Since it was founded in 2004, Proterra has become one of the biggest names in zero-emission bus design in the world. Last year, Fortune Magazine went so far as to call the company the Tesla of electric buses. According to Bloomberg BNA, the company currently controls about 80 percent of the U.S. market for electric buses. You can find Proterra’s electric buses in cities all over the country – from Seattle to Reno to Nashville. What distinguishes Proterra from its competitors isn’t just its commitment to electric vehicles; it’s the company’s proprietary rapid-charging technology that allows their buses to be… Read more »
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is committed to making their fleet of buses as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Currently, 97 percent of the fleet runs on clean-burning natural gas. By the end of 2016 they expect the entire fleet to be powered by natural gas, with one notable exception. On May 23, the OCTA hosted an event to unveil its first zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell bus. Wrapped in a graphic decal of California poppies, the bus will roam the streets of Orange County in a two-year demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell technology. The $2.6 million dollar… Read more »
Here in America, many cities have begun embracing bus rapid transit systems as fast, cost-effective alternatives to subways. In China, meanwhile, engineers are taking a very different approach to modern bus transit. It’s called the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB), and it debuted earlier this month at the 19th China Beijing International High-Tech Expo. As its name suggests, the TEB’s passenger rides above traffic, rather than alongside of it. Its massive frame straddles cars, allowing them to pass underneath it without disrupting the flow of traffic. With its sleek lines and unusual form factor, the TEB looks distinctly futuristic. Civil engineers… Read more »
Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began encouraging states to adopt new legislation that would require school buses to be outfitted with seatbelts. Now, a group of students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Engineering have developed a device that could bring seat belts to motor coaches and municipal transit buses as well. Starting this year, all new motor coaches are required to be manufactured with seat belts. Federal safety officials estimate that seat belts could reduce fatality rates in rollover accidents by as much as 77 percent. The only trouble is that there are… Read more »
In recent years, as public school districts have struggled to cope with tight budgetary restrictions, administrators have been forced to find new, creative ways to save money wherever possible. In many districts, particularly in the Midwest, schools have begun adopting propane-powered buses to cut the cost of fuel. The Cedar Rapids School District in Iowa, for example, recently purchased seven new propane-powered buses to replace aging diesel models. These buses typically cost about $5,000 more than their diesel counterparts, but school districts can quickly recoup that loss in reduced fuel prices. Other notable districts that have adopted propane-powered school… Read more »
Over the course of the past decade, industry analysts have become increasingly concerned about the troubled state of America’s transit infrastructure. Earlier this year, for example, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association released a report that identified 61,000 bridges as “structurally deficient.” In an effort to address concerns such as these, the Obama Administration signed a new five-year, $305 billion highway bill into law early last month. It’s known as the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, and it’s the first major long-term highway bill to be passed in over a decade. What it Means for Mass Transit… Read more »
These days, you can find internet access just about everywhere – from the local coffee shop down the street to a base camp on Mt. Everest. Soon, you’ll be able to add school buses in Kanawha County, West Virginia to that list. Over the course of the next year, more than 150 buses in the school district will be retrofitted with Wi-Fi. Many students in the rural area have unusually long bus rides, and school administrators hope that if they provide students with internet access on buses, they’ll take the opportunity to complete homework assignments on their rides to and… Read more »
Commuting in India’s capital city of Mumbai can be a downright harrowing experience. The streets are notoriously crowded, and public transit is famously unreliable. Bus schedules are unpredictable and the buses themselves are often packed to the brim with uncomfortable passengers. Commute times can vary wildly, and it sometimes takes passengers hours to get to work. Jerin Venad is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology who was tired of spending two hours getting to and from his job at Ernst & Young in Mumbai. After kicking around ideas with a few of his former college classmates, Venad… Read more »
Since they were originally released in the 1950’s, Volkswagen’s camper buses have always occupied a special place in the hearts of American drivers. In the 1960’s, they became symbols of the counterculture movement. And then, at the end of the 1970’s, imports to the U.S. ceased as production was outsourced to Brazil. Since then, collectors have done their best to preserve the limited number of VW buses left in the States. Volkswagen has made a few attempts at reviving the line over the years, but each time the new models have looked more like minivans than the beloved road… Read more »
In 2012, the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro won the 24 Hour of Le Mans endurance race with the help of an electric flywheel that converted energy from braking into power for a supplementary electric motor. Called the GKN Hybrid Power Gyrodrive, the flywheel enabled the R18 to conserve fuel throughout the grueling race without sacrificing power. Now, the company that designed the Gyrodrive is selling the technology to a British automotive and aerospace conglomerate that plans to install the devices on 500 buses over the next two years. In preliminary tests, the device was able to cut fuel consumption… Read more »
