Public transport plays a decisive role in solving urban congestion and air pollution. But what can be done to persuade more people to leave their cars at home and use public transport instead? A foretaste of what will attract tomorrow’s passengers can be seen on the streets of Göteborg, where a new bus will be in regular service for three months on the city’s busiest bus route, no. 16.Within the framework of European Bus System of the Future (EBSF) programme, researchers, companies and public authorities are working together to create new solutions for tomorrow’s bus-based public transport.
One of the sub-projects is taking place in Göteborg in the form of a cooperative venture between Volvo Buses, Chalmers University of Technology, public transport authority Västtrafik and transport operator Veolia. The aim is to develop and test a bus with properties designed to attract more passengers while at the same time offering the conditions needed for cost-efficient operation.
The optimal city bus must be inviting and safe to ride in, it should be convenient to board and exit, and the journey should be quick. These are the main areas on which we have focused with the new bus we are currently testing in regular service,” says Peter Danielsson, project manager at Volvo Buses.
The starting-point for the design of the new bus is a behavioural science study and various simulation exercises in which researchers from Chalmers investigated how passengers respond to different situations on a typical journey. The researchers also interviewed 300 passengers who regularly use route 16 to find out what they feel about using public transport. The result is an articulated bus that differs in many respects from the vehicles that normally operate on the streets of Göteborg.
In order to make it easier to get on and off the bus, the door openings at the front are much wider than normal and are located behind the driver so passengers walk straight into the bus. The doors open outwards so as not to encroach on passenger space and they open and shut with a quick sideways movement, somewhat like on a metro carriage. Boarding height adjusts closer to kerb height at the bus stop to make things easier for passengers with mobility difficulties and those with baby carriages.
Source: http://www.volvobuses.com/bus/global/en-gb/newsmedia/pressreleases/_layouts/CWP
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The order was signed at a ceremony at the Busworld show in Belgium during Monday. It was signed by Jens-Michael May, Managing Director of SBG Süderelbe Bus and Jasper, two of the bus subsidiaries of Hamburger Hochbahn AG, and Noel Reculet, Senior Vice President Europe at Volvo Buses.