areas. Executive Coach has operations in Houston, Dallas and Austin, and its charter bus fleet comprises vehicles that can accommodate between forty-five and sixty passengers. Executive Coach has already commenced the installation of Moovbox technology and expects the service to be available to passengers this summer... (Picture: Executive Coach Wi-Fi Vehicle)Labels: technonews
Hybrid Buses * USA - Emissions Regs Boost Bus Prices
EPA requirements for 2010 engines will add $6,000 to price of Navistar-built buses
Warrenville, Ill,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Jun 16, 2009: -- Federally mandated emissions controls will add $6,000 to the price of a 2010-model-year diesel bus, vehicle manufacturer Navistar says... Navistar will use a combination of advanced fuel injection, air management, electronic controls and proprietary combustion technology to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 emissions requirements for on-highway diesel engines.. The company’s IC Bus subsidiary builds commercial buses and school buses... Truck makers, including Navistar, face the same requirements for commercial trucks. Shippers and motor carriers are concerned about the impact of higher prices on carrier profitability and transport costs... (Photo: IC Bus's Hybrid Series)
Labels: hybrid buses
STRIKE * China - Bus drivers end strike in SW city
Bazhong,Sichuan,China -Chinaview -10 June 2009: -- Public transport services fully resumed Wednesday afternoon in a southwestern Chinese city after bus drivers ended strike... The drivers in the downtown area of Bazhong, Sichuan Province, went on strike Wednesday morning to draw attention to low pay, long hours and safety concerns... Li Shike, deputy director of the municipal planning and construction bureau, confirmed that the public transport has fully resumed in the city in northeast Sichuan... All 100 buses with the city's only bus company, Bazhong Bashan Public Transport Company, did not run at 6:40 a.m. as usual, said Yu Zhixiang, deputy general manager of the company...Labels: bus drivers' strikes
TECHNONEWS * Japan - New super-battery to charge buses and street cars in 10 seconds
Kawasaki,Japan -CrunchGear, by Serkan Toto -June 10, 2009: ... In cooperation with Nippon’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has developed a battery suitable for those vehicles that recharges in less than 10 seconds... The two organizations already developed a similar nickel-hydrogen battery, but the current version takes about 600 seconds for a charge. While the car industry uses lithium-ion batteries, the nickel-hydrogen models don’t contain flammables and are cheaper to use (they are also bigger but are easier to use in larger vehicles). The vehicles are supposed to get quickly charged during stops and don’t need any other power sources than the battery itself... The prototype batters is said to deliver power even after 1,000 charges and is planned to be commercialized by 2013. Next to buses and streetcars, Kawasaki Heavy hopes for interest from makers of industrial vehicles such as forklifts or cranes... (Picture, shows the Swimo, a metal-hydride battery-powered light rail vehicle made by Kawasaki Heavy)Labels: technonews
PASSENGER'S COMPLAINS * Singapore - Buses used in Jurong too old and noisy
Jurong,Singapore -Singapore Trivia, by eugenebeo -8 June 2009: -- He elaborates: “I am writing in to hope to bring attention to SBS Transit on this issue... I would like them to focus on the old double-decked buses travelling along Jurong West St 91... There are some of these buses serving the 241 route that are producing too much noise pollution to the neighbourhood... Besides that, these bus engines roar when they pass by, some of these buses produce high pitched whining, hissing sound and some even emit black smoke... I am very disappointed by SBS Transit. Despite sending feedback to them about this issue, there seems to be no improvement to these buses. Perhaps LTA or PTC should step in to this issue towards improving this bus service.”... (Picture: STOMPer Lim is annoyed with the bus 241 service route along Jurong as he claims the buses are too old and noisy)Labels: passengers' complain
Bus Rapid Transit * USA - Program may roll out in nine locations in Queens
The city is proposing a second wave of BRT lines over the next decade
Bronx,NY,USA -The New York Daily News, by John Lauinger -June 7, 2009: -- Bus Rapid Transit - a system that allows buses to function more like a subway - is key to expanding the city's mass transit, some advocates and transportation officials argue... BRT was established in New York for the first time last year as a pilot program on the BX12 line along Fordham Road in the Bronx. By providing a separate right-of-way for buses and allowing for curbside fare payment, among other features, travel time dropped by 11 minutes - or 19% - from one end of the line to the other, city records show... The city is proposing a second wave of BRT lines over the next decade. Whether this transit frontier will run through Queens - and if so, where - will depend on various factors, including input received at two public meetings in Jackson Heights and Jamaica last week, officials said... The city Transportation Department has identified 31 potential BRT corridors, focusing largely on areas underserved by mass transit or targeted for growth... Nine of those are in Queens, including southeastern Queens; Utopia/Fresh Meadows; Middle Village; the Long Island Expressway; the Long Island City waterfront and the Queens-Manhattan connections, where subways are jam-packed... (Photo by Giancarli/NY Daily News - BRT was established in New York for the first time last year as a pilot program on the BX12)Labels: bus rapid transit - BRT
BUSES' CONTROLS * China - Cities inspect bus facilities
Chengdu,Sichuan,China -Xinhua -8 June 2009: -- Cities across China inspected bus facilities over the weekend after the fatal bus explosive which killed 27 and injures 76 in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Friday... More signs about dangerous items will be installed in buses and at bus stops in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, where the blaze happened, said Hu Qinghan, director of Chengdu Municipal Committee of Communication on late Sunday... The fixed windows on the buses with air-conditioners will be changed to ordinary windows which can be opened, and more safety hammers to brake windows will be installed, Hu said, adding that the doors also will be much more easy to be opened... The city will buy 1,000 more buses to ease traffic in rush hours,he said... In the neighboring Chongqing Municipality, employees will be at major bus stops to inspect dangerous items, said the municipal transport company, which examined its 6,500 buses on Saturday... (Photo: Bus hit by an explosion in China)Labels: buses inspections
BUSES' PURCHASE * India - Cities plump for Central scheme, take to CNG buses
While the urban development ministry laid down several specific conditions and technical criteria for the type of buses that cities would be allowed to buy under the scheme, it didn’t require the buses to be powered by CNG
New Delhi,India -The Wall Street Journal/Live Mint (USA), by Rahul Chandran and Samar Srivastava -4 June 2009: -- The opportunity to earn money by selling carbon credits, growing environmental awareness and the novelty value of buses fuelled by compressed natural gas (CNG) may have prompted some 14 cities to order hundreds of CNG vehicles, taking advantage of a one-time funding scheme offered by the Centre... The cities that have placed orders for CNG buses include Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Indore, Ujjain, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Agartala, Tripura, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow, according to urban development secretary M. Ramachandran... (Photo by Ramesh Pathania / Mint - Green fleet: Low-floor CNG buses run by Delhi Transport Corporation)Labels: buses' purchase
BUSMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE
* Germany - Zero-emission buses from Mercedes
Stuttgart,Germany -My Green Treasure -9 Jun 2009: -- Companies seem to care more about the environment. Following the rising trend of hybrid vehicles, the German car manufacturer, Mercedes, announced the new Citaro G Blue Tec Hybrid. The new model will be more environmental-friendly and brings improvement to fuel efficiency, thus reducing the energy consumption up to 30 percent. Coming after the great success of the Citaro series, the new model promises to bring hybrid technology to a whole new level, never before seen in the European arena... The new bus, measuring 18 meters in length, is powered by a large 19.4 kWh lithium-ion battery mounted on the roof which can generate totally up to 320KW. The highly acclaimed hybrid (Winner of the DERKA Environment Award) is expected to be seen in European cities in the early months of 2010, when deliveries start... (Photo from DMB: bluetec-bus)
* USA - Hybrid bus maker delivers first of 21 buses to Baltimore
Charlotte,SC,USA -The Charlotte Observer, by Jefferson George -Jun. 10, 2009: -- A Charlotte-based hybrid and electric bus manufacturer today announced it has delivered the first of 21 hybrid buses that were ordered by the city of Baltimore... DesignLine USA began building buses in 1985 and moved its headquarters to Charlotte in 2006... The EcoSaver IV bus ordered by Baltimore can operate on battery power, with zero emissions, up to 40 percent of the time, the company said... The value of the order is $12.2 million, and DesignLine plans to deliver the buses to Baltimore by this fall. The company also said it has two pending federal grant applications that could lead to more orders... (Photo from wikipedia: NYCT Designline 9900)
* India - Tata Motors bags a lion’s share of bus orders under JNNURM
New Delhi,India -The Hindu Business Line, by Priyanka Vyas -June 3, 2009: -- Tata Motors has bagged a lion’s share of bus orders under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)... Of the 7,815 buses – for which orders have been placed by various State Governments under the programme – Tata Motors is estimated to have got orders for 4,689 buses... Ashok Leyland, the country’s second largest commercial vehicle maker, has got an order of 3,200 buses... (Photo from Tata: Globus range of luxury coaches)* USA - Thomas Built unveils new line of small vehicles
High Point,NC,USA -The News Record (Greensboro.NC) -June 4, 2009: -- Thomas Built Buses announced a new product Tuesday that could create new jobs in the area... MyBus, which has been in development for about a year, is a line of small transportation vehicles for groups of 10 to 30 people... The vehicle is a Multi-Function Student Activity Bus. The line is being built in High Point... The buses include features such as child care seating, coach-style seating and overhead luggage racks...* USA - Bus-makers' federal aid merely holds the line. Stimulus money doesn't create new jobs, it saves old ones
Washington,DC,USA -AP/The Winston Salem Journal -June 8, 2009: -- Washington is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to build new, cleaner-burning buses, but don't scour the want ads looking for a burst of job openings soon at major manufacturers or suppliers... The bus money, like many other programs in the $787 billion stimulus plan, is having the less glamorous and harder-to-quantify effect of keeping workers employed, providing a slight buffer from the recession to some in the auto industry... Thanks to the stimulus law, forecasts are more stable now. Schimenti expects stimulus-related orders to begin late this year... At North American Bus Industries of Anniston, Ala., it's the same story... New Flyer Industries, a Canadian company that runs manufacturing plants in Minnesota, said that its sales were up before the stimulus and that the new spending will probably keep sales and employment stable... At Daimler Buses, Scully says he can already point to 200 bus orders with stimulus money and he expects more soon. Sales forecasts for 2009 and 2010 are steady, he said... (AP Photo -Bill Cardette (left) and Ross Meyers at the Daimler Buses plant in Oriskany, N.Y., work on a new, cleaner-burning bus that the government is encouraging)Labels: busmakers' news worldwide
Battery-Electric Buses * USA - In-Route Charging demo, with Los Angeles County's Foothill Transit
Proterra: Historic zero emissions transit bus project to launch in 2010, offering potential for 24/7 service with no need for refueling
Golden,CO,USA -PRWEB -June 2, 2009 -- Proterra, today announced a historic demonstration of its fast-charge battery-powered electric buses by Los Angeles County's Foothill Transit... Serving commuters in San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, the three battery-powered electric buses will allow the agency to offer zero emission, up to 24 hour-a-day, 7 days-a-week service with revolutionary on-route recharging stations, negating the need for the buses to return to the yard for refueling... Meeting the California Air Resources Board's required zero emissions standards for 2012, the buses provide economical and environmental benefits to Foothill Transit, including up to a 400 percent improvement in fuel economy, and over $300,000 savings in total lifetime fuel expenses per bus, compared to traditional diesel buses... (Photo: Proterra zero emission fast-charge battery electric bus, EcoRide BE35) Labels: electric buses
STIMULUS WATCH * USA - In jobs, what's stability worth?
Washington is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to build new, cleaner-burning buses, but don't scour the want ads looking for a burst of job openings soon at major manufacturers or suppliers
Kansas City.MO,USA -Associated Press/The KansasCity , by MATT APUZZO -7 June 2009: -- The bus money, like many other programs in the $787 billion stimulus plan, is having the less glamorous and harder-to-quantify effect of keeping workers employed, providing a slight buffer from the recession to some in the auto industry... At the White House, where saving jobs always was as much a priority as creating jobs, the bus industry is a success story... But it also shows how hard it is to account for that success, especially in an industry that keeps shedding jobs despite the stimulus... This experience plays out repeatedly nationwide. When the White House says it has saved jobs, it's talking about companies such as Daimler, New Flyer and Cummins. The overall economy, meanwhile, has lost 1.3 million jobs since the stimulus law was passed... "To the extent the stimulus is successful helping get the economy in the right direction, to the extent it helps the economy, helps our market, that's where we're going to benefit," Cummins spokesman Mark Land said. "If that allows us to bring a few people back, then it will be fair to say then the stimulus was part of the solution."... (Photo by Kevin Rivoli/AP: : Workers assemble new, cleaner-burning buses at the Daimler Buses North America facility in Oriskany, N.Y., Wednesday, June 3, 2009. Washington is paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the new buses, one of the $787 billion stimulus plan programs, that has the less glamorous, harder-to-quantify effect of keeping workers employed - a buffer from the recession to some in the auto industry)Labels: stimulus funds
BUSMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE
* Azure Dynamics Partners with Champion Bus
Oak Park,MI,USA -Trailer Body Builders -Jun 2, 2009: -- Azure Dynamics Corporation today announced a partnership with Champion Bus that allows Champion Bus customers and dealers the option to select Azure's Balance Hybrid Electric Drivetrain System in Ford E-450 Shuttle Buses they order from Champion... Champion ordered its first Azure Balance Hybrid Electric chassis last fall and has installed their Challenger Body on the product... (Photo from starelectricvehicles: STAR-B48, 11 or 14 passenger, Champion bus)Labels: busmakers' news worldwide
MIT's 'EyeStop' * USA - Giving Riders iPhone-Like Experience
Manhasset,NY,USA -InformationWeek, by W. David Gardner -26 May 2009: -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) SENSEable City Lab, in collaboration with Florence, Italy, have developed EyeStop, an interactive, solar-powered bus stop waiting area that enables commuters to browse the Web, create bus routes, and determine the exact location of approaching buses... The EyeStop touchscreen can be used to indicate a desired destination, with the system highlighting the shortest route. When a bus approaches, the EyeStop shelter glows increasingly bright. For bus users, EyeStop could work with location-based services that are increasingly available on smartphones and mobile devices... EyeStop also can act as an environmental sensing node to gather information on air quality and other environmental factors... (Image from i.cmpnet: Automated eyestop full)Labels: bus stop shelters
San Francisco,CAL,USA -PRWEB -June 23, 2009: -- Icomera AB, the world's leading provider of cellular broadband gateways, has announced that Irving, TX-based charter provider Executive Coach Inc. has selected Icomera's award-winning Moovbox M200 Mobile Broadband Gateway to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to passengers on its fleet of charter bus vehicles. Established in 1985 Executive Coach is the largest privately owned charter company in Texas, and one of the fastest growing bus companies in the United States. With a fleet of over 120 vehicles, the company provides luxury motor coach charter services nationwide, including entertainer coaches with sleeping quarters and lounge areas. Executive Coach has operations in Houston, Dallas and Austin, and its charter bus fleet comprises vehicles that can accommodate between forty-five and sixty passengers. Executive Coach has already commenced the installation of Moovbox technology and expects the service to be available to passengers this summer... (Picture: Executive Coach Wi-Fi Vehicle)
