Jalopnik: Public transit

UC Berkeley Researchers Create Bus That Steers Itself, Solving All Transit Problems

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:15:00 EDT

A group led by researchers at UC Berkeley have successfully tested and developed a bus that steers itself using magnets built into the road. While the driver still controls the acceleration and braking, and can take over steering, a computerized system is responsible for the direction of the bus. As simple as it sounds, this development could have a large and positive impact on transit in the future. In stand-alone form, the system will help guide the bus within a centimeter of the curb accurately and predictably, thus reducing the time taken for stops. Additionally, the precise movements mean that bus lanes can be narrowed by two feet. The most important use of this system, though, involves Bus Rapid Transit.

Bus Rapid Transit uses buses along a dedicated lane, like a train, making stops at every station and picking up passengers. As an alternative to light rail train lines, which are expensive and often controversial (though a great solution in many situations), a Bus Rapid Transit line is relatively inexpensive to build and operate and offers the advantages of rail with the flexibility of buses. The addition of magnet guidance technology, which has been estimated to contribute only slightly to the cost of most BRT lines, would allow these buses to be utilized in an even more train-like fashion. It may not save the world but it's a fairly practical way to make bus service more efficient. [Wired]

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Minibuses Are Awesome

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Why are we randomly showing you pictures of European Sprinter vans? Because Mercedes Sprinter Vans are awesome. Bigger and mightier than the standard Sprinter is the Sprinter Minibus line, which offers seating configurations for uses as varied as hospice transport to urban people moving. Our personal favorite is the City 65, seen here in blue and silver. With seating for 13 passengers, it's much classier than your common OMNIBus or E-Series-based van.

Sure, all of those vans are powered by small diesel engines that barely put out more than 110 horsepower. But that's not the point. They're gigantic (as much as 75-feet long), efficient and beautiful. Behold the mighty Sprinter Minibus, yet another in the long list of European models we desire.

[Source: MB]

London Time Contour Maps Help You Decide Between Tube And Triumph

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:15:00 EST

If you haven't figured it out yet, some of us are big fans of clever cartography. We were therefore quite pleased when we came upon a cache of maps designed by the folks at mySociety that show the relationship between time and distance from certain points in London. The time contour maps let you know how quickly you can get to the Department of Transport, the BBC Television Centre and other locations via transit. They've also put together maps to help commuters determine where it's faster to take personal transportation and where it's faster to take public transportation. But now they've added an even better feature.

The new version of their time contour map is interactive and lets commuters choose where they'd have to live to get to work in a certain amount of time. Recognizing that time isn't the only factor in where people choose to live, the map is also adjustable by median house price. Adjust the sliders and you can find the pockets of London where you can keep your commute under 30 minutes and your mortgage payment under $5,000 a month. It's a lot easier than making The Stig take the train. [mySociety]

BART, As Usual, Gets Chumpy, SF Bay Universal Fare in Danger

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:00:00 EDT

While the distinction of the lamest public transit agency in the Bay Area may well have to be handed to Contra Costa County's County Connection and San Francisco's Muni is certainly the most notorious, BART totally wins the expensive crybaby prize. From worker strikes to fare hikes, the agency just can't seem to keep costs down, or figure out how to run a few all-night drunk trains that'd keep a lot of inebriated people off the roads. We recently took the Metro Gold Line from Union Station in Downtown LA out to its terminus at Sierra Madre Villa. It cost us a buck twenty-five. The same ride in BART distance would be around five or six bucks. With all of that extra fare cash floating around in their coffers, one would think that they'd be the first agency to figure out how to make the new TransLink universal fare system work. One would be wrong. C'mon people! If freaking Muni can figure it out, this should be a cakewalk for you thirty-five-point bucks. [SFGate]

San Francisco Transit Wonks Shoot Selves in Foot

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:30:00 EDT

Arguing about the problems with Sucka Free transit can be likened to fourteen year-olds debating which of Iron Maiden's 1980s lighting rigs were the coolest. (We're voting for Somewhere on Tour if there's an official record.) Board of Supervisors honcho Aaron Peskin has posited that "Voters will have to ask themselves: Do you want San Francisco to be more like Paris or Los Angeles?" We love Paris and Los Angeles, but the parking situation in SF is untenable, and the fact that property owners are restricted on single-family-home garage building rankles us to no end. On the other hand, the public transit initiative proposed sounds tantalizing, as SF is a very transit-workable environment. The downside? The pro-transit faction has embedded a poison pill into their initiative that if passed, would negate the improved-parking bill. Which means to us, as interesting and important as the transit initiative is, we'd be forced to cast a strong nein toward the fascists. Both parking and transit in The City need improvement. It's not an either/or solution. Also, please castrate the DPT and stop bending over for Auto Return. Thank you. We love you, San Francisco. [SFGate]

Bloomberg's Subways and Suburbans

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:45:00 EDT

NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking flak for making part of his much-ballyhooed subway ride to work in a chauffeured Suburban. His people pick him at home and drive him twenty blocks down to 59th Street, where he picks up an express train to City hall. Still, compared to Antonio Villaraigosa's trouble of late or our own often late, MTA buses here in Los Angeles, we might encourage our mayor to spend a bit more time on public transit and less dallying with reporters. [Independent, UK]

Does Boston Have an Embarcadero on its Hands?

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:30:00 EDT

Should Beantown go the way of the City by the Bay? That's the question Close Personal Friend of tha Jalop ThnderBlt Doherty poses regarding Boston's Storrow Drive Tunnel and its abolition. In SF, the Embarcadero Freeway was universally reviled and generally best remembered via the intro sequence of The Streets of San Francisco. Since the envisioned freeway network in Sucka Free was never finished, the Embarcadero Freeway largely came to be seen as an eyesore, and its replacement with a wide boulevard featuring rail service is largely regarded of a triumph of urbanism over sprawl. Captain T'nderBoat argues that Storrow and the Embarcadero are not peas in a pod. Any other SF/Boston residents around? Bumbeck? Anybody? [The Highly Official Weblog of Phillip A.V. McCarthy]

German Bus Driver Can't Handle Cleavage

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:45:00 EDT

Score one for precise, youthful German cleavage in the game to drive men to distraction. Apparently, a twenty-year-old German sales clerk had cleavage so amazingly wonderful that it the driver to stop a Lindau bus and demand that she move, shouting "Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic. If you don't sit somewhere else, I'm going to have to throw you off the bus." Ah, the joys of surly public transit officials. [Reuters]

Chicago Metra Debacle Update

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:24:53 EST

We reported last week on the Chicagoland commuter train that whacked a dozen cars at a crossing. Initial reports said that the gates hadn't closed, but this apparently doesn't seem to be the case. Apparently, the cars struck by the train were caught in traffic from the time the signals go off, drivers have 54 seconds to clear the tracks before the train crosses, but due to a rush-hour snarl, the vehicles had nowhere to go. When the engineer noticed the cars stopped on the tracks, he applied the e-brake, but the inertia of the train was simply too much the train only slowed 5mph before it plowed into the stranded cars, injuring sixteen.

Traffic Trapped Cars on Ill. Train Tracks [ABC News]

Commuter Train Smacks Down 12 Cars in Chicago, Doesn't Derail

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 19:13:43 EST

Wow. Now and then we hear about a train taking out a car crossing the tracks, usually as a result of the driver's stupidity, but this one is a doozy. A Metra commuter train, en route from Chicago to Antioch, IL, took out a dozen vehicles this afternoon when the crossing gates failed to close. Many of the cars were pulverized into bits, and one SUV had its body ripped from the frame. So far, we've found no statement from Metra officials on the cause of the malfunction.

Commuter Train Plows Through Line Of Vehicles [KUTV]