ERGONOMIC DESIGN By Doug Oswald Why are there so many different seating designs on the market today – with such drastically different levels of comfort? Most transportation seating solutions are designed for unique purposes. But even within the same application, why does Company A’s seat “sit” differently than Company B’s seat? The root reason is […]
The BUS INDUSTRY SAFETY COUNCIL Report presented by The Pacific Western Group of Companies Are we ready for the Rise of the Robots? When I was a kid, emerging technologies were just the stuff of Sci-Fi movies. Robby the Robot ruled Forbidden Planet and later on the TV series Lost in Space. Such futuristic […]
Environmental benefits of CNG By George Kalet Compressed natural gas (CNG) is often called the cleanest burning natural source of fossil fuel propulsion; much more environmentally friendly than conventional gasoline and diesel fuels. The combustion of natural gas produces negligible amounts of sulfur, mercury and particulates. This mostly has to do with its chemical composition. […]
Automatic Voice Annunciation – the future made simple BUSRide spoke with Brandon Curtis, executive managing director at Aesys, about the benefits of Automatic Voice Annunciation (AVA). How does AVA benefit passengers and drivers? Brandon Curtis: AVA automates on-board passenger announcements, which not only keeps passengers up to date automatically, but also helps create buses with […]
Collins customizes the Ford Transit By Matt Scheuler Paramount to a paradigm shift, Collins Bus Corporation, a subsidiary of REV Group, Orlando, FL, known for small and midsize school and student activity buses, is introducing its first commercial vehicle this month — inspired by the new Collins school bus and built on the Ford Transit […]
Hendrickson Suspension: Transit’s weight loss challenge By Gerry Remus Of the many obstacles bus operators face today, maintaining or lowering the bus curb weight while complying with regulatory mandates, emission standards and evolving passenger needs is a key challenge facing our market today. The modern transit bus has come a long way over the years […]
5 benefits of contactless smart cards over magnetics By Floyd Diaz For the purposes of fare payment in public transit, contactless smartcards are a clearly superior technology to magnetic stripe cards. As far back as 2008, the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA), via the Transit Cooperative Research Program, had identified the advantages of contactless systems […]
Assess transit inefficiencies with GPS tracking and live video monitoring By Diego Capelluto With many different forms of public transportation, buses play a significant role in carrying a large percentage of our public population on a daily basis. In an effort to ensure efficiency and productivity, data collection is an essential tool for entities to […]
OFFICIAL BUSRide Field Test: The Enviro500 by Alexander Dennis Inc. brings a new dimension to transit in Seattle By Richard Tackett When the “Double Tall” buses – otherwise known as the Enviro500 by Alexander Dennis Inc. (ADI) – pull up to their earliest morning and afternoon stops, it’s surprising to see how many passengers come […]
Data collection and analysis – The journey has just begun By Marsha Moore The explosion of data available across all enterprise touchpoints means big things for the future of public transit. It used to be that historical reporting was enough. But as the amount of data being captured grows, so does the desire to improve […]