Public Transit

Polish electric buses take over the European market

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Polish electric buses take over the European market

Of the 1,000 electric buses newly registered from January to September 2020, nearly a quarter were produced by Solaris. In Poland, 96% of the 114 newly registered electric buses bear the Solaris logo. Solaris's share of newly delivered electric buses amounted to 83% in the Italian, and 43% in the German market. The company has a market share of about 18% across Europe.

Solaris's Mateusz Figaszewski told DW that MAN's move into Poland and the electric bus sector was not a great surprise. "It is great that Poland is being seen as a sophisticated place to make such products and will for sure help the supply chain in the country, but we have a much more international outlook than others, so it doesn't affect us much." Solaris, he added, is also looking closely at expanding its hydrogen-powered electric bus production, having already seen 69 roll off the production line.

It feels weird to be back on the bus. 🚌

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It feels weird to be back on the bus. 🚌😷

But it makes it so easy to get back and forth to work and everybody is wearing a mask. Parking downtown is such a bitch and there is so many stoplights. Plus it’s important to support public transportation. The mask though is hot to wear.

Why Did America Give Up on Mass Transit? (Don’t Blame Cars.)

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Why Did America Give Up on Mass Transit? (Don’t Blame Cars.)

One hundred years ago, the United States had a public transportation system that was the envy of the world. Today, outside a few major urban centers, it is barely on life support. Even in New York City, subway ridership is well below its 1946 peak. Annual per capita transit trips in the U.S. plummeted from 115.8 in 1950 to 36.1 in 1970, where they have roughly remained since, even as population has grown.

This has not happened in much of the rest of the world. While a decline in transit use in the face of fierce competition from the private automobile throughout the 20th century was inevitable, near-total collapse was not. At the turn of the 20th century, when transit companies’ only competition were the legs of a person or a horse, they worked reasonably well, even if they faced challenges. Once cars arrived, nearly every U.S. transit agency slashed service to cut costs, instead of improving service to stay competitive. This drove even more riders away, producing a vicious cycle that led to the point where today, few Americans with a viable alternative ride buses or trains.

Cuomo questions viability of congestion pricing, throwing subway overhaul into doubt

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Cuomo questions viability of congestion pricing, throwing subway overhaul into doubt

The MTA had been hoping to start tolling drivers who enter Manhattan’s central business district starting in January 2021. The tolls to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street were supposed to support the MTA’s $51.5 billion overhaul plan, which, in turn, was supposed to include substantial subway signal improvements and improved station accessibility.

But the MTA needs federal approval for congestion pricing because some of the impacted roads are federally funded. To get that federal approval, the MTA needs to do an environmental review — either a lengthy, typically yearslong environmental impact statement, or a more abbreviated environmental assessment.

The MTA and City Hall have been asking the federal government which study it should pursue since April, as POLITICO reported. The federal government has yet to give them guidance. Some officials have quietly suggested the MTA should have just assumed the federal government would want the more in-depth assessment and begun work on it immediately.

But on Thursday, Cuomo said he assumed the federal approval would be “perfunctory.”

PSTA begins construction on first inductive wireless electric bus charging station on U.S. East Coast | Mass Transit

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PSTA begins construction on first inductive wireless electric bus charging station on U.S. East Coast | Mass Transit

Inductive chargers work on the same principle that switch-mode power supplies work in your tiny cellphone wall charger works -- it's just a transformer with two loops of wire -- and while each cycle might not move a lot of current and magnetic fields are very weak -- if you cycle fast enough you can move a significant amount of current with relatively small losses.