News

Parkopedia has integrated its service into Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in China to provide drivers with information on parking garages. The company says the service offers information on garage prices, opening hours, precise location and dynamic space availability. Parkopedia’s service is available with new A-class Mercedes Benz cars equipped with the Command Online Navigation system. The Mercedes Command Online Navigation System controls a range of vehicle functions such as the sat nav and ste

BYD is to build its SkyRail autonomous monorail in Brazil to connect Salvador’s central business district with São João Island. SkyRail will operate along a 20km track with a capacity of 150,000 passengers per day. The route will be partially built over the sea and offer connections with the city’s subway system. Stella Li, senior vice president of BYD and president of BYD Motors, says SkyRail will offer a zero-emission mode of transport for people living in Salvador. The project will become part

Lyft is donating $700,000 to bring more transportation options and free-rides to under-served residents living in East Oakland, California. The ride-hailing company is working with the city of Oakland’s mayor Libby Schaaf and non-profit organisation TransForm to establish a free bike library. The money will be used by TransForm and its partner organisations East Oakland Collective and Scraper Bikes in three initiatives. Lyft and TransForm will fund the East Oakland Collective, a community group, in pil

Almost a year after it came into operation, Transport for West Midlands’ head of smart travel, Chris Lane, will update delegates at the MaaS Market Conference (London 20 and 21 March) on how the Whim West Midlands pilot scheme is working in practice. Introduced in conjunction with MaaS Global, Whim West Midlands is the UK’s first Mobility as a Service platform to go live to the general public and combines public transport (bus and tram) with on-demand taxis and bike sharing. The initial Pay-As-You-Go se

Nine out of ten peak-hour commutes in Singapore should take less than 45 minutes by 2040, saving the average person around 15 minutes every weekday. This is one of the recommendations that the Land Transport Master Plan’s (LTMP) advisory panel submitted to the government to make public transport more connected, safer and inclusive. The recommendations are based on more than 7,400 responses taken from a public engagement exercise conducted by the Land Transport Authority. The study included feedback fr

Cubic has appointed Dan Hedstrom vice and president and chief information officer (CIO), where he will lead the company’s global IT team. Hedstrom will manage Cubic’s information security and platform services as well as business support. He will report Bradley Feldmann, chairman, president and chief executive officer. Hedstrom was previously vice president of system solutions and services for the Cubic Transportation Systems, where he oversaw the business division’s commercial IT team in North America,

Bus operator Nobina is to acquire parts of public transport company Örslev Holding to offer special public transport services in Denmark. The scope of the DKr.15.5 million (£1.8m) deal includes 16 buses which offer regular services in South Zealand coastal area and 21 buses for special needs transportation. Nobina has also taken steps to transition in the electric mobility space. In 2018, the company deployed 13 electric buses from Volvo Buses in the Swedish city of Malmö. The Volvo 7900 Electric buses

Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance is to develop a system which will allow local governments to carry out virtual tests of autonomous vehicles (AV). A report by The Japan News says the insurance company is hoping to reduce costs associated with real-world testing by providing a virtual environment which will feature road conditions based on 3D maps. This project stems from an agreement with Tier IV, a developer of autonomous driving technologies and measuring technology firm Aisan Technology. The system

Videalert is launching a refit service for mobile enforcement vehicles (MEV), which it says will allow UK councils to extend the operational life of existing assets. The firm claims that the service will allow councils who obtain MEVs from suppliers such as TES and SEA to replace analogue technology with high-definition cameras which offer capture rates up to 98%. The vehicles achieve this capture rate by making a single pass at normal road speeds rather than having to make multiple passes at speeds

Tata Motors is to deploy 40 electric buses to Lucknow City Transport Services in India to support the government’s efforts for promoting electric vehicles (EVs). The delivery is part of a larger order in which 255 e-buses will be delivered to six public transport undertakings including WBTC (West Bengal), LCTSL (Lucknow), AICTSL (Indore), ASTC (Guwahati), J&KSRTC (Jammu) and JCTSL (Jaipur). Tata says its Ultra Electric buses will have a range of up to 150km on a single charge and will operate between

UITP has opened two regional training centres in Istanbul, Turkey, and Shenzhen, China, to provide its members with courses in sustainable mobility. The international organisation for public transport says Istanbul was chosen for its bus rapid transit systems while Shenzhen was selected for its developments in electric buses and e-taxis. The project is part of an agreement with Shenzhen Bus and Marmara Municipalities Union in Istanbul. The Shenzhen regional training centre will offer courses in

Energy company Vector has partnered with Dutch start-up Chargetrip to launch an electric vehicle (EV) journey planning app in New Zealand aimed at reducing ‘range anxiety’ for drivers. Range anxiety is a term used to describe the stress EV users experience when their destination could be further than their vehicle can travel without charging. The project, supported by growth accelerator Elemental Excelarator, is seeking to help drivers switch to electric driving. The app will offer information o

Volocopter has joined forces with Fraport to develop concepts for the ground infrastructure required to allow air taxis at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Volocopter says its partnership with German airport manager Fraport will focus on integrating what it calls ‘Volocopter Ports’ into existing infrastructure. The company believes that these could be used in the future to serve as a link between existing urban transportation junctions and provide connections to and from the airport. The Volocopter

The government of Canada is investing CAN$300,000 in the construction of six electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers in Vancouver. This funding is part of the government’s CAN$182.5m investment to develop a fast-charging network for EVs and establish natural gas stations along roads and hydrogen stations in metropolitan areas. The chargers are partially funded through the Electric Vehicle and Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Deployment Initiative, a programme which falls under Canada’s $180 billion Inves

Init has launched a simulation and planning tool which it says will allow transit agencies and bus manufacturers to integrate electric vehicles (EV) into fleets The company says the eMobile-Plan can be used to simulate scenarios using different types of electric buses, different placements of charging stations within a network, as well as route profiles and temperature ranges to generate efficient timetables, blocks and duty schedules. Also, agencies can use the solution to define the medium and long-t