More bus travel needed to reach climate target

[kscarbel2]

Scania Group Press Release  /  September 23, 2016

Time is running out and immediate action is required to fulfil the Paris climate target of no more than a two-degree global warming.

At IAA, Scania outlined three cornerstones that are crucial for achieving sustainable transport:

• Smarter transport to make public transport an attractive alternative to passenger car travel through, for example, rapid bus systems,

• Energy savings by a host of measures, including electrification,

• Replacement of fossil energy with renewable energy with the increased use of alternative fuels.

Scania’s three buses on display at IAA all contribute to this end. Jonas Kempe and Anna Carmo e Silva, Scania Buses and Coaches, outline how these buses contribute to the shift towards more sustainable transport.

.

 

[kscarbel2]

 

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Excellent marketing!

[kscarbel2]

18 minutes ago, TeamsterGrrrl said:

Excellent marketing!

I like to think so. There is a genuine effort at Scania to make a difference, and help create a sustainable tomorrow.

[TeamsterGrrrl]

So when will we see Scania busses in America again?

[kscarbel2]

12 hours ago, TeamsterGrrrl said:

So when will we see Scania busses in America again?

I would love to see Scania buses on the streets of US cities. The subject comes up in discussions.

However, by the time you build a bus to meet "every" US regulation, you have created a tank that weighs 100 tons.

There's a reason why GM walked away from the municipal bus business, why Daimler sells cheap Nova buses in the US rather than quality Mercedes-Benz buses, and why Volvo long ago gave up on plans to build/sell articulated buses in the US.

Scania aside, the modern municipal transit buses on the streets of China's big metropolises costs a fraction of what US cities pay, and yet they perform reliably for years and years, safely carrying passengers to and fro, all the while powered by clean Cummins-Westport natural gas engines paired with proven Allison transmissions.

The US is the country that absurdly expects a sub-compact car to survive crash tests as well as a full-size car. It defies logic.

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Thats the problem with the transit market here- The agencies start with UMTA's wish list of specs, then add on whatever fantasy the local politicians want- low floor, hybrid powertrain, and powered by the fuel de jour. No wonder we end up with stuff like the New Flyer articulated bus with the engine in the back of the trailer unit. I predicted they would handle like pigs on the snow and ice compared to the previous MANs with mid mounted engines in the tractor unit. I was right, first icy day and a bunch of them were jackknifed!

[kscarbel2]

Low floor.....hybrid......alternative fuels.......electric.........Scania offers it all - today.

Because the culture at Scania has the company developing product so far ahead of the curve, it allows the bus maker to offer cutting edge designs that are mature, high-performing and trouble-free.

From Stockholm to London, from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Scania buses help cities around the world provide comfortable and efficient transport while reducing their environmental footprint.

 

[BC Mack]

On 9/29/2016 at 7:57 PM, TeamsterGrrrl said:

Thats the problem with the transit market here- The agencies start with UMTA's wish list of specs, then add on whatever fantasy the local politicians want- low floor, hybrid powertrain, and powered by the fuel de jour. No wonder we end up with stuff like the New Flyer articulated bus with the engine in the back of the trailer unit. I predicted they would handle like pigs on the snow and ice compared to the previous MANs with mid mounted engines in the tractor unit. I was right, first icy day and a bunch of them were jackknifed!

rear engined artics and snow.... it's like pushing a wet noodle, it just bends... or drifts into the kerb... we're dumb enough here in Vancouver to expect them to go uphill in the snow.... and the rest of Canada is no smarter when the feds give you a grant.

BC Mack

Edited October 2, 2016 by BC Mack

[carlotpilot]

25 minutes ago, BC Mack said:

rear engined artics and snow.... it's like pushing a wet noodle, it just bends... or drifts into the kerb... we're dumb enough here in Vancouver to expect them to go uphill in the snow.... and the rest of Canada is no smarter when the feds give you a grant.

BC Mack

well I`ve seen it all now a jackknifed bus traffic jam

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Metro Transit in Minnesota USA has the same busses and the same problems- If they get traction on the drive wheels and the front wheels are pushing deep snow they jackknife, If the spin the drive wheels they slide sideways into the curb or whatever stops them.

[carlotpilot]

guess it took some highly educated engineers to design those things

[TeamsterGrrrl]

The New Flyer articulated busses seem to be more the work of "folk engineers", and bad ones at that. Ever since Issiginonis gave us the Mini and Saab built cars, it's been common knowledge that if you want a stable vehicle, you put the largest masses like the engine and transmission in the front. New Flyer having missed that basic lesson, you'd think they would at least have implemented traction control on the drive wheels so the rear ends didn't spin out into the curbs or whatever. Heck, do these things even have traction control? All the buyers seem to care is that their busses are low floor and powered by the "green" fuel de jour and/or hybrids, and safety doesn't matter. Heck, Metro Transit even had Bombardier build a custom front end with an oversized body on their light rail vehicles, then demanded that their bus makers copy the ugly front end styling of their light rail vehicles on their busses!

[BC Mack]

In the 45 years I have been on-off with buses I remember the days when buses were front engined, there was only room for a driver in an isolated cab, a fare collector or conductor rode in the back... a trend in the mid sixties was to reduce staffing to one person operation and so came the rear engined vehicles so the entrance could be in front of the now set-back axle... in doing so there was a massive rear weight imbalance, highway coaches were underfloor mid engined and far better balanced..

the only logical modern bus I saw was made by Ailsa in Scotland, it became a Volvo company, a front engine double decker, one operator, the engine hump served as a counter for the farebox and a barrier to stop the thugs...

then over the years along came the bleeding hearts design committees... walk straight in, kneeling buses, multiple wheelchair positions, doors that open without pushing, friendly lighting, honeycomb floors, and on and on.... and what you get today for a million bucks is a 60ft bendy tube with a small Cummins ISL/B engine, powered by natural gas, propelled by a hybrid trans with batts on the roof, drop axles, front bumpers scraping all the now too high kerbs... that are slugs and barely leave the stop when fully loaded.... and, if the passengers pay anything for the ride (we have over 40 different 'benefits' passes) you put $2.50 in the box and ride for as far as you like, try that in a taxi.

our tax dollars pay the "grants" municipalities get for buying these useless devices.... 

and these pieces of crap guarantee me a well paid job... bless them..!!!!

BC Mack