Born Mobile? Qualcomm’s innovative ad campaign brings a few surprises to an otherwise boring bus stop

February 21, 2013 at 9:44 am

Moral of the story, don’t hesitate to use your darn mobile phone when you are standing at that unassumingly boring plain vanilla bus stop.  In this campaign, mobile electronics firm Qualcomm put up a poster featuring a URL and waited for people to visit the mobile site. When the visitors got to the website, the fun began. Watch to see what happens at probably what I call the best bus stop ever. Sigh! I wish my bus stop would offer something like this to spice up my sleepy mornings.

 

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Test your App-titude! Uncle Sam challenges you to create a mobile solution to help American bus passengers

October 26, 2012 at 11:21 am

An interesting competition announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation encourages college students to design a better way to help consumers make smart decisions when booking their bus travel.  This is what you need to know about the challenge:

  • Who: Creative college students with imaginative ideas.
  • What: A mobile app or web-accessible tool that presents our safety information in a simple, intuitive way that would help the average person choose the safest bus available.
  • When: January 31st, 2013

Here is an embed of the announcement, as seen on USDOT Sec. Ray LaHood’s blog.  Please share widely.

[clip id=”LQWmcbZxCv5hZfnsH78P2j8yezvHUCgfZiTe” width=”642″ height=”1524″ scale=”disabled”]

29G Memoir – An expatriate’s nostalgic recollection of commuting by bus in Chennai, India

September 7, 2010 at 6:24 pm

(Source:  RealTalkies)

I can relate to almost everything in this nice blog post. I enjoyed a fair share of the experiences described by the author, who fondly recollects her memories riding a bus during her college days (in the 1990s) in the Southern India city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras)!  For those not in the know, Chennai is one of the top four cities in India – in terms of population, investment, etc and has a relatively good transportation network that is affordable for the masses.

These days I should not be complaining about my daily commute after living through some of these experiences. As dangerous as it sounds, most of my commutes to work and school back in India involved holding on to a window grill for dear life with just one hand and only one foot on the bus’ steps  as it whizzed by at 60km/hr. For crying out loud, the country has 1.3 billion people and at times it felt like as if the entire citizenry of the nation decided to ride the very bus that I took to school/work!

Those days all the Chennai Metro buses where painted with green and off-white stripes. When a large rectangular mass of green and off-white stripes appears on the horizon, everyone in the bus stop perks up and strains to see the number on the white board over the large windshield. The ones with better vision are lucky, because after seeing the number, they get 30 seconds more to decide where to position themselves to improve their chances of boarding the bus.  My vision was terrible and hence my strategy was as good as a coin toss.

On a few lucky days, I am the first at the entrance. Drones of people embark and disembark the bus through the two entrances in no particular order. The goal is to get in and out of the bus before the conductor blows the godforsaken whistle and the bus begins to move. People still continue to board the moving bus.

Inside the bus,  I manage to pull out my free bus pass and the conductor punches a hole to mark my free government permitted ride to school for the day. It is almost impossible to explain how crowded the bus gets. The closest analogy I can give is, it feels like sardines packed in a can.  I am swept into the bus and get jammed in the middle. I am suspended in that space. My body is in physical contact with several bodies at various points inside that tight packed space. It is like I have been mapped in the cosmos.

The Chennai Metro bus is a social space; one that is  similar to a school, hospital, church, sports club, gym or dance studio. There are certain set of unwritten rules for engagement and obligations to fulfill. By default there are more assigned seats for men than women, generally women sit in the right side of the bus and men on the left. When the bus is crowded a man has to vacate a designated woman’s seat but the converse is not true.

If a woman or a really old man is getting on a moving bus, then more than a few concerned citizens will bang on the steel bus and it will screech to a halt to allow them to get in. If it is just a bunch of guys they would just have to hang for dear life on the windows bars and somehow swing and get their feet on the steps of the bus or just cling to the bus. They still have to pay their fare for the bus ride, as it is gets them to their destination faster than if they run or walk.

If a man is hanging outside, then it is your duty as a passenger who is secure inside the bus to grab their belongings – backpack, lunch bag, etc and keep it secure. If you get off the bus before the guy does, pass it on to someone else for safekeeping. A woman, no matter how agile or skilled is not supposed to hang onto the window or stand on the steps of a moving bus. For some weird reason a disabled or incapacitated woman is more of a societal liability than a handicapped man. Therefore, again the dutiful citizens in the bus tell the woman to get to safety.

Click here to read the entire article.  Here are some fun pictures

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Bringing Sexy Back … To A British Bus-Station!!!

July 24, 2010 at 11:44 am

(Source: via Fast Company)

Image Courtesy: Bustler

Image Courtesy: Bustler

Image Courtesy: Bustler

At the first glimpse, it looks like an awkwardly shaped UFO.. Oh, but it is not! This is the futuristic bus stop proposed for the humble English town of Stoke-o-Trent, which wants to build a new city bus station.  Now, for those of us who are used to conjuring up images of a bus stop – the quintessential dingy floors, chaotic bus parking bays, bums hanging around the corner, etc..- this comes as a sweet shocker, this one by designer team Austin Smith Lord would create what is surely the world’s most futuristic bus depot.  These images show bus stops doesn’t have to be ugly and creepy – they can be functional while looking stunningly beautiful.

Austin Smith Lord was the people’s choice winner against stiff competition, which included Wilkinson Eyre and Zaha Hadid. (The winner was a plan by Grimshaw Architects.) Though the Austin Smith Lord design concept looks bizzare, it is moored to a brilliant logic: The main performance feature is a flowing layout that allows buses to enter and exit without ever having to back out of a parking space.

Loving the Brits for encouraging such outta the box concept design.

Click here to read more and to view more pictures.

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Truck and Bus World Forum – May 11 & 12, 2009 @ Lyon, France

March 23, 2009 at 11:58 am

 

Truck and Bus World Forum 2007
WELCOME to Lyon, France, May 11-12,  for the Truck & Bus World Forum 2009!
The third edition of the Truck & Bus World Forum will focus on : “Facing the downturn: scenarii for more efficient transport in urban areas”. In a difficult period of time, the Truck & Bus World Forum will gather all transport stakeholders to discuss about the current downturn; short and medium term economic forecasts & action plans to be implemented.

Representatives from the following companies will attend the Truck & Bus World Forum:
Volvo AB, MAN AG, Irisbus, Renault Trucks, Iveco, Scania CV, Volvo Technology, POLIS, Rhodia, Inoplast, Continental, International Energy Agency, SKF, Society of Automotive Engineers, Global Insight, AMETVS, Automotive Sweden, Arthur D.Little, International Transport Road Union, ITS Congress Association, European commission, Financial Times, Vibratec, EATON, Aderly, Michelin, Grand Lyon, Ernst & Young, Sytral, ERAI, French Petroleum Institute, Solutrans, LCPC, Ubifrance, Lyon Chamber of Commerce, KEOLIS, Truck Blog, Russian Automotive Market Research, INRETS, Lyon Urban Truck & Bus, Challenge Bibendum Michelin, Mobility Magazine, Thésame, SIA, LCPC, Tampere University of Technology, Jabil, ZF Boutheon, GGB Bearing, Le Moteur Moderne, NSD2, French government, OECD, GRUAU, EKOL, Leeds University, GART, Veolia, Truck & Business, Ville & Transport, Volvo Research and Education Fondation…

Welcome in Rhône-Alpes, welcome in Lyon!
The Truck & Bus World Forum team

 
  On-line registration at www.truckandbusworldforum.com
1 day pass at 580 € excl VAT / 2 days pass at 620 & 740 € excl VAT
 
   
Bienvenue à Lyon, France, 11 et 12 Mai 2009,
pour la troisième édition du Truck & Bus World Forum!
La troisième édition du Truck & Bus World Forum aura pour thématique principale : “Répondre à la crise : quels scenarri pour des transports plus performants en milieux urbains?”. Dans une période économique difficile, le Truck & Bus World Forum rassemblera l’ensemble des acteurs en relation avec les transports de personnes et de marchandises afin de discuter ensemble des plans d’actions qui peuvent être envisagés à court et moyen terme pour faire face à la crise économique. Les sociétés suivantes ont déjà confirmé leur participation au Truck & Bus World Forum: Volvo AB, MAN AG, Irisbus, Renault Trucks, Iveco, Scania CV, Volvo Technology, POLIS, Rhodia, Inoplast, Continental, International Energy Agency, SKF, Society of Automotive Engineers, Global Insight, AMETVS, Automotive Sweden, Arthur D.Little, International Transport Road Union, ITS Congress Association, European commission, Financial Times, Vibratec, EATON, Aderly, Michelin, Grand Lyon, Ernst & Young, Sytral, ERAI, French Petroleum Institute, Solutrans, LCPC, Ubifrance, Lyon Chamber of Commerce, KEOLIS, Truck Blog, Russian Automotive Market Research, INRETS, Lyon Urban Truck & Bus, Challenge Bibendum Michelin, Mobility Magazine, Thésame, SIA, LCPC, Tampere University of Technology, Jabil, ZF Boutheon, GGB Bearing, Le Moteur Moderne, NSD2, French government, OECD, GRUAU, EKOL, Leeds University, GART, Veolia, Truck & Business, Ville & Transport, Volvo Research and Education Fondation…
Bienvenue en Rhône-Alpes, bienvenue à Lyon.
L’équipe du Truck & Bus World Forum
 
  Inscriptions: www.truckandbusworldforum.com
Pass 1 jour à 580 € HT / Pass 2 jours à 620 & 740 € HT
 
Emmanuel PIEGAY | T&B Director / +33674119757 | emmanuel@ist-events.com
Audrey FASSORA   | Registration  / +33472381791 | audrey.fassora@erai.org
Vincent GELY | Logistics et exhibitors / +33478390069 | vgely@sevanova.com
 

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  The Truck & Bus World Forum is co-organised by the Rhône-Alpes Region & the City of Lyon, together with the support of the Rhône-Alpes Automotive Cluster, the Lyon Urban Truck & Bus 2015 cluster.  
 

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Injured good Samaritan ticketed for jaywalking

February 26, 2009 at 2:33 pm

(Source: AP via Yahoo News)

good Samaritan who helped push three people out of the path of a pickup truck before being struck and injured has gotten a strange reward for his good deed: A jaywalking ticket.

Family members said 58-year-old bus driver Jim Moffett and another man were helping two elderly women cross a busy Denver street in a snowstorm when he was hit Friday night.

Moffett suffered bleeding in the brain, broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and a possible ruptured spleen. He was in serious but stable condition Wednesday.

The Colorado State Patrol issued the citation. Trooper Ryan Sullivan said that despite Moffett’s intentions, jaywalking contributed to the accident.

Moffett had been driving his bus when the two women got off. In the interest of safety, he got out and, together with another passenger, helped the ladies cross.

Click here to read the entire article.