Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICE * USA: DC's Metro lines
* DC - Metro adds longer buses to busy corridor
(Video by timosha21 - Metrobus' fleet consists of 1,480 buses covering an area of 1,500 square miles -3,900 km²- in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia)
Washington,DC,USA -WUSA9, by Martin Di Caro -August 25, 2014: -- When Metro adds buses to its S line on 16th Street Northwest, the commuters come... Since 2009 the transit authority has augmented service six times to one of its busiest routes, yet rush hour buses are still bursting with riders. On their way to downtown Washington in the morning, the S buses often pass by waiting commuters because they simply cannot fit anymore aboard... The S9 "express" service was introduced five years ago, ridership has increased 25 percent and now tops more than 20,000 daily passengers... Metro's latest move took effect Monday: the addition of 60-foot articulated coaches to the S line, replacing five standard 40-foot buses per hour, each capable of carrying 55 percent more passengers...Labels: passengers' transport industry
ALTERNATIVE FUELS * India / Sweden: Ethanol buses
* Maharashtra - Ethanol-run green bus set for trial runs in Nagpur
(Photo: The ethanol-run bus)
Mumbai,MAH,India -IndiaToday.in -August 23, 2014: -- Nagpur received India's first ethanol-run city passenger transport bus, which has been manufactured by Scania, the Sweden-based commercial vehicle and engine maker, for trial runs on Friday... Scania Commercial Vehicles India Managing Director, Anders Grundstomer, handed over keys of this green bus to Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Rural Development, Nitin Gadkari... In recent years, Scania has also delivered ethanol buses for commercial service in the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway and other countries...Labels: alternative fuels, busmakers news Sweden, public transport India
PUBLIC TRANSPORT * UK: Desregulation failure
* England - Bus deregulation outside London has been a failure – thinktank report
(Photograph: Simmisimons/Getty Images/Vetta: The IPPR thinktank argues bus deregulation has failed because outside London bus passenger journeys have fallen and fares are rising faster than inflation)
London,EN,UK -The Guardian, by Rebecca Smithers -26 August 2014: -- Millions of bus passengers who rely on services outside London have been let down by a lack of competition and the failure of deregulation, a report warns. They include the poorest fifth of all households, who cannot afford cars and yet who end up taking more taxi journeys each year than any other income group because of the unreliability and high fares of their local buses... Bus passenger journeys outside London have fallen by 32.5% since 1986, but within the capital they have risen by 99%... It is nearly 30 years since local bus services in Britain were deregulated by the Conservatives under the Transport Act 1985 to revive the flagging fortunes of an industry in decline. It was believed that by encouraging and opening up competition, services would improve, fares would fall and cross-subsidies would be removed... But the IPPR says the policy has largely failed because outside London bus passenger journeys have fallen and fares are rising faster than inflation. One in eight people working in Britain rely on a bus to get to work, the report points out, with passengers making more than three times as many bus journeys as rail journeys – more than 5bn each year...Labels: passengers' transport industry
ELECTRIC BUSES * UK
* England - London to get hybrid buses that could charge wirelessly
(Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images: A London bus)
London,EN,UK -The Guardian Environment Network/Business Green, by James Murray -28 August 2014: -- TfL announced it will test four specially designed hybrid buses that would soak up power wirelessly at bus stops. London’s fast-expanding green bus fleet is to receive a further boost, after Transport for London (TfL) announced on Wednesday the launch of a new trial to test four specially designed hybrid buses capable of wirelessly charging their batteries at bus stops.
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400H E400 buses feature a diesel-electric hybrid engine and have been fitted with technology that will enable to batteries to receive a charging boost when stationary at specially equipped bus stops.
Four buses will operate from next year on the Stagecoach-operated route 69 between Canning Town and Walthamstow bus stations, both of which will be fitted with inductive wireless charging technology...Labels: electric buses, infrastructures
SCHOOL BUSES TRANSPORT INDUSTRY * USA
* Florida - How Hillsborough solves problem of crowded school buses
Tampa Bay,FL,USA -WFLDA, by Adrienne Pedersen -Aug 28, 2014: -- 8 On Your Side is following up to make sure your kids are getting to school safe and on time. Thursday morning a previously overcrowded and late Ruskin school bus appeared to be running smoothly... Thompson Elementary School parent Latrese Thomas contacted us when several students weren't allowed on the bus because there wasn't enough room... On Wednesday, the Hillsborough County School District tried something new... "Right now we have double runs which means that we send out two buses to do what would have been one run and my understanding is it's working very well," Steve Hegarty, spokesperson for Hillsborough County Schools said...Labels: school buses transportation industry
NEW BUSES ABANDONED in China
* Zhejiang - 52 new buses worth 20,000,000 RMB abandoned and used as public toilets
(Photo from Tencent News: Abandoned school buses)
Wenling City,Zhejiang,China -The Shanghaiist, by Christy Lau -29 Aug 2014: -- A total of 52 brand-new buses abandoned in Wenling City, Zhejiang have now become a place where people retreat to do their business... These school buses were a 20,000,000 RMB investment by the Anhui Taizhou Chamber of Commerce. Due to a lack of demand, the vehicles were left parked in an open area of the city's Zishengchuang Village for over a year... Eventually the buses started being treated as public toilets in the village, causing the area to smell extensively... Zheng Yunlong, an officer in the Village, said that the Chamber had initially agreed to pay 5,000 RMB per month as a parking fee, but it failed to cough up the cash after the first two months... Zheng said that they will take forceful measures to remove the buses if the owner doesn't take action... Web users commented that the buses were "a huge waste", and suggested sending the vehicles to other places in need of them rather than allowing the village to destroy or dispose of them...Labels: rare buses
BUS RECALLS * Canada: Montreal buses
* Quebec - 865 STM buses affected by Nova Bus recall
(Video by retroolschool)
Montreal,QBC,CAN -The Gazette, by Monique Muise -August 21, 2014: -- The Société de transport de Montréal says it has conducted spot checks on 865 buses that were part of a manufacturer’s recall, but mechanics found “no particular problems” ... Nova Bus recently issued a recall on various LFS models that now make up a large portion of the STM’s fleet. One of the cables that connects to the alternator in these buses has been found to be defective, and may pose a fire risk... So far, the STM has not recorded any problems on moving buses, but smoke was reported coming from the engine on a bus parked in a garage... Nova Bus will assume all costs related to the recall. It has until Aug. 29 to inform the STM how it will fix the issue and replace the defective parts... It’s the second time this month that government-owned vehicles have been found to suffer from defects. Montreal’s city council is currently being asked to approve nearly $1 million in funding to repair 48 fire trucks with an unusual buildup of contaminants in their engines. A faulty air filter is being blamed for that problem, and the city will reportedly seek damages from the filter’s manufacturer...
* Quebec - Transport Canada critical of Nova Bus recall. Transit agencies weren't informed until weeks after recall notice posted
(Photo: Gatineau's STO said it was concerned after it found out about an engine part recall more than a month after it was posted)
Gatineau,QBC,CAN -CBC -Aug 22, 2014: -- Gatineau's STO said it was concerned after it found out about an engine part recall more than a month after it was posted... Transport Canada says the company manufacturing buses subject to a recall should have told Gatineau’s STO and other transit agencies about it sooner than they did... Nova Bus is fixing faulty alternators in some 1,500 transit buses in Canada, 68 of them in Gatineau, because of a fire hazard... Gatineau’s transit agency said it found out about the recall after an unrelated engine fire on Aug. 8, more than a month after the recall was issued on July 2... The Toronto Transit Commission said they'll inspect 88 of their buses because of the recall, but aren't pulling any off the road...Labels: buses' recall
SCHOOL BUSES DRIVER SHORTAGE * USA: Alburquerque
* New Mexico - Driver shortage fuels APS bus problems
(Video from YouTube, by KRQE -Aug 20, 2014: Driver shortage fuels APS bus problems) Alburquerque,NM,USA -KRQE, by Kayla Ayres -August 20, 2014: -- There have been a lot of problems with buses at Albuquerque schools this year, and district officials say most of the problems are because of a driver shortage that caught them off-guard.
Albuquerque Public Schools officials stress that a majority of the more than 40,000 kids that ride school buses daily get to and from school without issue every day. Some big issues have arisen early into the school year, including claims that kids had to cram onto packed buses.
APS says a bus driver shortage is largely to blame. All 15 bus companies the district contracts with have come up short by 10 percent, meaning there are only about 360 bus drivers when there should be 400...Labels: drivers' shortage
PLASTIC CARD BUS * Australia - Opal's
* NSW - Opal bus rollout reaches halfway mark as more buses in Western Sydney go live
(Photo from Seven News Sydney: Opal Card on buses)
Sydney,NSW,Australia -Transport for NSW -20 Aug 2014: -- Minister for Transport, Gladys Berejiklian, today announced Opal will go live on another 720 buses in Western Sydney, North Sydney and Sutherland in the next week, as the rollout of Opal on buses passes the halfway mark, giving thousands more customers access to cheaper fares and more convenient travel. Opal will also expand onto all State Transit buses in North Sydney from today... Ms Berejiklian said these latest milestones mean customers can now tap on and tap off all suburban and intercity trains, all Sydney Ferries, and from next week, 2,890 buses across Sydney...Labels: bus cards
BUSES PURCHASING PROSPECT * Thailand - A Bid Underway * USA/Ohio: Seeking news buses
* For massive Bangkok bus
(BMTA NGV Bus image)
Bangkok,Thailand -NGV Global News -August 21, 2014: -- Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) has issued Terms of Reference (TOR) for the procurement of 3,183 new natural gas-fuelled buses. BMTA will acquire 1,524 air-conditioned and 1,659 ordinary buses, with the first batch of 489 natural gas buses planned for handover by the successful supplier in January 2015.
Specifications for the buses include:
I) Powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).-
II) Length 12 metres.-
III) GVW not less than 15,000 pounds.-
IV) Seating for 30, capacity for 80 passengers.-
Bids can be submitted for any one or all of the following 8 items:
* Regular bus Bus Zone 4 – 424 units
* Regular bus Bus Zone 6 – 374 units
* Regular bus Bus Zone 7 – 453 units
* Regular bus Bus Zone 8 – 408 units
* Bus Zone 1 – 408 units
* Bus Zone 2 – 489 units
* Bus Zone 3 – 175 units
* Bus Zone 5 – 452 units
The buses will replace hundreds of old, dilapidated and broken fleet vehicles... Organizations are scheduled to make the first shipment within 90 days of signing the contract, planned for October... According to an article published by Bangkok Post, the median bidding price for the air-conditioned NGV buses is set at 4.5 million baht each (USD 140,500) and the non-air conditioned buses is set at 3.8 million baht (USD 118,700) each...
* USA / Ohio - District seeking bids for new school buses
(Photo Adam Cairns/Dispatch: Scott A. Scherer changes the brakes on a Canal Winchester school bus that still needs to pass inspection)
Canal Winchester,OH,USA -This Week News, by JANET THIEDE -August 25, 2014: -- The Canal Winchester Board of Education voted unanimously Aug. 18 to seek bids for four new school buses -- three conventional vehicles that seat 78 students and one handicap-accessible bus with a wheelchair lift that can hold up to 36 passengers... The board's action occurred on the same day Canal Winchester schools opened for the 2014-15 school year with nearly one-third of its bus fleet sidelined by the Ohio State Highway Patrol because the vehicles failed inspection... Mike Bruning, the district's director of operations, told the board that all the buses that did not meet state standards were at least 14 years old...Labels: buses purchasing prospects, transport intelligence
BUSES PURCHASING * USA: Nova's
* Connecticut - State purchasing $33M in new CTfastrak Buses. New models offer stop announcements, wi-fi, bike space, easier on and off
Hartford,CONN,USA -Courant, by Don Stacom -August 22, 2014: -- When the CTfastrak busway starts service early next year, riders shouldn't expect the same experience they have on Connecticut's regular transit buses... Federal and state taxpayers are putting up nearly $33 million for 48 new buses that will have features not found on the CT Transit fleet... Painted in the distinctive lime green and silver-gray color scheme of the busway system, the new hybrid diesel-electric coaches won't be mistaken for the boxier, dark blue-and-silver buses that CT Transit runs on its regular routes... Different manufacturers across the country are producing four sizes of hybrid diesel-electric buses for CTfastrak, with Plattsburgh, N.Y.-based Nova providing the big 60-footers that will be the backbone of the service. Transit operators buy the two-segment, bending buses for heavily traveled routes because they carry more passengers than traditional buses, but have the same staff: a single driver... CTfastrak plans to deploy 12 of Nova's LFX model to shuttle between New Britain and Hartford along the 9.4-mile busway. The Novas cost a little more than $900,000 each, and their frames are roughly similar to the articulated buses that CT Transit introduced in the Hartford region two years ago... The CTfastrak versions will have plenty of extra equipment, though...Labels: buses purchasing, busmakers news USA
ELECTRIC BUSMAKERS NEWS * USA: Proterra's
* Oregon - Seattle deal could lead to Proterra expansion
(Photo by PATRICK COLLARD: Josh Gooden performs work on a new Proterra bus in Greenville)
Greenville,ORE,USA -The Greenville News, by Rudolph Bell -August 21, 2014: -- Electric bus maker Proterra may have to expand its Greenville factory if Seattle's transit agency exercises its options under a newly inked contract, Proterra's chief executive said... CEO Ryan Popple said the deal with King County Metro Transit has the potential to be Proterra's biggest single piece of business ever... The transit agency has bought two of Proterra's battery-powered, zero-emission buses for testing, and if that goes well, could buy 200 more buses over five years at $800,000 each, Popple said... That would mean more than $100 million in revenue, he said, and likely trigger the need to expand Proterra's 184-worker factory along Interstate 85 in Greenville...Labels: electric busmakers news
BUSMAKERS WORLDWIDE * China - Japan
* China - 1,100 Ankai Buses shipped to Algeria
Hefei,Anhui,China -Chinabuses.org -14 July 2014: -- In Jun. This year, Ankia Bus stroke a deal with CIMA MOTORS based in Algeria. According to the sales contract, the bus maker is expected to export 1,100 units of buses to the African nation with a total value of 224 million RMB (about 36 million USD). According to the company, this is also the largest overseas deal made by the company in the early half of 2014...
* China - Ankai School Bus on display at Beijing Traffic Safety Product Exhibition
Hefei,Anhui,China -Chinabuses/Anhui News -20 Aug 2014: -- On Aug. 20, the Sixth China International Road Traffic Safety Product Exhibition kicked off in Beijing International Exhibition Center. Ankai brought its 6-meter school bus, its 12-meter American-style school bus and its Best bus on display, all of which fully represent the company's bus manufacturing strength... As one of the leading bus manufacturers in China, Ankai always attaches great importance to the bus safety. It is among the first batch of enterprises in China as a qualified producer of professional school buses and is able to make the special school buses with long head. In 2012, the company joined hands with US-based Navistar, a well-renowned bus maker for a series of technological cooperation...
* Japan - Showa monocoque buses draw tourists
(Photo: A Shibetsu Kido monocoque bus that attracts antique bus fans)
Shibetsu, northern Hokkaido,Japan -The Yomiuri Shimbun -23 Aug 2014: -- Rare “monocoque” bus models manufactured during the Showa era (1926-1989) have been drawing attention around the nation... Word about the operation of such buses has spread quickly via the Internet, and antique bus lovers are visiting different areas just to see them in person... After World War II, the monocoque method was used by bus manufacturers who had formerly been in the aviation industry. Many of these buses have a very distinctive look due to the many rivets visible on their surface... Most modern buses use skeleton frames... Shibetsu Kido, a bus company located in
Shibetsu, northern Hokkaido, operates a RC series bus manufactured in 1982 by Hino Motors, making one trip on weekday mornings. The monocoque bus is known for its loud engine noise as well as the visible rivets along the body...Labels: buses sales, busmakers news China, busmakers news worldwide
BUS MARKETS WORLDWIDE * India - Australia
* India - Bleeding Dry: The Bus Stops Here
New Delhi,India -The New India Express/The Sundat Srandard, by Sumit Kumar Singh -27 Aug 2014: ... The Delhi government shunted out killer Blueline buses and gradually started phasing out an old fleet of DTC buses to replace them with AC and ordinary low-floor buses... But shockingly, on an average, 175 of the total 1,275 red AC buses that carry a price tag of a whopping `67 lakh per bus break down every day... Inquiries reveal that the air-conditioning system of the buses is not able to match the load. In 100 such buses, the system has stopped functioning. So, the government instead of maintaining a good fleet of red buses is planning to give up on acquiring new ones... Such frequent incidents of breakdown cause traffic jams during peak hours... In the meantime, the Delhi government wanted to make the DTC buses disabled-friendly... The government decided to replace the fleet with low-floor buses... Also, there are only two manufacturers in the country which supply these buses and they have started dictating their terms...
* Australia - B.C. Transit looks to add more double-deckers to its fleet
(Photograph By LYLE STAFFORD - Of B.C. Transit's 69 double-decker buses, 62 are in Greater Victoria, with the remaining seven in Kelowna. The public-transit provider is considering adding more double-deckers, but it's not known yet in which regions they would be used)
Kelowna,BC,Australia -The Times Colonist, by Carla Wilson -August 19, 2014: -- More double-decker buses could be rolling along B.C. roads now that B.C. Transit is seeking interest from manufacturers... Transit is suggesting that the first potential delivery could start late in 2016... Double-deckers are already a familiar sight in the capital region. Of B.C. Transit’s 69 double-deckers, 62 are in Greater Victoria, with the remaining seven in Kelowna...Labels: bus markets, buses purchasing prospects
BUSMAKERS NEWS * Sweden: Volvo's
* Sweden - IAA 2014: Volvo launches the all-new Electric Hybrid
Stockholm,Sweden -Automotive World -22 Aug 2014: -- The Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid will be officially launched at the International IAA Commercial Vehicles show in September. Silent, cleaner and with significantly lower fuel consumption, it represents a new generation of public transportation. Volvo has already signed contracts with several European cities for supplies of the buses... Volvo Buses takes the next step in electrification and launches the Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid. The plug-in technology reduces fuel consumption and carbon dioxide by up to 75%, compared to a conventional diesel bus. Total energy consumption is reduced by 60%, test which has verified the reduction in energy consumption and emissions... Noise is a growing problem in many cities. The noise level near to an Electric Hybrid is 65 decibels, i.e. normal conversation level. The Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid runs in electric mode in average 70% of the route, silent and emission-free...
The Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid offers great flexibility in operation; it can run as an electric bus in selected areas, and performs as a hybrid on any route. Charging at end stations takes 6 minutes. The Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid shares the technology of the well-proven Volvo 7900 Hybrid, securing high uptime and availability...Labels: busmakers news Sweden
SHOOL BUSES INDUSTRY * USA
* New York - School bus drivers may receive more pay
(Photo: School buses discharge their passengers outside of an elementary school in the New York neighborhood of Chelsea)
NY,USA -The NY Times, by Tatiana Schlossberg -Aug. 18, 2014: -- Just before school buses begin rolling with students adorned with new backpacks and fresh sets of pencils, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council are hoping to reverse some of the policies that led drivers to strike unsuccessfully 18 months ago... With the mayor’s support, the Council is planning to vote this week to give $42 million to school bus companies to raise the salaries of experienced drivers who were forced to take pay cuts after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg awarded a series of new bus contracts in the last years of his administration... Those new contracts shaved hundreds of millions of dollars from a $1.1 billion school transportation budget. In part, the savings came from allowing school bus companies to bid without guaranteeing jobs to experienced drivers, as previous contracts had done... Labels: school buses transportation industry
BAD INFRASTRUCTURES * India
* Chennai - Bad roads derail buses
(Photo by M. PRABHU - MTC officials said efforts to get roads repaired had been in vain)
Mittnamalli,Chennai,India -The Hindu, by K. Lakshmi/Vivek Narayanan -August 20, 2014: -- Small bus services affected in Avadi; low chassis makes buses vulnerable, say officials... Small buses may have transformed the transport scene in interior areas but are facing a unique problem – damage due to bad roads... It was because of this that services on route no. S 47 — between Avadi and Mittnamalli — were stopped a week ago. The buses are now diverted through another locality and people living in and around Mittnamalli have to walk nearly two km to reach the nearest bus terminus or railway station... G. Anandan, resident of Uzhaipalar Nagar said rains have further damaged the pothole- ridden IAF Main Road. “We have no choice but to get fleeced by autorickshaw drivers. School students are the worst affected as they have to walk the distance,” he said...
Labels: infrastructures
DANGEROUS BUSES * Tibet / China - India
* Tibet - Puts 20-person limit on tour buses
(Photo: Himalayan road view)
Beijing,China -AP -20 Aug 2014: -- Chinese authorities are limiting the number of passengers aboard tour buses on mountain roads of Tibet, following two fatal accidents involving such buses, two travel agencies and a man at the official Tibet Regional Tourism Bureau said Wednesday... Chinese bureaucrats confirmed the new rule that puts a 20-person limit on any tour vehicle, including a driver, a guide and a police officer, in Tibet... Tourism has been booming in the Himalayan region, also home to some treacherous roads that wind and dip amid steep mountains... A tour bus carrying about 50 people plunged into a ravine Aug. 9, after crashing with a pickup and a sports utility vehicle in southern Tibet. Forty-four people died... On Monday, a 45-person tour bus fell into a river in southeastern Tibet, killing three and leaving 13 others missing...
* India - 2,500 private Delhi buses lose permits
New Delhi,India -TNN, by Rumu Banerjee -Aug 20, 2014: -- Almost two years after the Nirbhaya incident, the transport department has cancelled the permits of 2,500 contract carriages or chartered buses... The move comes after the ministry of home affairs asked the Delhi government to verify the owners and permit holders of all public service vehicles in the city after the gang rape on December 16, 2012. According to the records of the state transport authority, there are 8,000 chartered buses operating in Delhi...
(Photo: Protesters at India Gate)
(From Wikipedia) The 2012 Delhi gang rape case involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi, when a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern was beaten and gang raped in a private bus in which she was travelling with a male friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. The woman died from her injuries thirteen days later while undergoing emergency treatment in Singapore...Labels: dangerous buses
ELECTRIC BUSES * Sweden: Volvo's
* Sweden - Volvo, ABB partner on fast-charging electric buses
(Photo: An electric buses with “open standards-based” dc fast-charging systems)
Stockholm,Sweden -SAE International -18 Aug 2014: -- The Volvo plug-in hybrid bus, which will officially debut at the IAA exhibition in Hanover, Germany, in September, is equipped with a 150-kW (70-kW continuous) electric motor powered by a 600-V, 19-kW·h lithium-ion battery, as well as a 5.1-L Euro 6 diesel engine that produces 240 hp (179 kW) and 918 N·m (677 lb·ft)... The first joint project, for the Luxembourg public transport system, involves the implementation of automatic e-bus chargers and up to 12 Volvo plug-in hybrid-electric buses, which will be operated by Sales-Lentz and run on existing public bus lines as of 2015, the companies said in a July 21 announcement of the global partnership... Volvo Bus plans to deliver the first six plug-in hybrids in 2015, and six more in 2016...
Labels: electric busmakers news
FUTURE TRANSPORT * UK: Open data and driverless buses
* How London transport heads to the future: Though hard engineering continues
(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty : Underground train building)
London,EN,UK -The Guardian, by Gwyn Topham -13 August 2014: -- The driving force for TfL is the same as it was for the Victorians – how can more people be moved more efficiently through the capital’s jumbled streets? ... When 19th-century engineers decided their new-fangled locomotives could be driven underground beneath London's crowded streets, they began a tradition for technological innovation that the capital's transport system has never lost... Today the cutting edge has moved from steam to cyber, but the driving force is the same as it was for the Victorians – how can more people be moved more quickly and efficiently through the capital's jumbled, crowded streets? ... At the heart of this is no nimble tech startup, but the capital's transport authority, Transport for London, which vaunts its record as an innovator in the field with some justice, according to the experts propose, amidst others: :
* Contactless payments
* Access to bus seating
* Automatic operation
* Open data
* Managing the traffic
* Managing the pedestriansLabels: future's transports
BUSES & TAXIS * Australia: Analytics pinpoint the cheapest way to travel
* ACT - NICTA trial replaces some Canberra buses with taxis
(Photo: Canberra taxis and cabs at bus terminus at Jolimont Centre)
Canberra,ACT,Australia -it News, by Paris Cowan -Aug 15, 2014: -- NICTA is in the final stages of readying a pioneering trial of a new off-peak transport solution in Canberra that could see locals hopping in a taxi at the bus stop for the price of a normal bus ticket... NICTA's sophisticated analytics tools, developed in-house by the technology research organisation, have modelled out the ACT's underutilised ACTION bus network and calculated that it would be cheaper to put some passengers in taxis than continue to run empty buses to the Canberra fringes on weekends and at night... Rob Fitzpatrick, director of infrastructure, transport and logistics at NICTA, outlined the 'hub and spoke' model to a packed room at CEDA's transport innovation briefing yesterday... Under the scheme, outlying passengers will essentially 'book' a bus trip online or with a smartphone app, which is automatically planned out for them from bus stop to bus stop... A taxi will pick them up from the designated stop and drop them at any one of eight 'hubs' between which ACTION buses are shuttling passengers on high rotation... When they get off their bus, another taxi will be waiting to take them to their final bus stop... The NICTA modelling, powered by machine learning technology, predicts that journey times could be cut by as much as a third...Labels: buses and taxis
DANGEROUS BUSES * Philippines
* Philippines - Private buses run riot on the road
Manila,Philippines -The Sunday Times, by Nadia Fazlulhaq -August 17, 2014: -- National Council for Road Safety charges law enforcement officers reluctant to take action against errant drivers and owners of private buses - Private bus operators say lack of discipline due to lack of time tables... Private buses pay little heed to road rules, leading to many accidents, charge state officials, while private bus operators blame state-run transport bodies for the lack of discipline in the service... Twenty two year-old Sadini’s dream of a happy wedded life was cut short last week when just three months into her marriage, a speeding private bus claimed the life of her 23 year-old husband... Shihan Gunetillake, was travelling from his hometown Bentota to his wife’s family home in Panadura when a speeding bus hit his bike in Wadduwa around 5.30 a.m...Labels: dangerous buses
BUSES SALES * India -
* India - DTC to get 1,380 new buses: LG
(Photo: A DTC bus, India)
New Delhi, India -PTI -Aug 15, 2014: -- Delhi government will add 1,380 new buses to the existing fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) in its bid to strengthen the transport service in the national capital... The comfort of women passengers, 26 Ladies Special Buses have been deployed in the national capital... Apart from 1,380 DTC buses, Delhi would also get an additional 400 cluster buses in the current fiscal year... In the Delhi Budget, Union finance minister Arun Jaitely had allocated Rs 3,702 crore for the transport sector in Delhi during 2014-15...
* Indonesia - TransJakarta to spend Rp 400 Billion on 100 Double-Decker buses
(Antara Photo, by Vitalis Yoga Trisna: Jakarta's free double-decker city tour bus)
Jakarta,Indonesia -The Jakarta Globe, by Lenny Tristia Tambun -Aug 16, 2014: -- City-wide bus operator TransJakarta will soon spend Rp 400 billion ($34 million) on 100 double-decker buses to serve on the capital’s free tour route, a company executive said on Saturday... The current Central Jakarta route is currently served by only five buses, but TransJakarta has been handed an additional Rp 700 billion rupiah of government funding through a transport bylaw enacted this year... Kosasih said the new buses will only serve short routes across the capital and will not utilize the city’s busway lanes...Labels: buses sales
BUSES RECALLS * Canada: Blue Bird's ones
* Ontario - Blue Bird bus recall (School and non-school)
(Photo: Blue Bird conventional school bus)
Brantford,ONT,CAN -Canadian Free Stuff, by Vanessa Date -August 13, 2014: -- There as been a recall issued for Blue Bird Bus... Both School and Non-School Buses are part of this recall... Reason for recall: On certain vehicles equipped with Cummins ISB and ISL engines, the fuel filter shell and nut plate could separate, causing a fuel leak and also causing the engine to stall. Stalling would result in a loss of motive power, increasing the risk of a crash resulting in injury and/or damage to property.
Correction: Dealers will replace the fuel filter on:
* School Buses Affected
-Blue Bird All American School Bus year 2014, 2015
-Blue Bird Vision School Bus year 2014,2015
* Non-School Buses Affected
-Blue Bird Vision Non-school bus Labels: buses' recall
BUSES & BIKES * Colombia: For a green life
* How bikes and buses helped Bogotá go green
(Image from REUTERS, by Jose Miguel Gomez: Colombian students ride bicycles during in Bogota)
Bogota,Colombia -World Economic Forum, by Konrad Otto-Zimmermann -Aug 13 2014: -- In Bogotá, traffic congestion became so severe that a simple commute could take hours and the air was polluted to staggering levels. In response, Bogotá directed its attention towards public transport and worked to improve conditions for cycling... The challenge for Bogotá has been integrating bicycle and bus policies into a wider sustainable urban transport context and ensuring projects have continuity across political terms. Bogotà’s TransMilenio “bus rapid transit” system has gained international recognition as an example of sustainable mobility. Meanwhile, the strengthening of bicycle policy and infrastructure has increased the modal share of cycling, from 0.58% in 1998 to circa 5% in 2010... These projects have inspired confidence in public entities, something that can itself inspire future progress. Today, Bogotá is known for having a widely used transport system that dramatically reduced the number of cars. Not only has it been effective at reducing congestion and pollution (TransMilenio is credited with reducing carbon emissions by more than 1.7 million tons between 2006 and 2009); it was also cost-effective. It’s also a planning model that can be replicated, cheaply, in cities around the world...Labels: anti pollution
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