The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) has made some big changes to its bus service in recent months. Late last year, the RTC released a mobile app which allows riders to find bus stops, track buses in real time, and purchase transit passes right from their smartphones. The app was designed to make RTC buses as convenient and accessible as possible. Now, the RTC has made another upgrade that promises to add yet another level of convenience to its bus fleet: free Wi-Fi service. In early February, RTC General Manager Tina Quigley announced that the transit commission had… Read more »
In December of 1952, a cold weather system descended on London and caused a buildup of factory smog so severe that visibility was reduced to just a few feet. Now known as the Great Smog of 1952, the event forced London officials to finally take steps to alleviate the city’s ongoing air-pollution problems. Since then, London has made sweeping reforms that have significantly improved the city’s air quality. London’s air quality might be a whole lot better than it was in the 1950’s, but there’s still room for improvement. City officials estimate that roughly 9,400 premature deaths happen every year… Read more »
New York City’s famous public transport system is known for being a lot of things, but simple isn’t one of them. Even for longtime residents of the city, finding the quickest route from one destination to another can be challenging. The complexity of the NYC transit system has been compounded by the fact that the city’s Metro Transit Authority (MTA) has never created a map that includes both subway lines and bus routes. Instead, riders must consult different maps to see all the different components that comprise the city’s massive public transit system. Soon, however, thanks to New York City… Read more »
Although we deal in buses powered by conventional fuels, we always like to stay informed when we hear of a cool company making new waves in the electric bus industry. Today, we’re here to tell you about a French startup that recently raised a whopping $34 million to fund the development of its autonomous electric bus. Navya, a research company based in France, has been developing its self-driving bus, the Arma, for a full decade. The bus finally debuted in October of this year in its first trials in Lyon, France. In its first test run, passengers were treated to… Read more »
There’s some exciting news for public transit riders here in Las Vegas! The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) has released a new smartphone app that makes it easier than ever to purchase tickets and find bus routes around the city. The app, rideRTC, was developed in a partnership with Masabi, a London-based technology company whose JustRide mobile ticketing platform is used by more than 25 other transportation agencies around the globe. Using rideRTC, commuters and visitors to Las Vegas can locate bus stops, track buses in real time, and purchase transit passes in advance. “RTC Transit takes you… Read more »
Little cars aren’t the only ones getting in on the electric vehicle action. This fall, Proterra, an electric bus maker that’s become one of the most recognizable names in zero-emission bus design, will release its latest model, the E2 Max. According to Electrek, the E2 Max was designed to handle the “daily mileage needs of nearly every U.S. mass transit route on a single charge,” which means these buses can be implemented even in the busiest cities where buses trek many miles back and forth on a single route. The newly designed battery pack in this model can store between… Read more »
Have you ever driven past a parking lot full of old school buses and wondered what becomes of them in their old age? Well, they don’t just sit around in a junkyard forever. You might be interested to learn about what Guatemalans call “chicken buses.” Once an American school bus has been shuttling kids around from home to school to soccer games for about ten years, or when they reach about 150,000 miles on their odometers, they’re resold to places like Guatemala where they’re prepared for their “second lives.” After some engine rebuilds, seating reconfigurations, and some seriously cool paint jobs,… Read more »
With summer vacation over and buses hitting the roads again to shuttle kids back to school, here at Las Vegas Bus Sales we thought it might be a good idea to go over some safety tips for sharing the road with school buses. Safety Starts With Preparedness When you’re sharing the road with a school bus, you should always be prepared to make sudden stops and turns. Make sure to give the bus plenty of space; increase your normal following distance significantly, and pay attention to the bus’s turn signals. When you see a bus unload kids, take your time… Read more »
In recent years, transit companies all across the country have begun installing a variety of amenities such as Wi-Fi routers and charging stations in buses to try to incentivize ridership. It’s a strategy that makes sense in theory, given our ever-increasing dependence on handheld electronics and Internet connectivity. In practice however, it may not be as effective as transit services would hope. According to a new report from research group TransitCenter, Wi-Fi routers might be nice frills, but it’s fast, reliable service that riders really want. The researchers surveyed more than 3,000 respondents from 17 regions throughout the country about… Read more »
Even luxury automakers are taking a stab at the autonomous vehicle market these days. Mercedes-Benz is the latest to throw their hat in the ring with an eye-catching design appropriately named “Future Bus.” Featuring sleek lines and expansive window panes, the design truly does look like the bus of tomorrow. Leave it to Mercedes to make a great-looking vehicle. But the Future Bus is about more than just aesthetics; it’s built to be uncommonly efficient as well. The Future Bus uses Mercedes’ proprietary CityPilot technology that was originally introduced two years ago for the company’s self-driving Actros truck. CityPilot is… Read more »
