Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
SCANIA's GAS CITY BUSES from Sweden to Spain
* Sweden - Scania delivers 160 gas-buses to Madrid
--- The City of Madrid has initiated an ambitious programme to improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions with the stated goal to ban diesel by 2025. Half the EMT fleet of more than 1,500 buses is already gas powered and with the scheduled deliveries that share will be even higher... As part of the complete bus renewal programme for the Spanish capital Madrid, Scania will deliver 160 gas city buses. The municipal transport company, EMT Madrid, will take delivery of 80 new buses this year with another 80 buses added to the fleet in 2018. This order is in addition to the 46 Scania gas buses ordered last year. The 12-metre low floor buses will be bodybuilt by Castrosua... Scania is a part of Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications...
(Photo: A Scania EMT biogas 2017) -- Sodertalje, Sweden - Busworld - 9 MAR 2017Labels: natural gas fueled, public bus services
BUSES PERMIT RACKET SCHEME * Sri Lanka: * District Secretariats allow swindle
* Colombo - National Transport Commission accused of allowing whim
... It is the NTC and the Provincial Road Passenger Transport Authority in each provincial council in the country that issue passenger transport permits for all private buses. According to the National Transport Commission Act No: 37 of 1991, tenders have to be called to issue new passenger service permits and the permits are given to the highest bidders. However, in the Northern Province, tenders are not called but the permits are given by the respective district secretaries to known parties... According to a private bus owner in Mannar who wished to remain anonymous, bus owners in the Northern Province get the annual permit for Rs. 3,500 but added that they have to pay a bribe to officials involved which comes close to the monthly permit charge in other provinces... “Officially we pay Rs. 3,500 but unofficially we have to bribe them,” the Mannar bus owner said... The five Northern Province District Secretaries in Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya issue the route permits with out calling for tenders violating the National Transport Commission Act according to their own whims and fancies. It has also been revealed that certain district secretaries and the respective police divisions have allowed certain private buses to operate within the province without having any route permit... "We have not given them any authority to use our logo when issuing permits. If they have done so we can take action against them,” Chairman of the National Transport Commission’s (NTC), M.A.B. Hemachandra, said...
Ratmalana, Sri Lanka - The Sunday Leader, by Nirmala Kannangara - 31 March 2016
Labels: public bus services
PROPOSAL BUS SERVICE * India: To deploy 10,000 new DTC buses
* Delhi - Govt plans roadmap for better bus service
-- Days after the National Green Tribunal questioned its proposal to deploy 10,000 new DTC buses, Delhi Government has said that it is preparing a detailed roadmap to improve the public bus service... The plans include getting 500 acre of land from Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for parking buses, floating a fresh tender for procuring an initial lot of 1,380 semi-low-floor non-AC buses and 500 midi- buses, and redesigning 1,260 km of roads under Public Works Department... Earlier on July 20, the green tribunal had directed the Aam Aadmi Party government to come out with a proper study to support its plan of rolling out 10,000 Delhi Transport Corporation buses, twice what the AAP had promised in its poll manifesto...
(Image: Indian DTC's express buses) -- NEW DELHI, India - The Deccan Herald, by Pratik Kumar Aug 1, 2015Labels: public bus services
DOUBLE DECKER BUSES * Malaysia: For Rapid KL
* Kuala Lumpur - Double-decker RapidKL buses in September
-- Around 120 RapidKL buses, including 40 double-deckers, are set to hit the streets in September... The buses will be capable of picking up an additional 10,000 passengers daily when they begin serving the more heavily-used roads in the Klang Valley.
The 4.2 metre tall Alexander Dennis Enviro500 diesel double-decker will have 83 seats and standing room for 25 people, as well as a screen showing how many free seats there are on the upper deck. It is capable of carrying 50 more people than RapidKL’s current single-decker buses. Costing RM1.4 million each, the double-deckers are disabled-friendly and fitted with security cameras...
(Photo: A RapidKL's double decker bus) -- Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia - paultan.org, by Jonathan James Tan - 18 May 2015Labels: new buses fleet, public bus services
BUS PUBLIC SERVICE * USA: New warning system
* Washington - Seattle pedestrians will hear a new warning system on King County buses
-- That's not your imagination playing tricks on you. Some King County Metro Transit buses are "talking" now. It's an effort to increase pedestrian safety... Metro is testing the audio system called TurnWarning on 10 buses for the next month in parts of Seattle and south King County. From sidewalks and crosswalks, you'll hear the warning "Caution! Bus is turning" from a speaker... Metro estimates the 10 devices cost about $4,000 each. Desmond says outfitting the entire fleet could cost as much as $3 million...
(Photo by Josh Green, KING 5 News - King County Metro Transit is testing out a new turn warning system on some of its buses)
Seattle, WASH, USA - KING 5 News, by Josh Green - May 14, 2015Labels: public bus services
BIKE RACK on BUSES * Canada: TTC limits access on
* Ontario - About 200 buses will only allow one bike in the rack
-- The TTC is limiting to one the number of bikes allowed on some of its bus racks. When loaded with two bikes the racks create sight-line problems for drivers... All buses will still accept at least one bike on each rack and most will still allow two. But the 153 bendy buses and about 50 new 40-ft. Nova buses arriving later this year will only take one bike on the rack at the front of the vehicle... Those buses still comprise only a minority of the TTC's 1,800-vehicle fleet, said spokesman Brad Ross.
They are the models where the driver sits a little lower relative to the bike rack and the bike at the front of the rack can impede the operator's sight line creating a safety issue... The Ministry of Labour last year ordered the TTC to review driver sight lines in relation to the bike racks...
(Photo by RON BULL / TORONTO STAR - The TTC is limiting to one the number of bikes allowed on some of its bus racks. When loaded with two bikes the racks create sight-line problems for drivers)
Toronto, ONT, CAN - The Toronto Star, by Tess Kalinowski - May 14 2015Labels: public bus services
BUS SERVICES * USA: New Line electric ones
* Minnesota - Metro Transit tries out new line of electric buses
-- Metro Transit is trying out another line of electric buses, looking for the next generation of vehicles that can be environmentally friendly and cost effective... Metro Transit general manager Brian Lamb said, they want to start to diversify their fleet, and one way to do that is to incorporate electric buses... The buses are expensive at about $800,000 each, which is about $300,000 more than a traditional bus. But Lamb said they expect big savings on fuel... In the last 20 years, Metro Transit have made great strides in reducing emissions, Lamb said... Another benefit of the electric bus is the relative silence of the vehicles... He said they are looking at three different companies and if they decide to go ahead with the buses, they will start taking bids by the end of this year...
(Photo: Minneapolis' Metro Transit double chassis bus bending at 90 °) -- Minneapolis, MINN, USA - CBS Minnesota/WCCO, by Susie Jones - May 13, 2015Labels: electric buses, public bus services
STUDY * USA: Cities need to invest in bus systems
* Indiana - Bus systems may yield return for workforce and employers
-- A quality public bus system may help manufacturers and retailers to retain employees, says a new study from Ball State University... “The impact of bus transit on employee turnover: Evidence from quasi-experimental samples,” an article by Ball State researchers found that counties with fixed-route bus transit systems have lower employee turnover rates... Researchers Dagney Faulk, Center for Business and Economic Research’s (CBER) research director, and Michael Hicks, CBER director and the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Economics, found an increase in bus systems’ per capita operating expenditures is associated with a decrease in employee turnover. In turn, businesses save money by not having to train new workers or rebuild institutional knowledge within the firm... These results suggest that access to fixed-route bus transit should be a component of the economic development strategy for communities not only for the access to jobs that it provides low-income workers but also for the benefit provided to businesses that hire these workers, the study said... The study analyzed employee turnover rates between 1998 and 2010 in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin counties. The research compared counties with between 50,000 to 125,000 people with and without bus transit systems... Researchers used publicly available federal data. They found that a fixed-route bus system in a community reduced annual manufacturing turnover by 1,100 to 1,200 jobs and annual turnover costs by $5.3 million to $6.1 million. In retailing, the turnover of employees was reduced by 900 to 1,000 jobs annually while yearly turnover costs were cut by $1.7 to $1.9 million... Previous research determined that turnover costs cut an estimated 16 to 20 percent of a company’s earnings... “The suburbanization of manufacturing and retail employment has had a dramatic impact on low-income individuals,” Faulk said. “For low-income workers, limited access to transportation may hinder the type and number of jobs available to them. This would ultimately influence income levels and the duration of employment” ...
(Image from INDYCONNECT Initiative) -- Muncie, IND, USA - The Miller College of Business/Ballard University, by Marc Ransford, Media Relations Manager - May 13, 2015Labels: public bus services, studies
PUBLIC BUS SERVICES * New Zealand - First big route contract
* Otago - Change to southern routes includes new buses
-- Dunedin public transport improvements: At least six new 42-seat buses will be running on southern bus routes from July 1 next year... Otago Regional Council members yesterday welcomed the letting of the first big route contract - which has been gained by the current provider, Go Bus Transport Ltd - under the ORC's new regional passenger transport plan... The MAN's buses will be "super-low", will "kneel" for boarding passengers and will all be accessible to people with disabilities... The new contract reflects the first step of an ambitious multimillion dollar ORC plan to speed up public transport, and make it more efficient and attractive for passengers...
(Photo - New buses to be bought for the Dunedin ''southern routes'' will be similar to this air-conditioned Man-Designline urban bus is operated by Go Bus Transport in Hamilton) -- Dunedin, Otago, N.Z. - The Otago Daily Times, by John Gibb - 7 May 2015Labels: public bus services
PUBLIC TRANSPORT POLICIES * Vietnam: Development approved
* Under new policies, bus enterprises will be prioritised
-- Specifically, bus enterprises will receive funds from State budgets for infrastructure investment and development, including land funds, facilities to connect between buses and other means of transport, investment in clean-energy buses, and enterprises will become eligible to receive loans with favourable interest rates... Bus enterprises will also receive tax exemptions on imported automobile parts to produce and assemble buses. Those whose buses use clean energy will be free from paying ownership fees... The policies, which take effect in July, are expected to reduce traffic congestion, accidents and environmental pollution nationwide... Further, people's committees in cities and provinces will be required to support interest rates of loans for bus enterprises... The committees will also take responsibility for supporting the construction of management centres for buses to allow staffs to supervise the quality of service offered by buses in their localities... Based upon their financial resources, the committees will determine the amounts of subsidies for bus fares, such as free travel for children under six, people with disabilities and reduced fares for the elderly, students and others...
(Photo from baogiaothong.vn – Policies for encouraging bus companies to develop public transport bus services, including infrastructure development, investment in buses and subsidies of passengers' bus fares) -- Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam - VietNamNet - 6 May 2015Labels: public bus services
PUBLIC BUS SERVICES * USA: Retaining employees
* Ohio - Rust Belt businesses looking should push for better bus service
-- Businesses have a good reason to push for better public transit — excellent bus service, in particular, makes it much easier to retain employees... CityLab.com looks at new research from economics scholars Dagney Faulk and Michael Hicks of Ball State University, who analyzed employee turnover rates among manufacturers and retailers in Rust Belt counties with and without bus operations between 1998 and 2010... As the website puts it, they report, quite simply, that "counties with transit systems have lower turnover rates" — a win for workers, businesses, and the broader economy alike... Faulk and Hicks write that their results “suggest that access to fixed-route bus transit should be a component of the economic development strategy for low-income communities not only for the access to jobs that it provides low-income workers but also for the benefit provided to businesses that hire these workers” ... CityLab.com notes that the researchers “compiled data on transit bus service (as measured by operating expenditures) in 40 counties with small metros (between 50,000 and 125,000 people) across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin” ... Using data from the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Faulk and Hicks “discovered that counties offering bus transit experienced a ‘modest but not immaterial’ drop in employee turnover rates among manufacturers and retailers,” according to the story... That relationship “could emerge from a number of factors: better access might have led companies to find workers who had fewer problems getting to the office, or workers who simply found their jobs more enjoyable,” CityLab.com says...
(Photo, by Jerry Masek, Greater Cleveland RTA: HealthLine buses run in their own lanes) -- Cleveland, OH, USA - Crains Cleveland, by SCOTT SUTTELL - May 01, 2015Labels: public bus services
