[ Page 5 of 6 ]

By Barbara Knecht

Looking more like a monorail or a bullet train than a workaday bus, the Civis bus is typical of new-style buses that aim for sleeker looks and improved accessibility. Aerodynamic design, hybrid diesel-electric propulsion for fuel economy, and four doors and a low floor for easier loading are typical of advances in bus design. Low-floor buses appeared in Europe at least 10 years ago and came to this country about five years ago when rental car companies began experimenting with them for transporting customers from the terminal to their lots. Dropping the floor of the bus lower to the ground makes it much easier for most people to board, with or without suitcases and packages. On long buses, there is a high central section to clear the axle, which reduces the overall advantages. The Civis bus improves this by removing the central axle and powering each wheel with its own motor, making the entire bus universally accessible.

Taxi 2000’s SkyWeb Express is a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system. Passengers select a destination, purchase a ticket, and enter a vehicle. Guideways take the cars directly to their destination without stopping. Renderings: Courtesy Taxi 2000 Corporation

MAX will have the added advantage of integration with the local bus system. Passengers pay one fare once to ride on any part of the system. If the first transportation choice is always one ride door-to-door, then every time a person changes seats, it must be seamless. Local fare integration and single payment isn’t common yet; regional and larger-area integrated fare systems are indeed a rarity. Within 10 years, the experts say, one will be able to change from the Maglev train to the BRT to the local system with a regional-transit-fare card, leaving cash and fumbling at machines or fare kiosks behind. Toll-road technology is at hand for the transit system. A prepaid device (presumably some kind of card) will automatically calculate and deduct the cost of trip segments. It will be automatically replenished and a record of all transactions will be available on demand.

Seamless transfers mean never having to stop to pay a new fare, and having the bus turn up within minutes of your arrival. If we can’t make the trains run on time, how will we ever be able to make the buses run on time and in the places where they are needed? Answers to that question may come, in part, from the research of Professor Nigel Wilson, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, and his students. Wilson observes, “Dimensions to improve ‘connectivity’ include facility design, service planning, and service control.” Transit operators are already collecting vast amounts of information about their riders from fare-card readers and automatic passenger counting. Buses are being outfitted with satellite Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that will help control centers track bus locations.

ADVERTISEMENT