Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
ELECTRIC BUS PROJECT * Australia / Malaysia: Bustech's E-Bus project
* Queensland - Bustech secures Malaysian electric bus project
(Photo from Wikipedia: 2000 Bustech bodied Mercedes-Benz O405NH of Busabout)
Burleigh,QLD,Australia -Manufacturers' Monthly, by Matt McDonald -4 December, 2014: -- Queensland bus manufacturer, Bustech has been chosen as the lead design and manufacturing partner for a $170 million electric bus project... Announcing the project today, Bustech CEO, Michael McGee, said the project would position Bustech as an innovative regional leader in the use of renewable energy for buses... Bustech, part of Transit Australia Group, has partnered with the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) (a Malaysian government body), Swinburne University of Technology and AutoCRC and a private Malaysian company to develop and test the E-Bus project in Malaysia... Swinburne University is providing the electric bus technology to the project and will work closely with Bustech throughout the trials of the prototype vehicle... On the Gold Coast to inspect the Bustech facility, Malaysian Automotive Institute CEO, M Madani Sahari, said if successful, the electric bus could be exported to other countries... The first bus is planned to roll off the production line in July 2015, with trials to begin in September...Labels: busmakers news Australia, electric buses makers
AUTOMATED BUSES * Europe: They 're the real future
Wrong With Driverless Cars
(Video from Rivium/2getthere, by Sustainable Mobility Solutions: Unmanned buses are tested in Italy)
-Business Insider by JOSHUA BARRIE -Dec. 1, 2014: -- Sorry, Google. Some public transport experts think that driverless buses — not robotic cars — are the real future... The advantages of unmanned buses over the car equivalents is discussed based on a letter from Luca Guala, of transport thinktank Mobility Thinklab... In his note, Guala concedes that driverless vehicles have a "bright future" but are not as practical as driverless buses, which are particularly beneficial on highly-congested roads... Driverless buses, Guala argues, are more efficient because they can carry more people than cars and eventually may be cheaper than the regular bus system because you don't have to pay a driver. The driverless buses are kind of like an updated tram system, such as London's TramLink, but it doesn't need tracks. And since everything is automated, it also means fewer delays... Another advantage of driverless buses over cars is that they follow set routes, so they are much easier to implement and run. The routes can be changed if needed... Navigation is less of an issue when compared to cars because buses use travel specific lines — they aren't roaming all over the place. Alongside legal technicalities, this has traditionally been the biggest challenge to overcome if automated technology becomes synonymous on roads...Labels: automated buses, technonews
BUSMAKERS NEWS * Germany: Mercedes Benz's
* Germany - Mercedes-Benz CapaCity L high-capacity articulated bus can transport 191 passengers
(Photo: At 21 metres in length, it is around three metres longer than conventional articulated buses)
Stuttgart,Germany -Autocar Professional News -Dec 2, 2014: -- It is an imposing 21 metres long, around three metres longer than conventional articulated buses, and provides space for up to 191 passengers as standard. It consumes well below 0.5 l/100 km per passenger and has only minimal emissions. Mercedes-Benz’s latest CapaCity L high-capacity articulated bus makes an important contribution towards counteracting the transport problems in inner cities... With the CapaCity L, transport operators can carry far more passengers with the same number of buses... Whether new shopping centres, residential areas or industrial estates, they can all be served quickly and cost-effectively with the CapaCity L without the need for high investment – all the high-capacity bus needs is a road. The CapaCity L is therefore ideally suitable for BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) systems...
* India / Germany - Daimler readies phase-II for India. To launch sin to the bus segment
Mumbai,India -Business Standard, by Swaraj Baggonkar -December 4, 2014: ... Daimler will unveil a new heavy duty truck next year and also announce its entry into the bus segment... The company, which sells its products under the Bharat Benz brand, will cater to the city bus segment while its elder sibling Mercedes-Benz will continue in the luxury inter-city segment. A new Rs 425 crore bus plant, built within the premises of the truck making plant, will commence operations in the second quarter of next year... Buses will be offered in the nine tonne and above categories having front and rear engine configurations. The plant has an installed capacity of 1,500 units per annum in the first phase and can be expanded to 4,000 units per annum... The company says it has doubled its volumes in the past two years and aims to double it again next year. In the medium term, it targets to triple its market share to 20 per cent. It wants to fully utilise its initial installed capacity of 36,000 in two years...Labels: busmakers news Germany, busmakers news India
BUSMAKERS NEWS * United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi / Egypt
* Abu Dhabi - Bus maker profits from Cairo’s traffic problems
(Photo by DELORES JOHNSON / The National - Vinojin Aruldas, 26, checks out the new ticket vending machine at the bus terminal in Abu Dhabi)
Cairo,Egypt -The National, by Shereen El Gazzar -December 1, 2014: -- Cairo’s notorious traffic congestion is proving profitable for one Abu Dhabi-based bus maker... Hafilat Industries has won a US$40 million order to supply 300 buses to Cairo’s public transport authority. Meanwhile, another 300 buses will be supplied by the Egyptian distributor GB Auto... Traffic congestion in Cairo has become a serious problem for municipal planners and is hurting both the economy and quality of life for the city’s 20 million inhabitants... Wasted time spent stuck in traffic, unnecessary fuel consumption and reduced air quality have all been cited as factors that are bad for business in the sprawling city... The 600 buses will cover about 44.5 per cent of the transport authority’s needs... Egypt’s dwindling currency reserves and large fiscal deficit have necessitated large inflows of funds from Arabian Gulf donors. Direct aid to Egypt from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia totalled $10.6 billion last year...Labels: busmakers news worldwide
BUSES PURCHASING * India: NEKRTC
* Karnakata - 300 new buses to NEKRTC
(Photo: The Hindu KSRTC buses parked in the Kempegowda Bus Station)
Bangalore,Karnakata,India -The Hindu, by KUMAR BURADIKATTI -1 Dec 2014: -- Minister for Transport Mr. R. Ramalinga Reddy announced that his Department had decided to add 300 more buses to North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC)... He was addressing a public meeting here on Monday after inaugurating a new bus-stop built at the cost of Rs. 6.37 crore...Labels: buses purchasing prospects
PASSENGERS' SURVEY * Canada - Unsatisfieds
* Quebec - STM users unhappy with service on 105 bus on Sherbrooke
(Photo by Allen McInnis / The Gazette - STM buses Montreal. Commuters line up in Montreal on Monday)
Montreal,QBC,Canada -The Montreal Gazette, by Jason Magder -December 1, 2014: -- After increasing bus service in October, the 105 Sherbrooke bus is still too crowded during morning rush hours, according to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce city councillor Peter McQueen... The Projet Montréal councillor said he handed out flyers door to door and at the Vendôme métro station, asking people to fill out an online survey. Among the more than 600 people who responded, 84 per cent of them said they were unsatisfied with the service, with the biggest complaint being that buses routinely pass them without opening their doors to let passengers in, because they are too crowded... According to figures provided by the STM, the line had an average of 366 trips on weekdays in September 2013. This past September, it was down to 337...Labels: passengers' survey
RULES & REGULATIONS * Vietnam: Safety roads
* Vietnam - Limits sleeper bus routes following tragedies
(Photo: Ha An - The roof of the bus involved in an accident in Lao Cai Province on September 1 that killed 12 people. Photo: Ha AnThe roof of the bus involved in an accident in Lao Cai Province on September 1 that killed 12 people)
Hanoi,Vietnam -Thanh Nien News -December 02, 2014: --
The Transport Ministry has issued a circular that bans the operation of passenger sleeper buses on narrow mountainous roads starting in July of 2015... According to the document, transport companies are not allowed to run sleeper buses on roads classified as 5th and 6th grades for safety reasons... These roads have a single lane that is 3.5 meters wide with designed for speeds of no more than 30 kph (18.6 mph) in 5th grade and 20 kph in 6th grade... The circular also requires transport companies to employ sleeper bus drivers with at least three years experience in driving large passenger buses (30 seats and over)... According to the National Traffic Safety Committee, 90 percent of bus accidents last year involved sleeper buses... Traffic accidents have killed more than 6,800 Vietnamese so far this year, or 25 people every day...Labels: bus safety rules
TRANSPORT PUBLIC SERVICE * UK: Kids' - Roof top white buses
* England - Kids not catching buses are missing out – they’re a ticket to the real world
(Photograph: StudioCanal/Rex - Reg Varney in On The Buses: ‘The life-enhancing kind [of bus], often the smaller ones, where the driver is helpful, friendly and involved, helping people on and off’)
London,EN,UK -The Guardian, by David Boyle -1 December 2014: ... The Millennium Cohort Study, tracking 13,000 British children born between 2000 and 2002, are striking: apparently, nearly half of 11-year-olds had never been on a bus. One in six also spends more than three hours a day in front of a screen, and the combination of the two – this bus-less, virtual world – was what concerned the Daily Mail... There are actually two kinds of bus. There’s the life-enhancing kind, often the smaller ones, where the driver is helpful, friendly and involved, helping people on and off. I encountered a driver in Sussex last week who stopped the bus and phoned a colleague coming towards him just to help an older lady who had strayed too far the wrong way... The other kind is not life-enhancing, because the drivers are tightly controlled and their managers don’t allow them to do anything like that, so they are effectively mechanical adjuncts to their buses. I wouldn’t wish those on 11-year-olds... (There is also a third kind. The peculiar Boris exhibition buses in central London where there is an under-employed conductor staring out of the window wondering what to do – but that is by the way.)... But the whole implication of the Daily Mail’s report is that children have disappeared into a virtual world, and are losing their grip on reality... Well, I’m not convinced about this, as there is very little evidence one way or another... After all, the acid test of authenticity is whether it is possible to tell the truth to a future president travelling on an omnibus...
* England - Here’s why London’s famous red Bbses have white roofs
(Photographer: Getty Images - London buses seen from atop of St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London)
London,EN,UK -Bloomberg News, by Alex Morales -Dec 2, 2014: ... Take Transport for London, which manages subways, buses and roads. Climate-proofing is built into its work, according to Helen Woolston, sustainability coordinator at TfL... One example: a program to install white panels atop the capital’s trademark red buses to reflect the rays of the summer sun and keep the vehicles cooler. After 10 years, 98.5 percent of the fleet of 8,700 has white roofs...
* England - 540 more buses in London by 2021 under £500m plan
(Photo - “Network’s backbone”: London buses. They now carry 2.4 billion people a year)
London,EN,UK -London Evening Star, by MATTHEW BEARD -3 December 2014: -- An extra 540 buses will be on the streets of London by the end of the decade as part of a £500 million investment plan announced today to cope with soaring demand... Services will be boosted to carry an extra 2.9 million passengers a week on the fleet of 7,500 vehicles... Buses already carry 2.4 billion passengers a year, but many routes are overcrowded at peak times... There will be more frequent services and some single-deckers will be switched to double... New bus lanes, longer hours for bus lanes, and priority turns will be added under a £200 million “bus priority scheme”. The spending proposals are included in Transport for London’s business plan, covering spending until 2021, which is subject to approval by the board tomorrow...Labels: passengers transport industry, transport public services
PASSENGERS' BUS SERVICE USA * Florida's
* Florida - JTA overhauls bus system
(Photo: David Williams, First Coast News)
Jacksonville,FLA,USA -First Coast News, by David Williams and Roger Weeder -December 3, 2014: -- The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is rolling out changes to its bus and shuttle system... More buses running taking more people to where they need to go. That's the goal driving an overhaul of the Jacksonville Transportation Agency's bus and shuttle system... JTA calls it "Route Optimization"... Launching Dec. 1, it's a complete overhaul of bus and shuttle service -- the first of its kind in 30 years... Labels: passengers transport industry, transport public services
TECHNO-NEWS * UK: Supercapacitors
* England - IDTechEx: Jostling for leadership
(Photo: Highest energy and power density ultracapacitors)
Cambridge,EN,UK -BUSINESS WIRE -December 01, 2014: -- Supercapacitor market leader Maxwell Technologies has faltered temporarily due to phasing of demand for supercapacitors on Chinese hybrid buses. One of the most formidable innovators it now sells large stacks for grid management and for energy harvesting in large construction vehicles. The recent IDTechEx Supercapacitors event in Santa Clara California taught us more... Many car manufacturers are now assessing supercapacitors for their next hybrids, following the practice of Chinese bus manufacturers, MAN buses in Germany, the Toyota Formula One racer, the Yaris concept car and other hybrid electric vehicles in adopting supercapacitors in place of lithium-ion batteries. Add the trend to an increasing minority of stop-start and energy harvesting alternator systems on conventional cars adopting supercapacitors so they operate at low temperature and with the toughest duty cycles. Professor Burke felt that there will one day be another jump in adoption of supercapacitors in electric vehicles but, for him, “It has been a long wait”... Compared to a thin film lithium battery, its energy per volume is an order of magnitude lower, but its power is over 10,000 times higher...Labels: technonews
TECHNO-BUSES * Israel: Superbus Valley's
* Israel - Superbus Vallys selects IVU Traffic Technologies' IT support platform for buses
(Picture: Superbus Vallys Ltd - The fleet of Superbus Vallys Ltd will in future be planned and controlled with the IVU.suite from IVU Traffic Technologies AG)
Ha’Amakim,Kiryat Tiv'on,Zevulun RC,Israel -Fleet Management -28 November 2014: -- Israeli bus company Superbus Vallys has selected IVU.suite from IVU Traffic Technologies for its new Ha’Amakim concession... The IVU.suite provides IT support for all the tasks involved in the operation of the fleet of nearly 300 buses from timetable planning through scheduling and operational control to ticketing, passenger information and settlement... In addition to the IVU.suite, the twelve-year contract also covers the delivery of IVU.ticket.box on-board computers for ticket sales by the driver... The IVU system now supports all the most important international standards for electronic ticketing. Already in December 2014, the first 100 new buses will be going into service. The vehicles are being supplied by the Chinese manufacturer Golden Dragon Bus, which has prepared them especially to accommodate the IVU solution. By March 2015, the entire fleet will be on the roads in Ha'Amakim...Labels: fare collection technology
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