Next Generation Buses (The Kind That Carry People)

Miscellaneous

from the get-on-the-bus dept

I wouldn’t have thought the technology of buses and bus routes would be that interesting, but I would have been wrong. Business 2.0 has a pretty interesting story about how some areas are going very high tech in improving their buses and bus systems. They have sophisticated control centers, and use the buses to monitor traffic. If a bus is running late they can do things like take it “off route” and guide it through different streets, or throw another bus onto their route to take off some of the load. They can even hold up a traffic light to make sure a slightly late bus can make it through. Other areas are working on special “bus rapid transit” systems that are almost like “bus subways”. Finally, they talk about flexible-route buses that will be able to pick you up on demand and ferry you to a bus rapid transit system. Pretty interesting stuff.