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Transport for London (TfL) has introduced what is said to be the world’s first zero-emission, long-range, all-electric BYD double-decker buses into service on a route operated by bus operator Metroline. Electric vehicle manufacturer BYD will fast charging equipment at Metroline’s Willesden bus garage in north London and provide driver training for the bus operators. BYD designed and developed the 33 foot long vehicles to TfL specifications, feature air conditioning, seats for 54 passengers and space for

Electronic toll collection has gone live on the I-580 express lanes, one of the most congested and regionally significant corridors in eastern Alameda County, California. Operated by the Alameda County Transportation Commission the I-580 express lanes span 14 miles, providing one express lane westbound and two express lanes in the eastbound direction to commuters. Electronic Transaction Consultants installed the dynamically priced express lanes, providing a new choice to solo drivers while supporting

The European Commission has adopted a series of rules for road hauliers and road passenger transport operators. They include a common classification of serious road safety infringements under transport legislation, as well as new specifications for smart tachographs (the device that records driving times of lorry, bus and coach drivers) making the best use of new digital technologies such as Galileo. The objective is to enhance road safety, contribute to a fairer competition between road transport operators

A nine-month programme to upgrade traditional wait indicator lamps with longer-lasting and energy-saving LED lights across more than 500 traffic signal sites is underway in Manchester, UK. As part of a contract awarded to Siemens by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), wait indicators will be upgraded at pedestrian crossings and junctions throughout all ten districts of Greater Manchester. This follows the successful completion of a major traffic signalling upgrade programme by Siemens in 2014, with the

New guidance from the BRE National Solar Centre shows how car park owners can maximise the economic and environmental performance of their assets by deploying photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The guide gives details on selecting the best sites, how to tap into various revenue streams and how to develop a strong and effective business case for solar investment. A number of design concepts and considerations are set out in detail and the guide is accompanied by a financial model.

Insurance group Munich Re, in collaboration with the Washington State Transit Insurance Pool (WSTIP), has launched a pilot program top equip transit buses with Mobileye Shield+ collision avoidance technology, installed by Rosco Vision Systems. For the pilot, 38 WSTIP transit buses have been equipped with the technology which claims to enable drivers to avoid and mitigate imminent collisions, protecting the most vulnerable and difficult to observe road users, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists. Je

A Welsh National Assembly committee study, which looked at bus and community transport across Wales, has found that falling subsidies, falling passenger numbers and reductions in services across Wales are having a severe impact, particularly in rural Wales. Enterprise and Business Committee chairman William Graham AM said that there are also a range of policy issues which undermine the Welsh bus industry. The need for a dedicated Wales-only Traffic Commissioner based in Wales and accountable to the Welsh

Transport for London (TfL) has completed trials of intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology fitted to buses. The trials saw the technology, which prevents vehicles from accelerating over speed limits, fully tested on two bus routes that included a variety of road environments and differing speed limits. All buses fitted with ISA remained within the speed limit 97-99 per cent of the time, which TfL says proves the effectiveness of ISA. The extremely rare incidents of excess speeds were seen on downhi

Less than a month after one of its autonomous cars was in collision with a bus, Google has been awarded a patent for a bus detection system, Bus detection for an Autonomous Vehicle. The timing is coincidental, as Google is said to have applied for the patent in 2014. The patent, which focuses on school buses, describes the technology which should enable Google’s autonomous vehicles to recognise a large vehicle, compare it to known school bus sizes and colours and determine whether it is ‘representativ

Twenty US automakers, representing more than 90 per cent of the US auto market have committed to automatic emergency braking (AEB) a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than 2022. Making the announcement, the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) said that the commitment means that this important safety technology will be available to more consumers more quickly than would be possible

With funding from Infrastructure Canada and the Government of Quebec, Canada, Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) in Quebec City, Canada, is to purchase up to 32 new hybrid midi-buses from Belgian company Van Hool. The A330 hybrid diesel-electric vehicles are nine metres long and equipped with low-floor entrances and manual ramps. The midi buses will be equipped with a hybrid propulsion technology whose operating principle is similar to the hybrid bus used by the RTC since July 2015. RTC believes th

After over four years of work, the European ecoDriver project has released its first results. The project trials involved 170 drivers in seven countries, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and UK, both in controlled and naturalistic environments testing nine different eco-driving support systems. Despite minor variations in terms of percentage, the findings showed that overall, across all the systems, reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 have an average of 4.2 per cent with the highest

An Australian House of Representatives’ report, Smart ICT Report on the inquiry into the role of smart ICT in the design and planning of infrastructure, recommends a more coordinated and integrated approach to the development and application of smart ICT to infrastructure. It proposes the formation of a Smart Infrastructure Task Force, based on the UK model, to provide national coordination between governments, industry and researchers. Committee Chair, John Alexander MP, said the report on the role of s

The UK chancellor announced in his spring budget what he called the biggest investment, US$87.5 billion (£61 billion), in transport infrastructure in generations and is increasing capital investment in the transport network by 50 per cent over this Parliament compared to the last. The government plans to establish the UK as a global centre for excellence in connected and autonomous vehicles by establishing a US$24.1 million (£15 million) ‘connected corridor’ from London to Dover to enable vehicles to com

According to research company Statista’s Digital Market Outlook (DMO), 2016 will see approximately 11 million connected cars in America, with almost 32 million intelligent cars on America’s streets by 2020. Worldwide the number of connected cars is forecast to rise to 160 million intelligent vehicles. Statista claims the main impact of the enormous growth of the market comes from the rapid development of new features and possibilities. The biggest segment however, according to the DMO, is not infotainmen