Buses World News

THE BATTERY MIRACLE * USA: Study

* New York - Will transform both transportation and power generation

--- Low-cost, high-performance electric batteries are a game changer for the two key clean energy sectors: power generation and transportation. They enable much greater adoption and penetration of both renewable energy and electric vehicles — not just electric cars but electric buses and electric planes... Since lithium-ion batteries have only just crossed the key price point for enabling widespread usage in both sectors — $300 per kilowatt-hour — we are really just at the beginning of the battery-driven clean energy revolution... And as battery costs and performance continue to improve, they will find a growing use in the electricity storage market. Remember, the BNEF chart above is just for lithium-ion batteries for EVs... And these remarkable projections may actually be conservative because they don’t appear to include the likelihood that “used” or “second-life” EV batteries could be available in quantity with a warranty at a cost below $100/kwh in the coming years... Finally, the battery miracle is so transformational, it is driving NASA, Airbus, and many other plane manufacturers toward electrification of air travel...
New York, NY, USA - Climate Progress, by JOE ROMM - June 17, 2016

Labels: battery makers, studies

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, 2015

Labels: public bus services, studies

STUDY * UK

* UK - Project launch to improve effectiveness of SCR systems for heavy-duty vehicles

(Image)
Holywell Park,Loughborough,UK -Busworld -16 Jan 2013: -- The UK public-private partnership Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), Loughborough University, Johnson Matthey and Caterpillar have launched a new £4.5-million (€5.4 million) technology project to improve the effectiveness of Selective Catalytic Reaction (SCR) aftertreatment systems for NOx reduction in heavy duty vehicles (HDVs). The project aims to help HDV fuel efficiency by developing a more efficient exhaust aftertreatment system. Often diesel engine fuel efficiency is reduced by having to comply with exhaust emission standards. It is hoped that the new exhaust system developed by this project will effectively remove this constraint. The project aims to deliver fuel efficiency and CO2 benefits of between 3%-4%...

Labels: studies

Study * Sweden - Prove The Obvious: Commuting Is Bad For You

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but science has proven that commuting buys misery...

(Photo: A Traffic Jam)

Umea,Sweden -The Car Connection -1 June 2011: -- This just in: the longer your daily commute, the less likely you are to be happy, healthy and even married for any length of time... A new study by researchers at Umea University in Sweden proved that commuters who drive more than 45 minutes each way are 40 percent likelier to divorce than those with shorter commutes. The study failed to identify reasons for this, but those of us who’ve experienced commutes from hell know the reasons all too well: commuting leaves you drained, stressed and robbed of time to do things that matter, like exercise, interact with loved ones and even focus on life at home... Long commutes are often the byproduct of real estate prices. Jobs are usually located in urban centers, and urban real estate is expensive; hence, for the price of a studio apartment downtown, you can often buy a three bedroom house in a distant suburb. For some, it’s about the quality of suburban or rural life versus urban life, where things like cars and motorcycles are liabilities and not assets. Surely there has to be a break-even point between commuting distance and income, right? ... There’s a study on that as well, and its conclusion isn’t good news for those with long commutes. To justify an extra hour of commuting time, your salary would need to rise by 40 percent just to break even. Factor that in the next time you get a job offer that pushes the limit of what you’d consider a reasonable commute...

Labels: studies

Mass Transit * USA - How Smartphones Can Improve Public Transit

Smartphone apps may be the key to getting people out of their cars and onto mass transit

Boston,MASS,USA -Autopia, by Keith Barry -April 8, 2011: -- An interesting study of commuters in Boston and San Francisco found people are more willing to ride the bus or train when they have tools to manage their commutes effectively. The study asked 18 people to surrender their cars for one week. The participants found that any autonomy lost by handing over their keys could be regained through apps providing real-time information about transit schedules, delays and shops and services along the routes... Though the sample size is small, the researchers dug deep into participants’ reactions. The results could have a dramatic effect on public transportation planning, and certainly will catch the attention of planners and programmers alike. By encouraging the development of apps that make commuting easier, transit agencies can drastically, and at little cost, improve the ridership experience and make riding mass transit more attractive... Unfortunately, gathering and releasing all that data requires some tech savvy, which too often is lacking at some transit agencies...

Labels: mass transit, studies

Carmakers' next problem * USA - Generation Y

Labels: studies

PUBLIC TRANSPORT WORLDWIDE * Australia - Commuters defend against the attack of the space invaders

"Take one socially and physically sterile environment, pack in more people than there are available seats, ensure most of the people are strangers, and you have public transport..."

Melbourne,VIC,Australia -The Age, by DEBORAH GOUGH -July 25, 2010: -- Being squashed up against strangers on public transport is one of the most uncomfortable everyday activities we have to endure, beaten only by sitting in a dentist's waiting room and standing in a crowded lift... A study has found that the invasion of personal space on public transport is annoying to passengers, along with more commonly known complaints such as costly tickets and unreliable services... The study from the Victoria University of Wellington by Jared Thomas,, now a transport consultant with infrastructure services company Opus, observed 1703 passengers and surveyed passengers (536) and car users (305) on their feelings about public transport... It found that about a quarter of passengers defended their space by sitting on an aisle, placing a bag or coat on the next seat or spreading out to take up more space, and another quarter withdrew into an activity such as reading or listening to music. Their measures worked, with 78 per cent of other commuters choosing not to sit next to ''defensive'' passengers. The study also found regular commuters thought defensive behaviour was rude... But Mr Thomas said the overall level of discomfort could be minimised if more socialising occurred on trains, trams and buses... (Picture by Rebecca Hallas -A crowded tram on Bourke Street, Melbourne)

Labels: public service Australia, public transport systems worldwide, studies

STUDY * USA - Show promise for hybrid school buses

The hybrid-buses got 30% better mileage in Nevada and 36% better in Sigourney

Nevada,IA,USA -Radio Iowa, by Dar Danielson -March 29, 2010: -- Two hybrid-electric school buses were purchased for the Nevada and Sigourney school districts and run alongside regular buses... An Iowa State University researcher says a study of hybrid school buses shows some promise for decreasing fuel costs and pollution, if mechanical problems with the buses can be fixed. ... Shauna Hallmark of the I.S.U. Institute for Transportation, says the hybrid-buses got 30% better mileage in Nevada and 36% better in Sigourney. Hallmark says. Diesel fuel is occasionally up to $4.00-a-gallon, and a school bus gets about six miles to the gallon... Hallmark says it’s not just fuel economy, it’s also the emissions put out by the buses. She says buses put out a lot of the small fine black particulates that pollute the air, and the hybrid buses would reduce the amount of pollution the kids are exposed to... The charging system does some charging from the bus diesel engine, but the majority of the charging has to be done by plugging in the bus. And she says something was not working, so the batter did not charge...

Labels: hybrid buses, studies

Study * India - Bus Lanes Can Cut Mumbai’s Congestion

Cars take up more space on Mumbai’s roads than buses and carry fewer passengers, says a recently released study

Mumbai,India -The City Fix Mumbai, by Megan McConville -March 15, 2010: ... What’s more, a mere 10-20% increase in the number of buses along with designated bus lanes can make a serious dent in congestion and pollution... More than 65% of the space at the city’s arterial junctions is occupied by cars, which carry around 40% of the total number of passengers. In contrast, buses occupy just 8% of road space at the same junctions and carry 45% of the passengers... Increasing the number of buses on the busiest routes and creating designated bus lanes will boost bus ridership and decrease the number of vehicles on the roads. In effect, this change could greatly improve the efficiency of Mumbai’s transportation systems. One lane generally carries 2,000 people instead of the 20,000 it could carry with separated bus lanes, according to Madhav Pai, technical director of the Centre for Sustainable Transport in India... (Photo by jenspie3 - A new study shows that buses in designated lanes, like these in Delhi, can carry more people using less road space)

Labels: studies, traffic congestions

ABA Study * USA - Reveals Bus Industry's Economic Impact

“The Economic Impacts and Social Benefits of the U.S. Motorcoach Industry"

Washington DC ,USA -Leisure Group Travel -10 March 2009: -- The ABA (American Bus Association) Foundation’s newly released 38-page updated version of an economic impact study shows that the industry is vibrant despite the economy—and may be benefiting from a travel mode shift because of it. The study is entitled “The Economic Impacts and Social Benefits of the U.S. Motorcoach Industry: Binding the Nation Together by Providing Diverse and Affordable Services to Everyone.”... In 2007 the industry provided 751 million passenger-trips, or 9 percent more than the number of U.S. certified commercial air carrier enplanements and 20 times more than Amtrak and commuter rail combined... The industry, consisting of about 3,400 businesses in the United States and Canada, operated 33,550 coaches and spent $978 million on new coaches. Charter service accounted for the most bus miles (46.4 percent)... The study details how motorcoach travel is safer, greener and more affordable than other modes of transportation, and operates with insignificant federal subsidies. It also provides passenger demographics. Thirty-one percent of long-distance charter and tour bus passengers, for example, are 65 years and older...

Labels: studies

STUDY * USA - Bus transit better than light rail for Md.

Baltimore,MAR,USA -The Baltimore Business Journal, by Tierney Plumb -16 Jan 2009: -- Enhanced buses are a better option than light-rail cars along the proposed Purple Line in Maryland, according to a study from theWorld Resources Institute... The D.C.-based institute says that buses would be cheaper and combat global warming better than a light-rail system... The report came out the same day Montgomery County Planning Board voted 4-1 in favor of building light rail for the line instead of bus rapid transit... The 16-mile route would run from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carollton in Prince George’s County, with connections at Metro stations at Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park and New Carollton... The Montgomery County Council is scheduled to vote on the form of the transit line the week of Jan. 19...

Labels: studies

STUDY * India - Cars or scars?

Only fiscal measures can end the nightmare of private vehicles bringing all movement on the roads to a standstill

New Delhi,India -The Business Standard, by Sreelatha Menon (Mumbai,Maharashtra,India) -January 24, 2008: -- ... For every man, a car. It is a thought worth celebrating but is there a guarantee of a smooth ride on the road for every car owner, not to speak of others?... Spending two or three hours on congested roads and inching one’s way ahead is definitely not what driving should be about. The number of hours is bound to increase as cars increase in number. And with that will increase the costs of congestion... Does this country looking forward to a billion Nano-citizens have a strategy to make its cars less of scars that do nothing but choke the roads and beat the very purpose of being on four wheels?... Recently the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) proposed to Finance Minister P Chidambaram a recipe for liberating the roads and the citizens from the terror of being spaced out. Its first remedy was, of course, to scrap the excise duty on buses to make public transport cheap, (even free to some extent, for students and senior citizens), while scaling up the bar for those aspiring to own and use a private vehicle... Both cars and buses now pay the same excise duty which CSE says is unfair. The present tax regime does not justify the social and environmental costs of motorisation — the bus and car should not be paying the same taxes, says CSE director Sunita Narain...Any incentive for public transport can yield gains both in revenue as well as faster road transport, something which even a car user would look forward to any day. (Video from YouTube, by jimaluko, May 04, 2007 -"New Delhi Traffic" My friends and I were visiting New Delhi, India prior to our friend's wedding in the city of Kanpur, a small industrial town of 2 million. We decided we had to visit the Taj Mahal first, in the city of Agra. We debated an overnight train, but settled on hiring a taxi for the 6 hour drive. What we didn't bank on was the heavy traffic we encountered as we left Delhi)

Labels: studies

Study * Pakistan - Moving people to suburbs doesn’t help Karachi traffic

The alarming law and order situation, absence of NMT environment and bad transportation system are some of the reasons for the declining trip per person...

Karachi,Pakistan -The Daily Times -August 25, 2007: -- ... Public transport’s share is decreasing but still maintains over 50% of the mode share, indicating that in the absence of NMT modes the low income group has no other option...This road-based public transport system is mostly in the hands of a private sector with very little public sector involvement. Buses/minibuses constitute only 2% of the total passenger vehicle fleet but serve more than half of the passenger demand. Nevertheless it receives no preferential treatment in terms of dedicated lanes or traffic management. The existing public transport system is not capable of meeting the increasing travel demand primarily because of infrequency of buses, limited hours of service and shortage of routes and vehicles... The number of vehicles and lines in operation are much lower than the actual demand. Out of 403 lines only 219 are functionally operating... Moreover, the deficiency in vehicle fleet is due to the fact that a majority of Karachi’s urban public transport (69%) comprises low capacity (27/32 seater) mini buses/coaches. Due to this fleet deficiency, the ratio of available seat capacity on public transport to population in Karachi is 1:40 as compared to 1:12 in Mumbai... (A case study of Beijing and Karachi’ by Intikhab Ahmed Qureshi, Lu Huapu and Yea Shi that was made available online Aug 7.)

Labels: studies

Passenger transport up by 2.2% in 2005 in the EU25

Passenger trains accounted for 80% of railway use

Brussels,Belgium -Eurostat Press Office -May 2007: -- Study: Rail passenger and goods transport: These figures are published in two reports from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, on rail passenger and freight transport in the EU in 2005... Rail passenger transport in the EU25 rose from 350 billion passenger-kilometres in 2004 to 357 billion in 2005, an increase of 2.2%. The Member States who showed the highest growth in rail passenger transport between 2004 and 2005 were Estonia (+28%), Ireland (+13%), Greece and Latvia (both +10%), while the largest decreases were observed in Lithuania and Hungary (both -9%). In 2005, France (76 billion passenger-kilometres, +3% between 2004 and 2005), Germany (75 bn, +3%), Italy (46 bn, +1%) and the United Kingdom (44 bn, +3%) accounted for almost 70% of the EU25 volume of rail passenger transport... Rail freight transport in the EU25 was almost stable between 2004 and 2005 at 392 billion tonne-kilometres1. The highest increases were found in Lithuania (+7%), Latvia and Portugal (both +6%), and the largest decreases in Luxembourg (-34%), Ireland (-24%) and Denmark (-15%). Germany (95 billion tonne-kilometres, +4% between 2004 and 2005), Poland (50 bn, -5%), France (41 bn, -10%), Italy (23 bn, +3%) and the United Kingdom (22 bn, -1%) accounted for almost 60% of the EU25 volume of freight transport by rail...

Labels: studies

Transport Study * Australia - More time spent in our cars but not moving

NSW,Australia -Australasian Bus News -9 April 2007: -- Recent research shows that up to 40 percent of Sydney drivers sitting in traffic during peak hour are on trips that could be made at any time of day, such as shopping or non-time critical tasks... An analysis by the NSW Transport and Population Data Centre studied Sydney's peak hour car habits and found congestion could be reduced by encouraging people to drive at other times... The Centre found peak periods had increased from 8am to 9am to 7.30am to 9.30am, and from 3pm to 6pm to 2.30pm to 7pm in the last 24 years... Not all drivers at those times were making essential trips, such as getting to work. Almost one in five trips in the morning peak were for non-essential activities. Many of those were made by retirees, the unemployed or housewives...

Labels: studies

Buses World News

13.7.16

THE BATTERY MIRACLE * USA: Study

14.5.15

STUDY * USA: Cities need to invest in bus systems

30.1.13

STUDY * UK

3.6.11

Study * Sweden - Prove The Obvious: Commuting Is Bad For You

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but science has proven that commuting buys misery...

19.4.11

Mass Transit * USA - How Smartphones Can Improve Public Transit

27.11.10

Carmakers' next problem * USA - Generation Y

25.7.10

PUBLIC TRANSPORT WORLDWIDE * Australia - Commuters defend against the attack of the space invaders

7.4.10

STUDY * USA - Show promise for hybrid school buses

19.3.10

Study * India - Bus Lanes Can Cut Mumbai’s Congestion

14.3.09

ABA Study * USA - Reveals Bus Industry's Economic Impact

17.1.09

STUDY * USA - Bus transit better than light rail for Md.

26.1.08

STUDY * India - Cars or scars?

30.8.07

Study * Pakistan - Moving people to suburbs doesn’t help Karachi traffic

16.5.07

Passenger transport up by 2.2% in 2005 in the EU25

9.4.07

Transport Study * Australia - More time spent in our cars but not moving

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