Buses World News

TECHNO BUSES-STOP * Croatia: For export

* Croatia - New solar bus stops generate interest in Abu Dhabi

--- Energomobil company came to the idea to create a bus stop in line with the trends, technologically advanced and ecstatically attractive, functioning exclusively on solar power... They wondered why passengers waiting for a tram or bus couldn’t recharge their phones, go online, easing their wait considerably. Therefore they developed a new product, designed and produced in Croatia - the EasyBus solar bus station. The price of the station starts from 3,400 Euro + VAT, which is, Energomobil states, a very favourable price considering its energy independency. The construction is steel, seats are from Hpl laminates (a material resistant to all weather conditions), all electric equipment is from renown manufacturers of solar products and tempered glass on the back adds to the visual appearance and safety... The very maintenance of the station has been reduced to a minimum, while the electric equipment requires none, only an occasional battery change. As director of Energomobil Marija Mrvelj states, after the first presentation of solar stations in public, many have shown interest...
(Photo: The price of the station starts from 3,400 Euro, made of the most resistant materials, with almost no maintenance for the electric equipment) -- Croatia - Total Croatia News, by Igor Nobilo - June 17, 2016

Labels: buses stop

BUSES' STOP * USA - Transit systems easier to predict with smart phone apps

Washington,DC,USA -USA TODAY, by Jeff Schweers -30 Aug 2010: -- Allen Stern says he had a 40-minute wait between buses when he lived in Manhattan. Using a free mobile app that became available about a year ago, he could at least tap into the Metropolitan Transit Authority with his cellphone and find out exactly how far away the next bus was from his stop... Cities across the USA use the Internet and smart phone technology to help riders make connections with their transit systems, whether the system is bus or rail or tram... Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Boston are among the cities that have begun test-driving systems within the past eight months. Orlando announced in July that it had given the green light to a project to provide bus schedule information on select routes to riders with smart phones by October... San Francisco, Washington and Chicago have apps that allow riders to use their Internet-accessible phones to get real-time information showing when their next bus or train is due... Most apps are available for all kinds of phones with Internet access. The apps provided by the municipal transit authority are free... (Photo by Jack Gruber/USA TODAY: San Francisco, Chicago and Washington (shown) have apps that allow riders to use their Internet-accessible phones to get real-time information showing when their next bus or train is due)

Labels: buses stop

STOP CALLING * Canada - Lost in transit

Ottawa,ONT,CAN -The Ottawa Citizen -April 3, 2010: -- No one is above the law -- not the prime minister, not the premier, not the mayor ... not even bus drivers... So when the Canadian Transportation Agency fined OC Transpo this month for not calling out bus stops to passengers, the city's transit operation had to do something -- and that was to put "silent shoppers" on the buses to monitor the drivers... Anyone who has taken a bus knows that many major stops are not called out. Most importantly, visually impaired riders need the stops called so they know when to disembark. But even non-impaired passengers need the help. During the winter months especially, it's difficult for riders to see through dirty windows. Nighttime can also be difficult. It's easy to get disoriented riding a bus that's motoring down the likes of Carling Avenue... Meanwhile, the city hopes to have an automated stop-calling system on all buses by the end of the year. The system, approved last November, cost some $12-million and has been a huge procurement headache. One wonders if the hassle and expense would even have been necessary had OC Transpo been able to get the drivers to call out the stops in the first place... (Photo from ottawaproject)

Labels: buses stop

Buses don't stop * India - At this fancy stand

New Delhi,India -The Hindustan Times/Trading Markets -Nov 01, 2008: -- A comfortable couch, fancy cushions, colourful lampshades, candlelight, flower pots, a library-like decor and scented perfume may make it sound like a lounge. But it is only a DTC bus stop... On October 15, the Moolchand Hospital bus stop received a Rs 7 lakh makeover thanks to consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser, which re-decorated the bus stop to promote its' air freshener, Airwick... With caretakers coming in daily to spray air-fresheners, the bus stop is posh not only according to Delhi, but even international standards. But there is a glitch -- buses don't stop here...

Labels: buses stop

Test a bus * USA - For NYC bus stops' arrival-time signs

New York,NY,USA -The NY Daily News -February 2, 2008: -- NYC Transit officials say a high-tech system for letting riders know when a bus will come has hit a roadblock. A spokesman says the system has proved so inaccurate in a test that the agency has stopped using it, for now. Spokesman Charles Seaton says it's not clear when the technology might be tried again. The system was supposed to track buses and beam arrival times to signs at bus stops. It was being tested on more than 160 buses, and the signs were installed on several Manhattan bus routes. The system became operational in October.
Seaton says technical problems made it send out inaccurate arrival times...

Labels: buses stop

Stop Buses * New Zealand - Country schools protest proposals to

Waikato,New Zealand -The Waikato Times, by REBECCA HARPER-10 Nov 2007: -- Rural schools and their communities in the Port Waikato and Franklin areas are worried about getting their children to school safely, with many bus runs in the area facing cuts... On Thursday afternoon a tiny classroom at Maramarua School was packed with worried parents and members of the community, including the local emergency services... Principal Caroline Jacobs said the school was told by the Education Ministry it would lose one of its two bus runs in the new year because only 20 students were eligible to take the bus... The 63-student school would fight to save its bus run. "They say it's a proposal, but there's a full stop after it"... (Photo: BUS CUTS: Maramarua students catch the school bus home. In the new year, many will be ineligible to catch the bus)

Labels: buses stop