The 66-year-old Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan is showing its age. Engineers in the city estimate that, due to structural concerns, the building will need to be torn down in about 20 years. Last year, Port Authority commissioners from New York and New Jersey met to decide on a design for a new terminal, but were unable to reach a consensus. Now they’re inviting anyone with an interest in architecture, engineering or transportation to come up with a viable plan for a new bus terminal. The winner of the competition will win a cool $1 million. While many… Read more »
Commuting by bus in Mexico City is not for the faint of heart. There are more than 1,000 bus routes that wind their way through the city’s meandering streets, many of which are more or less unofficial and established by popular demand. While a public transit agency does manage a select few rapid-bus lines in the city, the vast majority of the buses – upwards of 25,000 of them – are operated by private concessionaires. Routes change frequently as private bus owners seek out new passengers and take detours to avoid traffic. Unless you’re a long-time resident of Mexico City,… Read more »
Over the course of the past couple of years, a number of industry disruptors such as Uber and Lyft have forced public transit services to rethink their business strategies to keep ridership levels afloat. San Francisco, a city with a long history of innovation in public transit, is the latest municipality to update their business model for the 21st century. Back in January, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced that they would be partnering with mobile ticketing and payment platform GlobeSherpa to create a dedicated mobile app for ticket transactions. After months of planning and anticipation, the app… Read more »
Driverless vehicles are no longer a far-off dream of the future. In just a few months, autonomous buses will debut on the streets of Sion, Valais in Switzerland. The project is being spearheaded by the Swiss startup BestMile, who developed a dispatching system that allows them to monitor and control fleets of autonomous vehicles in real time from afar. Rather than devoting their energy and resources to developing privately owned autonomous vehicles, BestMile is committed to focusing on public transportation instead. The company is working in conjunction with a French manufacturer, Navya, to deploy autonomous buses in Switzerland by spring… Read more »
Ever wonder why school buses don’t have seat belts? You’re not alone. Currently, only six states require school buses to be outfitted with seat belts – a remarkably small figure that has troubled many parents and educators for years. After all, why wouldn’t there be some kind of legislation that requires such basic safety features in the vehicles that take millions of kids back and forth from school every day? It turns out the lack of seat belts on school buses was a function of their original design. For decades, school buses have been built with “compartmentalization” in mind. The… Read more »
With football season in full swing, superfans are posting up in stadium parking lots all across the country and showing their team spirit with some truly wild custom bus conversions. For these fans, tailgating is an essential component of the football experience. And to tailgate right, you’re going to need a pretty serious home base. That’s where the tailgate bus comes in. The Master Gator Because nothing says “tailgating” like a bus with a back porch. Some serious work went into converting this Ford B700 school bus into a rolling advertisement for the University of Florida’s football team. In addition… Read more »
England’s Capital city has long been known for its iconic red double-decker buses, and in 2012 the fleet began undergoing a serious facelift. Over the course of the past three years, London has been phasing in its “New Routemaster” buses that boast a hybrid diesel-electric design and improved comfort and accessibility features. The buses’ striking good looks come courtesy of acclaimed English designer Thomas Heatherwick. Alright, so the New Routemasters sure do look good, but they haven’t been without their issues. Their hybrid engines have been criticized for being inefficient And some Londoners have even questioned the safety of the… Read more »
Since Google’s driverless cars hit the streets of California in 2012, autonomous vehicles have become a hot topic of discussion in the automotive market. Veteran automakers such as Ford and Nissan have since joined the race to bring the first driverless car to the consumer market. By some estimates, we might see these futuristic vehicles in dealership showrooms by 2020. In spite of the media buzz surrounding driverless cars, we haven’t heard much about the possibility of deploying similar technology on city buses until recently. On the one hand, this makes sense. Buses are large and cumbersome and have to… Read more »
No, that wasn’t a typo. A Tokyo-based company is now offering luxury bus tours throughout the country for $1200 a pop. And get this: that’s the economy package. A longer three day trip can cost you upwards of $2500. Granted, that price does include the cost of your meals and a stay in a hotel, but we suspect these expenses account for a pretty small portion of the total ticket price. The passenger compartments of the buses are based on the first class sections of airplanes. With plush leather interiors, flat screen seatback TV’s and more legroom than you can… Read more »
