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Buses World News: April 2009
Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
28.4.09
STIMULUS FUNDS * USA - Federal money will buy new buses
Kenosha,WI,USA -The Kenosha News, by MATTHEW OLSON -April 22, 2009: --The city ofKenoshais en route to receive about $2.4 million in federal transit money, the majority of which will go toward five new buses...Gov. Jim Doyleannounced the city’s recommended portion of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Acton Tuesday... The majority of the city’s share will go toward to replacing older buses with new 35-foot long buses.The five new vehicles are expected to cost $1.8 million and operate on clean diesel fuel, which is about 40 percent more fuel-efficient than regular diesel fuel...
* Cities See Hybrid Buses Down the Road
Green Bay,WI,USA -WBAY, by Kristin Byrne-April 22, 2009: -- Some transit systems in our state are taking a big step toward going green. They plan to use federal stimulus money to buy hybrid buses... Several transit systems inNortheast Wisconsinrequested significant amounts of stimulus money for different projects...Green Bay requested about $3 million for things like new buses and a new surveillance system... Oshkosh wants about $2 million. Appleton asked for about $1.5 million...
*Seeking grant money,Arlington wants to continue bus service to downtownFort Worth
Arlington,VA,USA -The Star-Telegram, by SUSAN SCHROCK -21 April 2008: -- Less than a year after the initiative started, the city is applying for another grant that would allow it to continue offering limited weekday commuter bus service to downtownFort Worth... Arlington’s contribution to the commuter bus pilot project, which started last September, was funded through a $75,000 grant from the Sue Pope Fund, a private grant organization.The city is applying for that grant once again to continue the bus service from twoArlington locations tothe Intermodal Transportation Center in downtownFort Worth through September 2010. The Fort Worth Transportation Authorityalso contributes to the service, which is on the T buses...
* W.F.to Use Stimulus Funds for Buses
Wichita Falls,TX,USA -Texomas/KFDX -Apr 21, 2009: -- Economic stimulus funds are headed to Wichita Falls -- and at today's council meeting, city leaders discussed the ways that money should be spent. About one point three million dollars in stimulus funds will be used to replace four handicap accessible buses. Transportation Director John Burrus says some people have asked why economic development money is being spent on things such as buses and trails... Stimulus dollars will fund 100 percent of the cost of the new buses ...AndBurrus saysthis funding could free up money for other projects...
BUSES FLEET MANAGEMENT * Hong Kong/China - Success Story: Kowloon Motor Bus Company
Increases mobility and provides better customer service
Kowloon,HK,China -The Power Builder Journal (USA) -April 21, 2009: --The largest bus operator inHong Kong, theKowloon Motor Bus Company (KMB), is responsible for carrying around 2.7 million passengers a day and coordinates the movement of 4,040 buses.By utilizingSybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE), PowerBuilder, and PocketBuilder, KMBbuilt two mission-critical systems:the Traffic Operations Management System (TOM) andthe Terminus Management System (TER)...Using these systems,KMBcan now better handle the company's resource allocation, improve the effectiveness of depot staff in their daily duties, and provide greater mobility to its workforce at the terminals...
Eden Park,Cincinnati,Ohio,USA -Urban Cincy, by Randy Simes-April 20, 2009: -- Metro will debut the first 6 of their 15 new hybrid buses on Tuesday, April 21st... The new hybrid buses will have a "unique go*GREEN hybrid design" that will reduce soot and hydrocarbon emissions by at least 90% and use about 30% less fuel that the typical Metro bus.Additional hybrid buses will be purchased next year with some of the $17.5 million that Metro received from stimulus funds in March...
Riders Say * USA - 5-Cent Hikes Better Than Bus Cut Idea
Washington,DC,USA -The Washington Post, by Lena H. Sun -April 21, 2009: -- After a week of public hearings on Metro'sproposal to cut $13.6 million inMetrobus service, many riders said they would prefer to pay a nickel more in bus and rail fares than have any service cut to help close the agency's $29 million budget gap.A 5-cent across-the-board fare increase would eliminate any need for bus service cuts... But it's doubtful that the board will have the votes to consider a fare increase this year. Even if District members, who blocked consideration of a 5-cent increase last month, changed their position, it's unlikely there would be enough time for another round of required public hearings on such a proposal before the board adopts a budget in June, members said...(Photo by Jacquelyn Marti/Associated Press - Metro proposes cutting some lines or segments and increasing the gap between bus arrival times, affecting 72 routes on 42 lines)
Andalusia,AL,USA -The Andalusia Star-News, by Justin Schuver-April 20, 2009: --Andalusia City Schools transportation director,Bob Harry, suggested at Monday’s meeting of the Andalusia Board of Education that changes are needed for next year’s bus service, including the elimination of many stops on routes... Harry said that state law makes no regulation regarding the location and frequency of bus stops, but does provide several suggestions. Among those suggestions are that school systems establish a minimum distance between stops — usually between one-tenth or two-tenths of a mile...Harry saidthe new bus routes would follow those guidelines, but feature fewer stops, with most of those stops located at street corners... (Photo from andalusiahomes4sale: School Bus)
BRT * UK - New rapid transport scheme for south Essex
Essex,UK -Echo -20 April 2009: -- Fast, reliable and affordable public transport is on its way to southEssexas part of a £50million scheme to tempt motorists out of their cars and cut congestion... The Governmenthas agreed to plough the cash into the new South Essex Rapid Transport scheme designed to offer travel direct from residential areas to places where people work, avoiding long and complicated routes... (Photo from transportxtra)
LOSSES * USA - Muir Beach bus service on financial edge
An inefficient bus program servingMuir Beachis on the rocks because it doesn't make fiscal sense
San Rafael,CA,USA -The Marin IJ, by Nels Johnson-20 April 2009: --The "dial-a-ride" service launched a year ago as a demonstration project "is the least productive service that Marin Transit operates and carries an average of 1.5 passengers per hour" - below the district standard of at least two passengers per hour for such service, reported Amy Van Doren, Marin County Transit District planning manager... The dial-a-ride program in its first 11 months served 762 patrons at minimal fares that required aÊ $29.41-per-passenger subsidy, officials reported... Although transit district directors set a public hearing on the fate of the program for 10 a.m. May 18, it was clear Monday that the bus service is all but doomed in an era of funding cutbacks... Officials said the neighborhood service would cost $78,750 next fiscal year, when state budget cuts will slash county transit funding by $1 million or more... An overall short-range transit plan endorsed Monday indicates the Muir Beach ride program "is expected to be discontinued" next fiscal year, when most other programs will be maintained, along with increases in paratransit service...
BUSES PURCHASE PROSPECTS * USA - Buses are belching smog, but UTA is working on it
The agency will replace 108 vehicles with cleaner ones soon
Salt Lake City,UT,USA -The Salt Lake Tribune, by Brandon Loomis -18 April 2009: --The bad news is that hundreds of the Utah Transit Authority'sbuses are aging polluters that spew more gunk than the cars they take off the road... The good news is that they just keep aging, and soon they'll retire... A legislative audit last year considered UTA's air-quality effects negligible.The buses belch more nitrogen oxide than the cars they replace, and that more than offsets the benefits of electric light-rail trains. That has not changed this year, UTA officialsacknowledge, but it will within two to three years as the agency buys new, cleaner buses... If bus replacement goes as scheduled, the fleet as a whole should outperform the displaced cars as soon as 2011 or 2012,UTA Chief Operating Officer Jerry Benson said... (Photo by Rick Egan / The Salt Lake Tribune - New UTA buses on the lot getting ready for serviceon Friday. UTA is replacing old, buses with new, cleaner ones)
If Cherriots was run like a business and not a charity, taxpayers would not have to be taxed for something they may never use
Salem,OR,USA -The Statesman Journal-April 19, 2009: -- For about a year, my family has been observingtheCherriots buses from all around the Salem-Keizer area.Observance is constant... Very few people (three to 10), if any, were on the buses at any time of the day, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m....We are not sure how many buses run daily, but common sense shows that the empty buses are using far more energy, stopping and starting without sufficient customers than most cars on the road with one person... Our city and state would be better off to subsidize those that really require the service (seniors and handicapped) with electric or hydrogen state cars/vans (they are paid for) that use much less energy and are faster and safer and let the others pay their way... (Photo from masstransitmag: waiting for Cherriots buses)
FINES * Zambia - RDA Fines Germins, Juldan Bus Services
Zambia -All Africa-20 April 2009: --The Road development Agency (RDA) has fined Germinsand Juldanbus services K11 million (exchange: 1 Zambia - Kwacha = 0.00017 US Dólar) each for eluding a check of tonnage at Kafulafuta weigh bridge... The police sources said the buses avoided the weighbridge but were trapped at the police check point a kilometer from the facility... Some passengers of the two buses destined for Lusaka and Nakonde managed to get on other buses after midnight apart from four who were still stranded by Press time...(Photo: buses to Vic Falls)
Melbourne,Australia -The Age, by Clay Lucas -April 20, 2009: -- Passengers will be able to travel free for the next two weeks on the city's first orbital SmartBus, a new route running in an 86-kilometre arc aroundMelbourne, fromMordiallocto Altona... The service begins today and will have 15-minute frequencies between 6.30am and 9pm — which could make the bus a viable alternative to the car for thousands of commuters for the first time... The bus will connect to 11 train stations, nine tram lines and four major shopping centres... The bus route will pass Chadstone, Doncaster and Northland shopping centres, and the Essendon DFO... (Photo from primusonline - Ventura637)
LOSSES * UK - £200m hit for bus firms as fuel hedging backfires
Firstgroup and Stagecoach suffer as oil prices slide after they fixed costs around $115 per barrel
Glasgow,Scotland,UK -The Sunday Herald, by Steven Vass -18 April 2009: --Firstgroup and Stagecoach, the two leading transport companies in Scotland, will lose about £200 million between them this year because they fixed their fuel costs at levels well above current market prices... To the detriment of rail and bus passengers, who have seen fare hikes around the country in recent months, the two companies locked in large parts of the fuel purchases for this year and next year at a time last year when there were fearsthat the price of oil could hit $200 a barrel... The Sunday Herald estimates thatFirstGroupis paying about 25p more per litre of fuel than necessary this year, while Stagecoachis paying about 17p too much. Another rival, Arriva, is paying about 13p too much, which indicates thatFirstGrouphedged at a particularly unfortunate time...
The Podcar * UAE - A Cross Between a Taxi and a Personal Bus
Masdar City,UAE -Gas 2.org, by Amiel Blajchman -April 17, 2009: --Masdar City, located withinAbu Dhabi, is introducing personal rapid transit “podcars“... Basically, a cross between the convenience of grabbing a cab and a public bus; the podcars will be a component of Masdar City’s public transportation system... As part of Masdar City’s car-free design; these podcars will be part of a network of electric taxis without drivers (!). The first of these podcars (also known as personal rapid transit - PRT) are set to debut this year...
Transport Realities * South Africa - Slow, but maybe a start
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
Capetown,South Africa -MOBILITY, by Gail Jennings -April 17, 2009: --... BRT vehicles run along dedicated lanes, and offer commuters a safe, convenient and reliable service with a regular, all day and evening time table... Construction of BRT stations are well underway in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, and although the systems are about far more than 2010, their first phases need to be operational by then... There will be place for current bus operators in the system, although mini-bus taxis will be excluded from the trunk routes...Currently, the minibus-taxi industry moves about two-thirds of public transport passengers in South Africa, says Herrie Schalekamp, Centre for Transport Studies, UCT... Cape Town and Johanesburghave been in continuous negotiations with the taxi industry, and various memoranda of agreements have been signed…
Reno,NV,USA -RGJ, by Jeff DeLong -April 17, 2009: --Regional transportation officials are considering a financial arrangement to allow the start of rapid transit service alongSouth Virginia Street beginning next fall... The plan uses funding opportunities linked to the sour economy. One is more than $7 million in economic stimulus funding coming from the federal government. The other is that a bid to build a new downtownRenotransit center was $8 million less than expected as builders seek business during tough times...The combination could allow the RTC to shift some federal money previously dedicated to the transit center for a demonstration project in bus rapid transit, Derek Morse, acting executive director of the Regional Transportation Commission, said...
BUSMAKERS' NEWS * USA - Navistar awarded funding for Plug-In Hybrid School Bus
Warrenville,ILL,USA -Trailer Body Builders -27 April 2009: --Navistar has been selected bythe U.S. Department of Energy to participate in a project that will develop and deliver energy-efficient and environmentally friendly plug-in hybrid school buses... The U.S. Department of Energy announced that it has selectedNavistar for a cost-shared award of up to $10 million—half of the total projected cost.As part of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Technology Acceleration and Deployment Activity program,Navistarwill develop and deploy 60 plug-in electric hybrid buses to fleets across the nation during a multi-year program...
* France - Using Ultracapacitors in Buses Paris, France -Autoblog Green/Ecogeek-April,17 2009: -- German company MANhas decided to look beyond small electric vehicles and has outfitted a hybrid bus with an ultracapacitor. Paris's public transport system RATPis currently testing a few of these models calledLion's City Hybrids in the city without passengers to see if they're worth permanently adding to their transportation fleet.The bus is being tested on four different bus routes to gauge its performance under various demands like longer distances or more frequent stops. The ultracapacitor allows the bus to start without turning on the engine. Once the bus is moving, the diesel engine starts running. MAN claims that the hybrid bus reduces fuel use by 20 to 25 percent compared to the currently-used models. If these test go well, this could be the beginning of ultracapacitors finally making their way onto the road instead of just being an exciting prospect...
Hydrogen-fueled Buses * USA - Ford tests shuttles at Metro Airport
Metrocars will run 2 buses between terminals five days a week in six-month test
Romulus,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Tanveer Ali -April 25, 2009: -- Two new buses that run on hydrogen have begun traveling between terminals at Detroit Metro Airport, with hopes that the use of such technology could expand to make the airport more environmentally friendly... The Wayne County Airport Authoritybegan operating the Ford E-450 buses March 29 as part of a study looking at the viability of clean-fuel transportation...The shuttles run five days a week, along with the airport's other buses, taking people for free between the McNamara and North Terminals... (Photo by Velvet S. McNeil / The Detroit News - The two hydrogen-fueled shuttle buses hold a smaller capacity in order to make room for six tanks that feed into a retooled engine)
BRT * USA - Express bus route will use I-55 shoulders
Chicago,ILL,USA -The Chicago Tribune, by Jon Hilkevitch -April 16, 2009: --TheChicagoregion's first truly express buses will debut early next year, darting past traffic by using the left shoulders of Interstate Highway 55 between the Loop and the southwest suburbs, transit officials said Wednesday... The idea is to draw commuters out of their cars and into buses traveling unimpeded by congestion on bus-only lanes at the speed of passenger trains... In addition to much lower costs than building new rail lines, the anticipated benefits include fewer cars on the road tying up traffic, causing pollution and wasting the time of drivers stuck in congestion, the officials said...
Bus route en route * USA - Stimulus money to fund Punta Gorda-North Port trail
Murdock,Charlotte County,FL,USA -The Charlotte Sun -April 16, 2009: -- Charlotte County commissioners decided Tuesday to apply for more than $1.9 million in federal stimulus money that will bring five hybrid buses toCharlotte County... The new buses could link Punta Gorda, Port Charlotteand North Portwith public transit... The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant is coming directly to the county from the Federal Transportation Administration...
GPS * USA - MBTA installs tracking devices on all buses
Boston,MASS,USA -WHDH -15 April 2009: --The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority is stepping up its efforts to keep track of your service... The MBTA said that they have installed a new technology to track their entire bus fleet... All 1,040MBTA buses are now equipped with GPS... Dispatchers have the ability to track every bus on real time and officials hope that it will translate into better service... The project cost $18.9 million...
BUSMAKER NEWS * Germany - MAN gets major order from Abu Dhabi for 400 buses
Munich,Germany -Allgemeine Mitteilungen (PresseBox) -16 April 2009: -- ... The Dubaibased MAN subsidiary, in cooperation with local importer Darwish Bin Ahmed & Sons Company, was able to land the contract fromthe Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi (DoT).The order comprises a total of 400 low-floor and intercity buses worth a three-figure million euro sum... The order is for 250 MAN Lion’s City low-floor buses and 150 MAN Lion’s Regio intercity buses in the new two-axle 13-metre version... Delivery will commmence as early as April 2009. All the vehicles are equipped with extra-powerful air-conditioning and the most modern MAN D20 Common Railengines with the maintenance- and additive-free MAN PURE DIESEL® exhaust-emissions treatment system...(Photo: MAN's Lions Regio bus)
Initiatives to increase passengers on bus routes are expected to continue resulting in more passenger perks
Copenhagen,Denmark -The Copenhagen Post -14 April 2009: -- In an effort to attract more passengers buses may begin offering perks to riders such as free internet access, Berlingske Tidende newspaper reports... The results of a six-month trial on the 150S bus route in Copenhagen, conducted by consultancy firm Cowi, have shown a 20 percent increase in passenger numbers after an agreement with local councils to provide free internet access connections on the buses... Of the over 3,000 new passengers on the route, around 300 indicated they had chosen to leave their car at home in favour of the bus, according to Cowi’s data... Bus companyArriva, which operates the 150S line, has been the beneficiary of the ‘incentive contract’ initiative, where the company has earned 3 kroner for every new, satisfied passenger... (Allowing bus operators to benefit from increased ridership has resulted in the introduction of a flurry of new initiatives)
Impounded Bus * South Africa - ‘Had faulty brakes’
Johannesburg,South Africa -Dispatch On Line -15 April 2009: -- AnSA Roadlink bus travelling from Johannesburg toEast Londonwas impounded yesterday after traffic officials found a number of faults on the vehicle...“It was shocking what we’ve discovered from the bus. It had faulty brakes and a missing bolt from the driving shaft and that could have le d to a serious accident,”said Chief traffic officer Duma Mnqanqeni. He added that the bearings on the front axles and shock mountings at the rear were also faulty... The licence disc has since been removed and the vehicle has been deemed unfit to transport passengers. The Amahlathi traffic department has given SA Roadlink 14 working days to fix the problems before the bus would be allowed to operate again... (Picture: MLONDOLOZI MBOLO - OFF THE ROAD: The impounded bus at the Stutterheim traffic department)
BUSES PURCHASE PROSPECT * Zimbabwe - SA Bus Company Set to Increase Fleet
Harare,Zimbabwe -AllAfrica -14 April 2009: -- One of South Africa's biggest passenger transport companies, Roadlink, has expressed interest in increasing the number of its buses that operate in the country... Roadlink chairman Mr Allan Reddy, who was part of a South African business delegation that was in the country last week on a one-day business visit, said they were in the process of acquiring new buses for this purpose...
City's Adv * USA - Trans-Bridge Lines displays bus wrapped in Lehigh Valley imagery
Bethlehem,PA,USA -Le High Valley Live, by JD Malone -April 14, 2009: -- In a move to promote theLehigh Valley's anchor cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton,Trans-Bridge Lines in partnership with the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau wrapped one of its buses with some of the area's sweeping, iconic images... A reflective Star of Bethlehem rises over The Steel as the bugler from atop Easton's Centre Square Soldiers and Sailors Monument poses before the Queen City's PPL building... The motif was rendered by Nathan Linder of Nazareth's Jangle Advertising in shades of yellow, orange, green and gray. "Lehigh Valley, Pa.," stands out on the flanks of bus along with the LVCVB's Web address, lehighvalleypa.org...(Express-Times Photo by BILL ADAMS - Mike Stershic, president of the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, answers questions about a new promotion to market the Lehigh Valley region for tourism through a partnership among Transbridge Lines, the visitors bureau and the three cities in the Valley)
Monroe County,TN,USA -16 WNEP TV, by Wendy McNew -April 14, 2009: -- Job seekers in the Poconosgot a free lift Tuesday. Monroe County Transit Uuthoritydecided with the tight economy to allow people to ride for free including those heading to a county job fair... "I am trying to find a job," said Rickie Bennett while waiting for the Pocono Pony. Bennett has been out of work for months but thanks to a free ride from the Monroe County Transit Authority he might be on track to get a job...Bennett and hundreds of other job seekers boarded MCTA buses Tuesday for a free ride to the CareerLink job fair at Fernwood Resort near Bushkill...
New Buses Fleet * USA - Make Ride Cheaper, Cleaner
Nashville,TENN,USA -News Channel 5 -April 14, 2009: -- Metropolitan Transit Authority debuted a new fleet of buses that are lighter on the atmosphere and bank account... This afternoon Nashville Mayor, Karl Dean, took his first ride on the 62 seat diesel electric-powered bus... The buses will be used to begin Bus Rapid Transitalong theGallatin Roadcorridor.MTA purchased them with the environment and economy in mind... MTA officials hoped the stimulus money will help them purchase more of those buses in the future...
COWARDS !! Predators on the Bus * France - Policeman “Harms Image” of Bus Company
Paris,France -Tiberge on Sun/The Brussels Journal -12 April 2009: --A six-minute video from a surveillance camera, showing an attack on a young white man in a Parisian bus, during the night of December 6-7, 2008, has aroused a tsunami of reactions throughout the French-language Internet.At François Desouche there are almost 2000 comments to the video, not to mention other sites... The reaction was so overwhelming that censorship of the video by both Daily Motion and YouTube was easily foreseeable. FDS decided, therefore, to use a Russian version on RuTube... -Click here to view the video- ... The reason for the explosion of reactions, most of them expressing outrage at what happened on the bus, is that this is a racist attack by dark-skinned individuals (whose faces are visible) on a white man.Since the French State vigorously opposes racism "in all its forms", it remains to be seen if this crime is ever designated as a "hate" crime against a white man... Some were shocked by the video because the faces were visible – normally this is not permitted. Hence the censorship of the video...(Photo from 4.bp.blogspot.com: Scene on bus)
TRANSPORT INTELLIGENCE * Nigeria - ‘Lagos needs 6,000 buses to move commuters daily’
Lagos,Nigeria -The Punch, by Rasheed Bisiriyu -14 Apr 2009: --At least 6,000 mass transit buses are required to move about seven million motorists and commuters that ply Lagos roads daily,the Managing Director, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, has said...This disclosure on Monday is coming on the heels of approval given by the state government to four firms to commence the operation of its dedicated bus scheme...Mebereola, who spoke at an interactive session with the News Agency of Nigeriasaid that the commuters figure was expected to rise to 12 million by 2015...He also said that the state government had designed a multi-modal transport scheme, which included rail, water and land transportation to cater for the upsurge...(Photo from punch.com:by Sam Adeko - Commuters stranded at Wuse Bus)
Neglecting Safety *Malaysia - Among, Causes Of Bus Accidents
Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia -Bernama -April 13, 2009: -- A lackadaisical attitude among bus operators concerning safety is one of the causes of bus accidents,said Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat...He said there were also some old buses which did not have their body frames strengthened in the interest of safety... Ong said this in commenting on the express bus tragedy at Km443 of the North-South Expressway near Rawang which claimed the lives of six people and left three people injured at dawn... He also admitted that ineffective enforcement was also a contributor to bus accidents happening...
Microsoft's Fleet of Buses * USA - 53 buses on 19 Seattle routes
The Microsoft Connectorone of the largest company-owned employee bus services inUSA
Seattle,Wash.,USA -AP/Examiner, by KATHERINE LONG -Apr 13, 2009: --It started with five routes and a dozen buses. Nineteen routes and 53 buses later, Microsoft's employee shuttle service has become ubiquitous in neighborhoods around Seattle and the Eastside... The Microsoft Connector, which began in September 2007, is now one of the largest company-owned employee bus services in the United States, Microsoft says... The white buses shuttle workers to the Redmond campus from stops in West Seattle, Ballard, Wallingford and other areas where public transit to Redmond is indirect and time-consuming. The buses move employees across the region's clogged roadways in comfort and style, with secure Wi-Fi service, comfy seats, luggage racks, electrical outlets and cup holders... Commutes on the Microsoft bus tend to be more productive than social. Once they're on the bus, most passengers pop open their laptops, check their e-mail and get to work. Cell phone chats are discouraged, and conversations take place in the softest of voices. The workday has either begun, or is extended... Because of the Wi-Fi access, "a lot more of my time is productive time," said Microsoft worker Jacob Oshins, who lives in Wallingford and plugs into his company e-mail both coming and going. The bus has been a help because "the worst part of working in tech is going to the 'burbs," he said... (Photo from gconnect.in: Microsoft bus)
PASSENGERS' COMFORT * Philippines - Cebu bus terminal draws praises from passengers
Cebu City,Philippines -The Manila Bulletin, by MARS W. MOSQUEDA JR.-April 11, 2009: --Passengers who traveled to the southern part ofCebu Province for their Holy Week vacation were all praises at the comfort and order inside the newly-renovatedCebu South Bus terminal... There were no more barkers, no more enterprising individuals who sell bus seats, and all passengers had to do is line up to get inside buses heading for various towns in southernCebu... “This is entirely different from the south bus terminal that we used to know,” said Anastacia Empuerto, 52, resident ofBato, Samboan...(Photo from stilldrops:Ssouth Bus Terminal Cebu)
PASSENGERS' COMFORT * India - Online booking of seats for UPSRTC buses
Allahabad,Uttar Pradesh,India -The Times of India, by Ashraf Jamal-11 Apr 2009: --Passengers can now book seats online for selected buses run bythe Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC)... The Allahabad zone is planning to introduce buses equipped with modern features akin to popular Volvo buses on other routes...Talking to TOI,SK Banerjee, regional manager of UPSRTC saidthat passengers can book seats by logging on the website upsrtc.com and clicking on the appropriate links. The seats would be booked through credit card... He said that six new buses would be added to the existing fleet. These would have diverse features to increase the comfort level of the passengers. Such vehicles would be air-conditioned and have comfortable cushioned seats...(Photo: Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation -UPSRTC's- Volvo bus)
STRIKE * Australia - WA bus drivers threaten strike over protection from thugs
Perth,WA,Australia -Perth Now/NEWS.com.au, by Glenn Cordingley and Anthony Deceglie-April 11, 2009: -- Western Australian bus driverswill walk off the job unless demands for greater protection from thugs are met... They want security guards to ride in buses at night to stop them being punched, verbally abused and spat on... The Transport Workers Union says about 1800 drivers covering the Perth metropolitan area will hold a four-hour stop-work meeting next month unless their demands are met... TWU bus industry organiser Kevin Starr saida full-blown strike would eventuate if nothing was done to protect drivers and passengers from thugs...Mr Starr saidcurrent mobile security patrols for buses were failing and many of the on-board CCTV systems were broken... Transport Minister Simon O'Brien yesterday agreed to hold talks with union officials...
